Chris Fagan’s revival of broken Lions complete

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Chris Fagan walked in to a broken club eight years ago.

The Brisbane Lions were at rock bottom, had won just seven games in total over the previous two AFL seasons and were losing a steady stream of talented players to rival clubs.

What has happened since under Fagan’s watch – six successive finals appearances, enviable player recruitment and ultimately a premiership – could be looked back upon as one of the greatest coaching performances and rebuilds of an entire club in football history.

Recalling the moment this month, Hawthorn great Luke Hodge said he almost couldn’t believe it when he first heard Fagan was applying for the Brisbane job.

Fagan had been an integral member of Alastair Clarkson’s support staff for four premierships at the Hawks, and had been involved in coaching at various levels for more than three decades.

But he had never played a senior AFL/VFL game. The odds were stacked against him, and the task ahead if he won the role, was enormous.

Yet Lions legend Simon Black, who was part of the club’s coaching selection committee, could not have been more impressed with what he saw from Fagan.

“Within 10 minutes I was like, ‘This bloke has to be our coach’,” Black recalled after Brisbane’s 60-point thumping of Sydney in Saturday’s grand final secured their first flag in 21 years.

“It was almost like, ‘I don’t care if he knows nothing about the game’.

“His manner, authenticity and genuine care that you could feel from him, it exuded from him.”

Brisbane had lost plenty of talent in the preceding years, including the famous “go-home five”, and the premiership dynasty Black played in under Leigh Matthews from 2001-03 felt like a lifetime ago.

“The club was in dire straits from a culture perspective. A lot of players wanted out,” Black said.

“When Fages came along, we really bottomed out as a footy club.

“So what he’s been able to do to develop us culturally and get great people to the place, to become a destination club, has been really special.

“So much of it has to do with Fages and the way he’s gone about it.”

At different stages, Joe Daniher, Josh Dunkley, Charlie Cameron, Callum Ah Chee, Darcy Fort and Conor McKenna all saw what Fagan was building and wanted to be part of it.

They were all among the group of players who arrived from other clubs and featured in the premiership side.

So, too, was Lachie Neale, while his good mate Lincoln McCarthy and Tom Doedee only missed out through injury.

A star midfielder on the rise at Fremantle, Neale needed a change of scenery at the end of 2018 and was sold a vision by Fagan that he could not ignore.

Now six years into his time with the Lions, Neale is a two-time Brownlow Medal winner and premiership star.

“I feel so proud and happy for (Fagan). He’s been unbelievable for me and for this footy club and he deserves this success,” Neale said.

“He just believes in his players and sells the picture for you and what you can provide for this footy club and makes you feel pretty special. I think that’s a good trait to have.

“I probably thought it would take maybe five or six years, and it has. But we’ve been around the mark that whole time and to get the reward today, it’s worth every heartbreak.”

The journey has rarely been a smooth one.

Brisbane managed just five wins in Fagan’s first season at the helm and were handed the wooden spoon, finishing a third-straight year in the bottom two.

The following season also reaped just five wins, with a vastly improved percentage, before a giant and unexpected leap into second spot and a finals berth in 2019.

As they say in football circles, this sort of growth is never linear.

But that’s when the September heartbreak started, and critics who often credited Fagan as being a great development coach also questioned his tactical nous and ability to take his team the final step on the path to premiership glory.

A straight-sets finals exit in 2019 marked the first of four successive seasons when Brisbane reached the top eight but couldn’t make the grand final.

Fagan’s finals record by that stage was 3-6.

On Saturday, he conceded he had only considered his group a “developing team” to that point.

In 2023, the Lions were the real deal, and their coach felt it, but they fell agonisingly short in a four-point defeat to Collingwood in an epic season decider.

Over the summer, there were reports of a player rift after an end-of-season trip to the United States, which led to crisis meetings.

A tumultuous start to 2024 then had Brisbane lose five players to season-ending knee injuries, and club leaders were forced to deny reports that ongoing player unrest had contributed to their 0-3 opening to the season.

Lions chairman Andrew Wellington insists Fagan was “absolutely central” to keeping the group together.

“He’s the coach. he’s responsible for making sure everyone is on the same page in terms of the coaching group and playing group,” Wellington told AAP.

“He did exactly that and really from the middle of the season onwards, our form has been fantastic.

“So he’s taken a side that was struggling a little bit and created that momentum.”

Fagan has admitted throughout September he thought the Lions’ flag dream was dust when they took a 4-6-1 record to the mid-season bye.

He knew they were on thin ice and famously told them to dance on it.

The Ted Lasso fan also wanted his players to “believe”.

“The whole ‘believe’ and ‘just dancing’ and having fun … that’s something that I reckon after the bye that we came in with,” Lions defender Noah Answerth said.

“(Fagan) instilled a lot of belief in the group and we enjoyed playing footy, and we’ve been having fun ever since that bye.

“It shows what can happen when you’re having fun and enjoying your footy.”

Fagan’s feat of taking Brisbane to the last two grand finals and a premiership has fallen against the backdrop of the ongoing Hawthorn racism scandal.

The 63-year-old, who has consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing, took a temporary leave of absence when the allegations first came to light during grand final week in 2022.

Two years later, Fagan is a premiership winner and Lions ruckman Oscar McInerney, who missed the grand final because of a shoulder injury, insists nobody deserves the flag success more than his coach.

“What he’s been through the past 12 months has been absolutely cruel, but he’s shown up every day without batting an eyelid,” McInerney said.

“What a man he is, he deserves every bit of it.”

In the days leading up to Saturday’s grand final, Fagan was named senior coach of the year by his peers for the second time.

For those inside Brisbane’s four walls, it’s not hard to see why.

“It’s well documented that Chris has had his critics at different times as a coach but we’ve had complete faith in him,” Wellington said.

“A lot of the discussion around coaching in the media focuses on game day, but it misses the broader aspect of coaching, which is what Chris has focused on.

“It’s the environment he creates.”

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