Now potentially the biggest broadside may have been fired with rugged forward Jonathan Brown reported again, this time for unduly rough play at the end of a fiery first term against St Kilda on Friday night at the Gabba.
Umpire Stephen McBurney cited Brown for putting Saint Jason Blake in a headlock as players' gathered at the top of the Lions goal-square when the siren sounded.
At his media conference, Lions coach Leigh Matthews was naturally reluctant to comment on the report.
"I didn't see it, don't know anything about it except what I have been told. It's obviously an unusual thing," Matthews said.
"You are not allowed to say much about those issues and frankly there isn't much you can say."
"If an umpire has chosen to pull him out of the mass of milling bodies then he has to answer the charge."
It is the fourth time in 12 months that Brown has been reported and he has copped a total of eight weeks on the sidelines. He had just returned in round 20 after serving a four match ban.
Matthews admitted it was hard to tell which team was the instigator of all the early scuffles, but said it was a common characteristic of first week finals.
"Maybe it's just the two bulls butting heads and umpires get a little nervous when that happens," he said.
"The other finals settle down, but the first week there is often that heated, remonstrating and shoving going on all over the field."
