welcome to the roar deal

In the early months of 2012, a chance meeting brought the optimism and emotion of Dom Fay together with the professionalism & expertise of Michael Whiting, and the world has never been quite the same since.

In the decade that followed, Dom & Mike shared many conversations about the Brisbane Lions, the wider AFL world, running, and cheese through the media department of the Brisbane Lions, on the airwaves of ABC Grandstand, and in numerous cafes and restaurants around Brisbane.

Then, as 2023 began, their partnership was ready to mature to the next step: going out into the wild with a podcast of their own.

With little more than a couple of microphones, a few opinions, and history’s least accurate crystal ball, the new Roar Deal was born in a basement studio in Coorparoo, with Leigh Matthews joining the podcast to officially launch a whole new era.

From those humble cafe beginnings in 2012 to the even-more-humble surrounds of their very basic studios, Dom & Mike have taken on the media’s inability to get Jack Payne’s name right, done their best to get Dare To Beat The Bear played around the Gabba, defeated Dom’s Victorian curse, handled the joys of a Grand Final appearance and the heartbreak of a Grand Final loss, named & shamed Mike’s least favourite footy cliches, spoken at length about the best cheeses for handling a rough loss, campaigned hard for two tall forwards, and experienced all the highs and lows of being a Lions fan alongside the whole Roar Deal family.

It’s a ride we’ve all shared together, with the Roar Deal family gathering for watch parties in Woolloongabba, an in-depth conversation with Chris Fagan in Seven Hills, a live Grand Final week podcast with Jonathan Brown & Ash McGrath in Fitzroy, a Grand Final morning brunch in Federation Square, and every week in the podcast feed and online to share our stories, joys, frustrations, and observations.

And now, in the latest chapter of the story, a line of Roar Deal merch has been launched to bring the podcast to life in a whole new way.

Hosted by afl.com.au's Michael Whiting & KIIS FM's Dom Fay, the Roar Deal is the officially unnofficial podcast home of all things Brisbane Lions.

With weekly episodes dropping on Monday nights for Patreon subscribers and Tuesday nights more widely, the podcast covers all things Lions - from the on-field to the off-field, the inner-sanctum to the Gabba stands, and the stories of years gone by to all that lies ahead.