Chris Fagan headed the ultimate Lions reawakening

Chris Fagan said earlier this week: "You don't coach a team to win a popularity contest."Despite his best intentions, the departing Brisbane Lions three-time premiership winning coach has done just that.Today, after days of speculation, the 65-year-old has told the club he he will step down."Telling the players and football staff today was one of the hardest things I've done in my life," he said."We have been on a mission to make the Lions the most entertaining and competitive team in the competition, and we have done that."In his decade at the Lions, Fagan has broken the mould of what is needed to be an AFL coach. He also leaves as one of the most popular figures in Australian sport.The reason Fagan took on the difficult job at the Lions back in 2016 was to help the club on its road to redemption.Safe to say now, a little more than 10 years on, mission accomplished.Three AFL premierships. In a row.Chris Fagan and the Brisbane Lions celebrate their third consecutive AFL premiership. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer/AFL Photos)Fagan is also known as "Fages", or "Papa Fages" to so many of the young men he coached during his tenure. Many have referred to him as a father figure, or another grandfather.That respect goes both ways, with Fagan often noting that he considered players at the club as his sons, and wanted to "help them develop into the best people they can be".He finishes his role with 148 wins in 243 games as head coach, the most of any Brisbane Lions coach of all time, and of course those three titles.Brisbane will never forget the work, effort and glory he has given the team.But back in October 2016, public opinion on the surprise appointment was mixed. A goalscoring teacherFagan grew up in Queenstown, Tasmania — a far cry from the humidity of Brisbane.He played 260 games of senior footy in the Tasmanian Football League with Hobart, Sandy Bay and Devonport between 1978 and 1990.Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan, third from the left at the front, grew up in Queenstown and played for the Lyell-Gormanston football club as a junior. (Supplied: Galley Museum Collection)Before coaching, Fagan went into teaching, working as a high school teacher in Tasmania towards the end of his playing career. He took on some local coaching roles in Tasmania.The long apprenticeship from high school teacher to three-peat AFL premiership winning coach began in 1999 when AFL great Neale Daniher brought him to Melbourne Football Club.He served under Daniher until 2007 before joining as an assistant and eventually general manager of football at Hawthorn.The Lions hierarchy saw the value in what Fagan had learned and appointed him to replace Justin Leppitsch in late 2016.Fresh start for BrisbaneAfter finishing second bottom of the ladder in 2016, the Brisbane Lions were looking for a fresh start.A five-person coaching selection panel, led by then club chief executive Greg Swann, made the selection to appoint Fagan on October 4.Chris Fagan speaks to the media after being unveiled as the Brisbane Lions' coach in 2016. (AAP Image: Dave Hunt)The committee said Fagan was "exactly the person" the club needed."Chris is the perfect fit for the Brisbane Lions as we strive to regain relevance — his knowledge, experience, mentoring skills and ability to communicate are all elite," Swann said announcing the appointment.At the time, Fagan said he felt Brisbane's best football was ahead of them.Yet in Fagan's first season at the club, the Lions finished rock bottom. The team ended the 2017 campaign with 17 losses.The Brisbane Lions lost 19 of 22 games in 2016, finishing second-last on the ladder. (AAP: Ben Macmahon)You would be forgiven if you thought Fagan must have been disheartened after his first season at the club ending in a wooden spoon.You would also be wrong."It's been a great year, I've learned so much about the group," Fagan said in August 2017."I think right now, I'm in a good position to know what's required."Lions coach Chris Fagan (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)The 'Gabbatoir' returnsIn 2019, Fagan took the Lions to second on the ladder and a semifinal.They narrowly lost the semifinal to Greater Western Sydney, but it was a marked turnaround from the year prior.It had been a long time since playing in Brisbane was seen as a difficult away trip, but that year Fagan and his Lions turned the Gabba into a fortress.Chris Fagan and the Lions turned the Gabba into the "Gabbatoir". (Getty Images: Albert Perez/AFL Photos)From 2019 to 2023 the Lions won 49 of 53 regular season games at the Gabba. In 2023, Brisbane were unbeaten at home.Once again, the Lions had turned the Gabba into the "Gabbatoir". He had made them believe."There's nothing magical or mysterious about it," he said in 2019 before the incredible home form began, adding the secret would be hard work, staying humble and believing.He led