BRENDAN Fevola may be renting the goalsquare, but Jonathan Brown owns the Gabba.
On an occasion meant to be Fevola's real welcome party at Brisbane, Brown instead dialled up one of past decade's most dominant performances.
There were seven goals in all. Seven individual acts of brilliance. And perhaps the most obvious three-vote performance in recent seasons.
It was the perfect script. Brisbane on the ropes against Carlton at the Gabba, game on the line and the Blues full of running. Up steps the superstar forward to save the day with a burst of brilliance that almost defies description. Yes, Jonathan Brown is just that good.
With Brisbane trailing by seven going into the final term, Brown was immense. The champion forward was in the rarest of form, booting three goals in the last term to finish the night with 7.1. He simply refused to lose. With the big skipper parting the seas, the Lions waded in to make it two-from-two with a 16.11.107 to 12.16.88 victory.
Glenn Archer yesterday described Brown's last quarter as vintage "Duck". "Every time I watch Brownie he reminds me of the Duck," Archer said. "He hasn't reached the heights of Duck just yet, but, gee, he's not too far off him is he?"
Malcolm Blight's adulation for Carey and Brown is boundless, but he argues Carey was at his zenith for longer than Brown. "In the end they both may be eight-year players at the highest level. So give Jonathan another two or three years. Because we've seen Carey play his whole career, he's probably played two or three better seasons than Jonathan Brown at this stage, but if the other bloke stays fit he's capable of catching him."
From the moment he walked out to toss the coin, Brown gave the impression of owning the ground. It was like he was allowing all the other players - including his own - to share it with him, but no one was going to upstage him. Not even come close. It was one of those rare performances that you feel privileged to be watching.
I remember Gorden Tallis once telling me about the time he was in the dressing room before a Test match and Wayne Bennett telling him, "Make all the kids want to be Gorden Tallis tomorrow".
That's what Jonathan Brown did on Thursday night. Every kid who walked out of the ground - and all the kids watching on television - wanted to be Jonathan Brown. And they will remember that feeling for the rest of their lives.
His 2010 scoring start is an all-time best for the Bears/Lions, topping Jim Edmond's 3.8 opening back in the first season in 1987, and Daniel Bradshaw's 4.7 in 2000.
It takes me back a long way when I was playing for Fitzroy when a young Brownie used to sneak into the Fitzroy rooms with his father to see the team his dad used to play for and get autographs. Now I'm looking forward to taking my son Tom into the Lions room to get the skipper's moniker and try to convince my young bloke that I used to play with him.
I'm not expecting Brown or Fevola to kick 100 goals this season because they'll share the spoils, but if they get 170 or 180 between them it'll be a massive return.
Now a new conversation has begun. Jonathan Brown's name has been mentioned in the same breath as Carey's. Such has been the Brisbane giant's domination of his team's two wins this season that it has provided a reminder of the influence Carey so regularly wielded in the 1990s. And this is no sudden media fad, for Brown has been a dominant force across a decade. His is now a sufficiently established career to offer solid data for comparison.
