The premiership jumpers are back and the beer lines can be salvaged, so AFL star Jonathan Brown can laugh at his misfortune in the Queensland floods.
The three-time Brisbane premiership player was devastated when flood waters ripped through a storage shed on his property.
He went for a walk and found a piece of his gym equipment weighing about 200kg up a nearby tree.
“It’s bloody carnage – when I walked in I thought ‘Jesus, the cleanup is going to be unbelievable,” Brown said on Nova 100.
“I thought ‘aw no, I’ve left all my memorabilia from my whole career’ – so premiership jumpers, milestone game boots.
“It doesn’t mean anything to anyone else, but it’s sentimental value and I thought it would be good for the kids – sitting in a removal box, mind you.
“So that’s gone. I was a bit flat about that.”
Brown was particularly upset at losing his premiership guernseys from Brisbane’s famous 2001-03 three-peat.
But as he walked along a nearby creek, he found his 2001 jumper.
“Great memories – it means a lot,” he said.
“I happily put that jumper over the shoulder.”
Next, he found gas bottles for his beer supply “with the beer line still attached – beautiful, we can replace that.
“So we’ve got the beer back on tap.”
Then former AFL player Jason Mooney, who lives nearby, visited the next day with eight of Brown’s jumpers – including the 2002 premiership guernsey.
“I had a tear in me eye, almost,” he said.
“You wouldn’t bloody believe – last night I get a call from the farm, the father-in-law rings up.
“He goes ‘there was a bit of a mail drop, there was a plastic bag left on our front door, from a property about 2k’s down the creek’ … found the third one.”