Lions want long weekend QClash permanently

The Lions want a Sunday night Queensland Labour Day long weekend match against the Gold Coast Suns at the Gabba to become a permanent part of the AFL calendar after Sunday night’s QClash attracted the biggest attendance in the derby’s history.

A crowd of 30,285 saw Brisbane beat the Suns by 34 points in QClash 26.

The previous best attendance for a QClash was in July 2013 when the Lions also prevailed at the Gabba by 33 points.

“We were really rapt with the crowd (on Sunday) night and we’d be keen to have another go at it on the Sunday of the Labour Day long weekend,” Lions chief executive officer Greg Swann said.

“We’ll definitely put it on the agenda with the AFL in July when fixture requests for next season are made.”

Swann said the scheduling of Sunday night’s match had been the AFL’s idea.

“It worked really well for us. It was a good crowd, and we like it,” he said.

Swann said “nearly 1500” tickets a day had been sold in the week before the match, with fans taking advantage of a $29 special.

It helped the Lions – whose win over the Suns was only their third victory of the season – achieve a fourth successive home crowd this season of more than 30,000 people.

“Even though we haven’t been going great, they’re still coming to games, which is good,” Swann said.

The Lions – who are expected to lose Linc McCarthy and Darcy Gardiner to season-ending knee injuries suffered against the Suns – meet the Crows on Saturday at Adelaide Oval before returning to the Gabba on May 18 when they host Richmond.