Former Brisbane Lions best and fairest winner Mitch Robinson has deleted a social media post claiming he will “never go to a game again” after doubts emerged he was denied entry to the club rooms after Saturday night’s game. Robinson, who played 147 games for the Lions between 2015 and 2022, winning the Merrett-Murray Medal in his first year at the club, a year after being discarded by Carlton, was in attendance for the elimination final between his two former clubs on Saturday night and, after the Lions’ convincing win, wanted to congratulate the playing group in person. However, he claimed that he and his family were “turned away” from the rooms. “Football is a fake family, just remember that. I’ll never go to a Lions game again,” he said in a since-deleted tweet. 7NEWS.com.au understands that Robinson attended the game with his partner and a group of mates and, due to the late nature of his attempts to gain entry the club rooms, not all could be offered wristbands. Even players have to give the club a number of days’ notice to organise allocation of limited wrist bands required to get into the rooms for loved ones. Robinson had posted on social media in the lead-up to the game, which was Brisbane and Carlton’s second final against each other in two years, after last year’s preliminary final. “Tonight’s the night, these two clubs are building a little finals rivalry!!” he wrote. “I think Brissy gets the win at home, settled team, climatised to warm conditions and if they kick straight it could be a blow out. Praying for a close, tough game though. Who you think gets up?” Robinson hosts a podcast with fellow former Lions teammate, Rhys Mathieson. The pair regularly show their support for Brisbane and their former teammates still at the club, who speak affectionately about the two cult heroes’ influence on the Lions. The Lions will play Greater Western Sydney next Saturday for a spot in a preliminary final against Geelong after ending the Blues’ fluctuating season with a 14.15 (99) to 11.5 (71) win. The hosts kicked the first nine goals and notched the first 60 points of the contest, leaving the Blues as the first team not to score in the opening quarter of a finals game since 1974. The inside-50 count was evenly split (56-56), but Brisbane’s centre-square dominance and delivery was far superior as Carlton stumbled towards half-time still searching for a point. Patrick Cripps’ snap for goal with five minutes remaining in the term meant they avoided becoming the first scoreless team after two terms in AFL history. The margin was 47 at the main break, only one more than the deficit the Blues pulled back in an unbelievable Opening Round win at the same venue. And a miraculous repeat briefly looked possible as the Blues kicked five goals in 15 minutes. The lead was 31 when the Lions butchered two brilliant chances to stop the rot, first Logan Morris hitting the post from directly in front, then Zac Bailey being run down when he received the ball in an open goal. Callum Ah Chee’s goal soon afterwards settled any nerves, the Lions up by 40 points at the final break, only for the Blues to kick the game’s last three goals to complete the see-sawing contest. “That’s probably the best footy we’ve played this year for 50, 55 minutes,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said, dismissing the significance of the Blues’ fightback. “We wanted to try and get them on the back foot early ... didn’t think we’d do it as well as that. It was a pretty emphatic performance.” Jack Payne, returning from a foot injury, was substituted out with a knee injury that will require scans, but Fagan said there was optimism the key forward could still face the Giants on Saturday. Dayne Zorko (29 disposals), Will Ashcroft (20) and Lachie Neale (27) were all superb for the hosts, while Cameron Rayner flew spectacularly for a mark that led to the second of his three goals. The Brisbane Lions have cleared up Mitch Robinson’s claim he was denied entry to his old club’s dressing rooms on Saturday night. Robinson, celebrated for his reputation as an old-fashioned “hard nut” footballer, has since deleted his comments on social media as his former club clarified the situation. Brisbane has communicated that Robinson was denied entry by Gabba security staff because he did not have the required accreditation to access the club’s inner sanctum. According to the football club, Robinson was issued an accreditation pass by a member of the footy department when it became known he had not been let through. Robinson is understood to have turned down the offer when a group of friends he was with was denied entry. Robinson, who played for both Carlton and Brisbane before hanging the boots up in 2022, was there to watch his two clubs do battle at the Gabba. He watched on as the Lions blew the Blues off the park, running away with a 28-point victory after the home side had led 60-0 in the second quarter. Robinson posted on Twitter at 11pm (AEST): “Imagine playing and bleeding for a club for eight years, copping copious amounts of head knocks and staples in my face (long term effects) just to have my family turned away to come down to the rooms after the game to celebrate with my old teammates,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Football is a fake family, just remember that. I’ll never go to a Lions game again.” Robinson deleted the post on Sunday morning. Robinson had earlier shared photos of him in Lions supporters gear and he has appeared to support the Lions in previous matches where they have come up against Carlton, who he played 100 games for. It comes after Robinson also shared his disappointment at the way his career ended in Brisbane. The 35-year-old was delisted at the end of 2022 and was not picked up by rival clubs. It ended in a messy fashion when he was denied an opportunity for his retirement to be celebrated by fans and teammates. At the time Robinson said Lions coach Chris Fagan made it clear that his retirement had to be kept under wraps heading into the club’s preliminary final loss. Robinson also gave Fagan a public swipe before the dust had settled. “Devastated Fages (Chris Fagan) wouldn’t allow me to announce this in person to the supporters and my