This comes after a host of other successful films including Collingwood: From the Inside Out, Fairless and All for One where he followed different Australian sporting teams and individuals — granting viewers with incredible behind the scenes footage.
Released especially for grand final week, Cobbledick explained how the project initially came about.
“To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Brisbane Lions’ first premiership the AFL commissioned me to co-write and direct this film,” Cobbledick said.
“This project was a particularly short turn around as they first contacted me in late July and said they wanted to make a film and release on the week of the grand final and first I thought ‘this isn’t going to be possible'.
“I teamed up with a guy called Paul Mitchell, who is an author and had wanted to make a film about the Lions for quite some time, so he was the first person I called once I got off the phone with the AFL and we got cracking with the project pretty quickly.”
Tasked with getting this extensive project up in two months, he gave a behind-the-scenes description of the processes behind making a sports documentary and some of the obstacles that faced this particular project.
“We had a very limited research phase of about a week, so we read several books including A Decade of Pride which was written about the dynasty as well as Leigh Matthews’ and Jonathan Brown’s book,” he said.
“From there we created a three-page treatment which we presented to the AFL and they approved that quite quickly which allowed us to get into writing the interviews with Jonathan Brown, Leigh Matthews, Jason Akermanis, Simon Black and Stephen Quartermain.
“The interviews were disrupted because of COVID, as originally I was hoping to fly up to Brisbane and do them in person, but unfortunately they had to be done over Zoom — but we were still able to get a good result and then we managed to do two in person in Melbourne with Brown and Quartermain at the Fitzroy museum.
“From there we went into the script writing phase and in conjunction with the AFL team we got the final product up.”
For a football lover such as a Cobbledick the chance to reminisce about and tell a story such as this presented many highlights.
However, when it came to a standout he said it was being able to pick the brain of the man many regard as the greatest player and coach of all time.
“The opportunity to interview the great Leigh Matthews was certainly a highlight, I asked him if he would be interested in doing some motion portraits and things and he said that he wasn’t interested in that kind of filming, but was interested in doing an in-depth interview,” he said.
“His interview went for an hour-and-a-half and myself and Paul (Mitchell) had to pinch ourselves as Leigh Matthews is one of the greatest living legends in the game in terms of what he has achieved as a player and a coach — so to be able to go into detail with him about his time with the Lions was just a dream come true.”
Comparing the Dynasties project to his previous work, he said this particular style of film offered an exciting alternative.
“I think the big difference with this project is that it is a story told entirely in retrospect, the films I have worked on in the past have relied heavily on observational and in-the-moment footage and building up trust over time with a subject,” he said.
“This project, it all happened 20 years ago, so it was a historical account, so for that reason you can trust your writing more knowing there is nothing more to add — this style of film requires more research and that was a very enjoyable part of it.”
Reflecting on his career in filmmaking, Cobbledick said growing up in Shepparton really shaped his love for sport and telling stories.
“My experience growing up in Shepparton allowed me to be a part of so many wonderful sporting clubs and people — whether it be at Lemnos Primary School, Notre Dame College, Congupna Football Club, Shepparton Swans Football Club or Pine Lodge Cricket Club, all of those places shaped my identity and love for sport and stories,” he said.
“Where it all started for me was a film I made with a great Shepparton sporting legend called Steve Fairless and that really harnessed my love for filmmaking and I am always very thankful for his generosity and commitment to that project and is what really kick-started my career in the industry.”
