When the lord mayor of Brisbane took to social media in early September to crown his city “Australia’s sporting capital”, one could be forgiven for passing it off as the usual bluster of a local politician.

Sure, the lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, was referencing a global public relations firm’s world ranking of sports cities which listed Brisbane at 20 – eight places above its nearest local rival Sydney.

But, then, hadn’t an Airbnb-commissioned study in June “crowned” Sydney the country’s sports travel capital? And what about the travel insurance company that ranked Melbourne the nation’s capital for “sportcations” in May?

The NRL preliminary final match between Brisbane Broncos and Penrith Panthers at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Photograph: Albert Perez/Getty Images

Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that sport historian Rob Hess believes such PR exercises can be “manipulated to say whatever you like”.

“As a historian, I guess, I take a more long-term view,” the Victoria University associate professor says. “That’s really where you make a judgment about how successful or not a city or a state might be. It is the punters on the ground, who vote with their feet and turn up at the events, that is the more important marker”.

On such a metric, any Australian city would be hard-pressed to dethrone Melbourne, which regularly packs its 100,000-plus-seat colosseum for the AFL – and for the iconic Boxing Day Test – and annually hosts the first of four world tennis grand slams, the Australian Grand Prix and the horse race that stops the nation.

Yet, this week, parochial pundits were staking a claim for Brisbane as having done just that.

Sunday saw the Broncos men’s and women’s teams win NRL grand finals, with the code’s most marketable figure, Reece Walsh, delivering one of the great grand final performances.

US player Madison Keys in the Australian Open women’s singles final earlier this year at Melbourne Park. Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

A week earlier, the Brisbane Lions AFL men’s team claimed their second straight flag in their third consecutive grand final – and with it the mantle of most successful club of the century to date. The two-time flag winning women’s team has not had its best season so far. But, then, they have set a lofty bar: of eight AFLW grand finals, the Lionesses have made six.

The eyes of the world will be on the river city – the argument continues – when Brisbane hosts the 2032 Olympics. Already, Gout Gout mania is building around a sprint sensation drawing comparisons to Usain Bolt. He may be from nearby Ipswich, but should Gout achieve gold in Brisbane, he will be a home town champion.

With the capital of the sunshine state in full-blown party mode, even some of its more sober punters are probably asking themselves: was Schrinner on to something?

Bond University assistant professor Dr Jane Hunt admits to being caught up in what she describes as a “very exciting time”.

Originally a Sydneysider, the sport historian began barracking for south-east Queensland’s major football clubs after she moved up to the Gold Coast 15 years ago, because “every one else” around her was.

Hunt does not see 2025 as an aberration, rather a continuation of a long and deep history of Brisbane’s footballing achievement – one that she believes is here to stay.

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Gout Gout celebrates after winning his 100m final in Brisbane. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

But even Hunt, basking in the glow of a week of historic success, cautions against hyperbole. Yes, the eyes of the world will be on Brisbane in 2032, but the Olympics is “a moment”, she says, “and then it’s gone”.

“Sure, for a period of time, Brisbane is going to be the one in the spotlight – and that will underline a bit of a shift,” she says. “But I don’t know if that will be a permanent one.”

Instead, the academic talks about Brisbane emerging with “great strengths in certain respects”. Hunt is excited about the city’s unique and deepening ties to the sport and culture of Pacific Islands, for instance.

Brisbane Lions fans watching the game live at the Royal Derby Hotel in Fitzroy celebrate their teams win during the AFL grand final. Photograph: Con Chronis/AAP

Hess too sees the take that the “sporting axis has shifted” with “Brisbane its new home” as a “fairly superficial one”.

Anyway, he says, most football fans take a “more mature” and “less parochial” approach to such discussions these days.

Ezra Halse at the fan day welcoming home the Broncos NRL premiership men’s and women’s team. Photograph: Joe Hinchliffe/The Guardian

But what about those thousands of Broncos diehards who descended upon Lang Park on Monday to welcome home their conquering heroes?

Amid the mayhem, in a quiet corner of Queensland’s cathedral of rugby league, sat Ezra Halse. The former sea cucumber diver, who plied his trade throughout the far north to Papua New Guinea, sat alone in a quiet state of awe. If anyone were as measured as Hunt and Hess, both former presidents of the Australian Society for Sports History, perhaps it would be Halse?

“The sports capital of Australia?” Halse paused. “Yeah I reckon it is. Everyone just loves their sport up here.”

Outside the stadium, Kallangur mother and daughter and Broncos tragics Susie Neil and Bev Gibbons reflect on a match they were too nervous to watch live.

Despite Gibbons’ gold membership, and the fact the pair go to most home matches, they cannot bear to watch their beloved Broncos on TV. After the anthem, they pressed record, tried to distract themselves until they knew the result, then immediately replayed the entire game, pausing only to put key moments in slow mo.

“Sport capital?” Gibbons said. “Brisbane? Phroar, it should be”.

“In our minds, it already is,” her daughter adds. “Just look at the fans. We’ve got the spirit. Queenslander!”