There’s growing concerns Brisbane has “lost its aura” and whether the club still possesses the same hunger in its quest for a three-peat after GWS put up its biggest ever score on the reigning premiers.

A disastrous third quarter, in which the Lions conceded a record 86 points, was a low-point in their season and symbolises their defensive drop off.

Brisbane has dropped to the competition’s No. 14 ranked defence (averaging 96 points against) after it was ranked No. 6 last season (78 points) in similar declines to reigning premiers Geelong (2023) and Collingwood (2024),

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And so David King revisited last week’s discussion where the Kangaroos great first flagged Brisbane’s defensive worries after a heavy defeat to Geelong.

“If you slip defensively, you slip on the ladder,” King began on Fox Footy’s The First Crack.

“Their current ladder position is eighth. But is it eighth and holding or falling? Or eighth and gathering and getting themselves together?

“They had 15 minutes in the rooms together tonight, just the players and coaches. is that the powwow? Or is that the challenge to the group to get themselves together over the next few days and work out where they go from here?

“‘She’ll be right, we’re the back-to-backers’. Well, you know what? It ain’t right.”

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Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said post-match his side was “going backwards” and that third quarters “have been a problem” for the Lions in recent weeks as Giants records tumbled.

In addition to the GWS producing its biggest ever score (166), the club’s 14-goal avalanche in the third quarter — for a total of 86 points — marked the highest-scoring third term in VFL/AFL history.

It was also the equal-fourth highest-scoring quarter of all time in any quarter.

But King looked beyond that third term and showed a series of clips where several Lions stars put in poor defensive efforts that he thinks raises alarm bells.

“It doesn’t mean enough to them anymore. They’ve got their trophies, they’ve got their stamps, they’ve got their tattoos,” he said.

“The effort is not there. The desire is not there. I don’t know how you get it back and I don’t even know if you can get it back. Maybe this is just it for the Brisbane Lions.

“I think you can understand it, because flags are hard to win and they’ve won two. I’m not having a go at them at all, they’ve been an unbelievable team.

“We talk so much about the Brisbane three-peat and Hawthorn three-peat, it must be incredibly difficult to stay motivated.

“But right now there’s a call to make for this group. Are we absolutely there, or are we thinking contracts and personal rewards? Are we thinking stats, best and fairests and Brownlows? Or can we gather and go?

“I don’t know how you do it. But what I’m seeing is not a team united to win the 2026 flag.”

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King added that they’ve “lost their fear factor right now” and “good teams are coming back at them with speed”.

“As good as Harris Andrews is and Ryan Lester and Wilmot have been, they can’t contain that ball coming at speed, no one can,” he said.

“It becomes an unfair fight really quickly. To me, right now they’ve lost that aura they had for two to three years. Can they get it back? I don’t know.

“Over to you, Chris Fagan.”

As Brisbane embarks on a “tough” upcoming stretch, chief Herald Sun reporter Jay Clark noted Fagan has “stuck by his boys the whole time” and “never made the big drop call” at selection.

Lynch dissects GWS’ historic 3rd quarter | 01:40

So, could this be the week the Lions make a bold selection statement?

“It’s interesting whether you think he’ll go down that path,” Clark said.

“I think they’re a wildcard team at the moment. Their spot in the eight, I mean, they’re in a fight.

“Have a look at their next few games; Fremantle — best team in the comp. Gold Coast, which is always tough, Richmond, bye, then Sydney and Geelong.

“That next five, that is a tough stretch. I think there’s no guarantees here with their situation.”

With Brisbane currently sitting in eighth position, Saints great Leigh Montagna declared he doesn’t think Fagan’s side can win the flag from outside the top six.

“If you don’t finish top six, you can’t win it, even if you’re the Brisbane Lions,” Montagna said.

“I don’t think they can win five games in a row to win a premiership.

“It’s attitudinal, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve been showing it all year.

“Early in the year they were saved by Harris Andrews and Ryan Lester.

“Then I thought maybe after the Carlton second half they might’ve addressed it. Then I thought certainly after what we showed last week against Geelong they might’ve addressed it.

“Clearly, they haven’t.”