teammates, but I guess that’s footy,” he posted. “It’s been an absolute privilege pulling on the Fitzroy and Lions jumper!” He has since said he has fallen out of love with the sport and told SEN radio earlier this year that the handling of his retirement is the main reason for it. “That was probably the start of it,” he said. “The way that all happened and went down was obviously a kick in the nuts and that’s when I was like, you know what, it’s a business, it’s footy, the game that you love. I did fall out of love with the game for about two years before I finished, even though we were successful and doing well, the only thing I loved was gameday. Everything else, the meetings, the same training, so repetitive, pre-season was just too much for me and my back was getting pretty sore, I had a couple of bulging discs and we couldn’t that out until late in the late season of my career.” Having turned to a semi-professional boxing career, Robinson said he was burnt out and disenchanted with the sport. “I hate footy, to be honest… I’m serious,” Robinson said. “I’d say it’s just the way the game is going… not in terms of the physicality because I know Kingy (Breakfast co-host David King) is big on concussions and stuff but the game that I fell in love with, obviously that’s gone. I’m probably just a bit burnt out, to be honest, 14 years in the system and then I went back and played local footy, got good money but I was getting bashed up by 21-year-olds, little s***s that just wanted to make a name for themselves and I was trying to hold back not getting suspended every game. Honestly, my dad watched one of the games last year when I was playing in the QAFL and he’s like, ‘that’s the worst I’ve seen it’. The crowd was always drunk and they were just bashing me, double tagging me every game and just laying into me, the umpires weren’t doing anything. Even the umpire said once, ‘you’re not getting any easy free kicks here’ to me. I know I’m a player you love to hate but it just turned me off footy, last year.” The Lions will play Greater Western Sydney in Saturday's semi-final, with the prize an MCG preliminary final date with Geelong. By James Cooney For Daily Mail Australia and Murray Wenzel For Australian Associated Press Published: 20:26 EDT, 7 September 2024 | Updated: 20:37 EDT, 7 September 2024 20 View comments Former Lions great Mitch Robinson has lashed out publicly at his former club after being refused entry into the team dressing rooms after the match on Saturday night. Robinson, who played 147 games for Brisbane, was at the Gabba to watch his two ex clubs clash. The Lions booked their spot in the preliminary final against Geelong, ending the Blues' fluctuating season with a 14.15 (99) to 11.5 (71) win. At 11pm, Robinson, 35, took to social media to post: 'Imagine playing and bleeding for a club for eight years, copping copious amounts of head knocks and staples in my face (long term effects) just to have my family turned away to come down to the rooms after the game to celebrate with my old teammates,' he wrote. 'Football is a fake family, just remember that. I'll never go to a Lions game again.' Robinson had been posting to social media in the lead-up to the match, clearly excited for the big occasion. 'Tonight's the night, these two clubs are building a little finals rivalry!!' he posted. 'I think Brissy gets the win at home, settled team, climatised to warm conditions and if they kick straight it could be a blow out. Praying for a close, tough game though. Who you think gets up?' The hosts kicked the first nine goals and notched the first 60 points of the contest, leaving the Blues as the first team not to score in the opening quarter of a finals game since 1974. The inside-50 count was evenly split (56-56), but Brisbane's centre-square dominance and delivery was far superior as Carlton stumbled towards half-time still searching for a point. Patrick Cripps' snapped major with five minutes remaining in the term meant they avoided becoming the first scoreless team after two terms in AFL history. The margin was 47 at the main break, only one more than the deficit the Blues pulled back in an unbelievable opening-round win at the same venue. And a miraculous repeat briefly looked possible as the Blues kicked five goals in 15 minutes. The lead was 31 when the Lions butchered two brilliant chances to stop the rot, first Logan Morris hitting the post from directly in front, then Zac Bailey being run down when he received the ball in an open goal. Callum Ah Chee's goal soon afterwards settled any nerves, the Lions up by 40 points at the final break, only for the Blues to kick the game's last three goals to complete the see-sawing contest. 'That's probably the best footy we've played this year for 50, 55 minutes,' Lions coach Chris Fagan said, dismissing the significance of the Blues' fightback. 'We wanted to try and get them on the back foot early ... didn't think we'd do it as well as that. It was a pretty emphatic performance.' Robinson says he will never attend another Lions footy game after his treatment Jack Payne, returning from a foot injury, was substituted out with a knee injury that will require scans, but Fagan said there was optimism the key forward could still face the Giants on Saturday. Dayne Zorko (29 disposals), Will Ashcroft (20) and Lachie Neale (27) were all superb for the hosts, while Cameron Rayner flew spectacularly for a mark that led to the second of his three goals. Tom De Koning was influential as a tactical substitute in the second quarter for a desperate Carlton, while Cripps (31 touches, one goal) and Sam Walsh (28 touches) battled hard. Sam Docherty, making a remarkable return less than six months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament at the same ground, had 16 touches and a late goal. 'Tonight was a small sample size of what our season's been ... it hasn't been consistent enough,' said Voss. 'When you're not consistent enough it compounds over time, you come to finals, against the best sides, the most extreme pressure ... and you find out a bit about yourselves. We didn't have our pressure at levels anywhere near where they needed to be.' Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group