The Brisbane Lions will this year create a Hall of Fame, to include the greats of Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears as well as the current merged AFL club.

The Lions plan to name 15 inductees at the hall’s inaugural ceremony in Melbourne on June 23.

The likes of Fitzroy triple-Brownlow Medallist Haydn Bunton, teammate Wilfred Smallhorn, nine-time best and fairest Kevin Murray, five-time best and fairests Garry Wilson and Paul Roos and Brownlow Medallist and dual Coleman Medallist Bernie Quinlan are likely inductees.

Brisbane Lions triple-premiership captain Michael Voss and coach Leigh Matthews are others seemingly certain to be included immediately.

Players need to wait until at least three years after retirement, which means current great Simon Black can not be part of the initial batch.

Inductions will be held every second year, alternating between Brisbane and Melbourne.

The decision to hold the inaugural ceremony in Melbourne was made to honour Fitzroy’s substantial role in the club’s history.

The selection panel is former club chairman Graeme Downie, who will chair the committee, along with former Fitzroy and Bears coach Robert Walls, former Lions media manager Peter Blucher and club historian Arthur Wilson.

Walls said it gladdened him to see the club embrace the Fitzroy and Bears elements of their history.

He said the difficult part was likely to be whittling 25 or more stand-out contenders down to a 15-man initial intake.