the club to the Finals series in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.At the end of the 2022 season, Fagan took a leave of absence as Brisbane coach to assist with an external review into the treatment of Indigenous players during his time as an employee at Hawthorn alongside then-coach Alastair Clarkson and former welfare manager Jason Burt.Fagan, Clarkson and Burt categorically denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and the case was settled out of court. Fagan returned to his coaching duties in late October 2022.In 2023, he guided the Lions to their first grand final in 19 years. They lost to Collingwood by four points.Despite the frustrations of falling at the final hurdle, Fagan asked the fans and his players to be patient.Fagan shakes hands with Collingwood coach Craig McRae after the Lions' grand final loss in 2023. (Getty Images: AFL Photos/Daniel Pockett)"Grand final losses don't have to define you or destroy you, they can make you," he said."There's lots of teams in the history of the game that have lost close grand finals and gone on to win premierships in the ensuing years."Almost as if he knew.Back-to-back-to-backIn 2024, after a fifth-placed finish in the regular season, the Lions clawed their way through the longer finals path to reach the grand final.In it, they defeated the Sydney Swans 120-60 in what was an emphatic victory. They became just the third team to win the premiership from outside the top four.Brisbane Lions players and coach Chris Fagan after winning the 2024 grand final against the Sydney Swans. (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney)"I'm so proud of the group, the resilience that they've shown this year," Fagan told ABC Sport after the win."We certainly know how to do it the hard way, but it makes it all that better when you achieve it."He was right about Lions doing things the hard way. In 2025 the Lions lost their qualifying final against Geelong, 112-74.Despite that, the Lions eased past Gold Coast Suns in the semifinal and then defeated Collingwood in the preliminary final, setting up a rematch against Geelong in the grand final.The Lions turned around the qualifying final result and defeated Geelong 122-75 to claim their second premiership in as many years.Self belief within the group was at an all time high going into the match, Fagan recalled afterwards."I always talked about the idea of failing our way to the top," Fagan said after becoming a back-to-back premiership winner.“We don’t get too upset when we lose. I think everybody has embraced that at the footy club."Harris Andrews, Chris Fagan and Lachie Neale celebrate the Lions' 2025 victory. (Getty Images/AFL Photos: Michael Willson)The 2026 season saw the Lions defeated in the qualifying final once again. This time the Swans humbled Brisbane 144-88.Brisbane had to do it the hard way for the third year in a row. "We've got work to do," Fagan said.In the post match conference he posed a question to his players: "How badly do they want it? We'll see."It turned out they wanted it (a three-peat) badly. The Lions roared past Adelaide Crows, then held off Hawthorn on the way to a fourth consecutive grand final.In that final, against Fremantle, the Lions pulled off what can only be described as unbelievable to claim their third AFL premiership in a row.With a little over four minutes left on the clock they trailed by 17 points. The camera panned to Fagan on the sideline, he looked his usual calm self. He believed.As did his players, just like he had asked them to do for the last 10 years. Believe.Against the run of play and all logic, the Lions scored four unanswered goals as the clock ran down and won the match by seven points in an instant classic.Fagan leaves the Lions at the peak of his powers. (Getty Images: Michael Willson/AFL Photos)Fagan had coached the players to have so much belief in themselves that they would produce results where no one else would think possible. But under Fagan's stewardship it was.Until his achievements with the Lions, successful AFL coaches had all played at the top level, and typically utilised old school methods of rallying the troops.But Fagan's coaching ethos has relied on mutual trust, relationships and emotional intelligence to challenge his players. Now, he walks out on top.Never someone to chase personal accolades, Fagan is leaving the role at the peak of his powers, and opting not to chase the four-peat that would leave him in even rarer air.Fagan took on one of AFL's biggest assignments at the Lions and leaves a club favourite. (Getty Images: Michael Willson/AFL Photos)It was one of the AFL's biggest assignments — saving a flagship club that was depleted on and off the field. Brisbane was not only struggling to win matches, the club was also losing memberships and crowds.Fast forward to the end of the 2026 season, and Chris Fagan has finished that assignment. He passed with flying (maroon, blue and gold) colours.