The current Hampden interleague coach and former South Warrnambool centre half-forward forged a reputation as a tough, brave and skillful performer.

Brown’s name is often raised during grand final week, not surprising given his exploits in the final week of September.

Brown was part of the famous Brisbane Lions team which secured a premiership three-peat from 2001-03.

In the first of those grand final wins, against Essendon, Brown was just 20, holding down the key forward post while one of the best midfield groups ever assembled, containing the likes of Michael Voss, Simon Black and Jason Akermanis, ran riot.

Collingwood was put to the sword by the Lions in 2002-03, with Brown involved in a famous clash with Magpie Scott Burns in the 2003 decider, a clash that left the young Lion concussed.

While Brown had the last laugh on that day, the next year he and his Brisbane teammates were denied a fourth straight flag when they were defeated by Port Adelaide in the grand final.

Today, Brown talks to us about some big grand final moments.

Taking the emotion out of grand final day.

“Its hard to describe, it's a bit like a wave of colour and noise, it's like a tidal wave that hits you in the face when you run out the tunnel.

The old Olympic stand was still there and we were in the Richmond rooms and it felt almost like a tomb. Leigh Matthews was our coach and he liked to take all the emotion out of it.

He didn't allow any colour in the rooms, no balloons or streamers, it was a very sterile environment.

So when we ran out onto the ground, the noise of 95,000 people smacked you in the face.” 

Getting down to business. 

“Your feet don't touch the ground until the first bounce.

You have to be ready to play or you can get caught being a spectator and the game can pass you by. I would try and get off the line and into the centre bounce, lay a tackle, hit a body.

I wanted to make sure I didn't go into quarter-time without having had some impact.”

The collision with Collingwood’s Scott Burns in the 2003 grand final. 

"Essentially I was knocked out in the first minute of the game and I think it was a bit of shock when I realised what had happened.

I was playing on wobbly legs but I had to find a way out of it.

I had to narrow my focus on the task at hand. If it was today, I would have probably had a concussion test and would not have been allowed back on.

But back then, I didn't spend a minute on the bench.

It was one of the hardest days of footy in my career, it was a bloody long two hours.”

Standing up as one of the biggest men on the ground.

"Grand finals are grinding days, they are brutal, contested games of footy. As a centre half-forward, I had a very simplistic goal, to always make a contest and bring the ball to ground for our little blokes.

If you go out thinking you are going to win a Norm Smith Medal then that is a false reality." 

What it takes to win multiple premierships. 

“You need a lot of luck with injuries, you need your best players on the park. 

It usually has a lot to do with what age your list is when you win the first flag. If your best players are no older than 25-26, which blokes like Voss and Lappin were for us, then that is a big bonus.

To have your star players in their prime is a real key to sustained success.

You have to have a resilient group because when you are the reigning premiers, every team you play sets themselves to come out and beat you, you become the hunted.

When that is happening, it is a real test both physically and mentally.  

That’s when strong leadership comes into it.

When you look at the great AFL dynasties in recent times, Brisbane and Hawthorn, they had some strong leaders going around. They had great captains in Voss and Hodge but they also had others around them who stepped up and were unofficial leaders. You need everyone getting on board and staying the course.

I think winning consecutive premierships in the future will be really hard. I don’t think we will see many teams win two in a row, let alone three. The equalisation attached to modern day footy will just make it too hard. The competition is so even, the gap between first and last continues to close.”

Losing the 2004 grand final to Port Adelaide. 

“It was pretty devastating. Winning three premierships in a row certainly didn’t make it any easier, it don’t dull the pain of losing.

We went into that game with a few injuries but we had also gone in 2003 with injuries so that was not an excuse. Port Adelaide came ready to play, we didn’t play badly, but we just weren’t able to break them.

We knew we were on the cusp of history, only Collingwood in the 1920s had won four flags in a row, so there was something special there for us if we could get the job done. Unfortunately, we fell short.”