Coaching Staff Chris Fagan - Coach

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Brisbane Lions name Chris Fagan as Justin Lepptisch's replacement as head AFL coach

The Brisbane Lions have named former Hawthorn football operations manager Chris Fagan as the embattled club's new head coach.

Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan latest graduate of Hawks' football university

A double change at the Brisbane Lions marked a change of direction for the club, with the Lions' new leaders putting the emphasis on culture and leadership after a season beset by player unrest.

The Brisbane Lions have appointed former Hawthorn football manager Chris Fagan as their new senior coach.

Hawthron stars praise Chris Fagan

"Speaking to people at Hawthorn, to say he is highly regarded at the footy club is a massive understatement. He is spoken of in the highest possible terms,” - these are the words of Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton who, before Chris Fagan's appointment as Brisbane Lions Senior Coach today, said that Fagan would be the ideal man for the Brisbane Lions.

 

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Chris Fagan to drive higher standards as new Brisbane Lions coach

THE Lions are in for a culture shock with new coach Chris Fagan determined to clean-out players who cannot meet strict new standards and vowing to scrap the club’s excuse mentality.

New Brisbane coach Chris Fagan to bolster defensive stocks and target small forwards to improve Lions' list

CHRIS Fagan has based his draft and trade wish list on the need to improve Brisbane’s defence.

The new Lions coach has identified pressure small forwards and an intercept marking key defender as the holes that need filling on Brisbane’s list.

 

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Fagan wants youth to drive standard

BRISBANE coach Chris Fagan is banking on the Lions’ department of youth to drive high training standards through summer and put pressure on the club’s senior players.

Those with four or fewer years experience will report to pre-season training on Monday when Fagan will preach the importance of “continuous improvement’’ to one of the AFL’s youngest lists. In Fagan’s time at Hawthorn, Hawks senior players spoke often about how the club’s young brigade pushed the experienced core to greater heights.

That same approach has come with him to the Gabba.

“They start two weeks earlier than the older boys so they can get a head start but you always encourage that (young players taking responsibility),’’ he said.

“Particularly for us, being such a young side, we really rely on our young blokes to drive standards and if that pushes some of the older guys to higher levels as well, that’s a great result. “When they turn up, I’ll be talking about the idea of continuous improvement and how we achieve that.

“My big thing is if every time you come to training and every time you come to the club to do anything, you try to improve. Eventually you get to a higher level and eventually, wins come.’’

Fagan expects the players to come back in tiptop shape. “That’s always a good indication of a good attitude and a willingness to improve,’’ he said. “That’s the first thing you are looking for. You are also looking for a real level of enthusiasm on the track. “The season is five months away but the work you do now is really important.

“There’s been a healthy number of guys in the gym already doing weights and running. Every time I wander through the gym, somebody is there when they don’t need to be so that’s a good indicator.’’

Fagan has spoken to each player individually since he took the reins at Brisbane and has been impressed with their attitude.

Lions players with five years or more experience are due back to training in two weeks.

 

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[lionshine]

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Fagan just seems like a very solid and likeable bloke. We are lucky to have him at this stage in our team's development.

 

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[SRH17]

Can't help but to be continously impressed by this bloke. He seems the perfect fit for the rabble we had become. Sensible, and cares about them as people rather than just footballers.

 

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Lions must be 'a bit braver', first-up Fagan declares

"I thought for two-and-a-half quarters we were really competitive and then we lost our balance around contested situations," he said.

"We had too many players getting in after the footy and not handling it cleanly, it'd pop up and they got us on the outside with their ball use.

"We turned some balls over trying to do (aggressive) stuff, but I'm not unhappy about that, I want to keep encouraging that.

"There was some really good passages of ball movement today.

"I thought when we chipped it around and changed the angles, we caused some bother, but we didn't do that enough.

"We have to be a bit braver to take the game on."

Last season the Lions were notorious for conceding 'red time' (time-on) goals, but it was different on Sunday.

They kicked the final goal of the first quarter and the final two goals of both the second and fourth terms.

"It's something we've talked about," Fagan said.

"It's changing the mindset from not wanting to get beaten too much in red time, to "let's try and win red time".

"That was one of the positives out of today."

Fagan said was pleased with Rohan Bewick (28 disposals) and Harris Andrews, who kept Suns star Tom Lynch to one goal.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade was frustrated the treatment of his All Australian forward, who found it hard to shake Andrews close-checking defence.

"You'd certainly like your forwards, if they got wrestled a bit, to get free kicks, that'd be handy," he said.

"What about Tom Lynch? He (Andrews) thought it was World Championship Wrestling, had him in a sleeper hold at one stage."

 

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GOLFER Geoff Ogilvy delivered a classic slice of Aussie humour when he appeared on the David Letterman show after his stunning upset victory in the 2006 US Open: “Even I’ve never heard of me.”

It was a self-deprecating quip from a player whose talents were no secret to his rivals or hardcore golf fans, but had yet to gain recognition in the mainstream.

Chris Fagan would get the joke.

Not since the then-Brisbane Bears coach Robert Walls was given a couple of free tickets to see his own team play by an unsuspecting cashier at a Gold Coast McDonald’s has a new AFL coach enjoyed such anonymity.

Tasmanian-born Fagan’s appointment as senior coach of Brisbane isn’t so much a change of direction for the Lions as a full-blown, tyre-shredding U-turn.

The club’s past three coaches were AFL or Lions legends: Leigh Matthews, Michael Voss and Justin Leppitsch.

RELATED: CHRIS FAGAN’S GIG WITH BRISBANE MAKES IT THREE TASSIE COACHES IN AFL

While his previous role as director of coaching at latter-day powerhouse Hawthorn could be seen as one of the cushiest jobs in the competition, following club legends into the coach’s hot seat at Brisbane – after more than a decade of mediocrity for the club – is a huge ask.

The Lions are back at square one and not even their most diehard fans would anticipate any degree of success in the next couple of years.

“That was actually the genuine attraction for me,” says Fagan, who was appointed in October.

“I understand how to build a team, and for me that’s the exciting part. As a coach you get a lot of pleasure when you see a group come together and start to be a good team, and I want to try that at the highest level.’’

http://www.themercury.com.au/sport/...s/news-story/a763733a96fb662012e7c9addef2a3d9

 

[lionshine]

I know it is all talk until we actually see some results but hearing our head coach say "I understand how to build a team" is reassuring.

 

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2017 AFL preview: Will this be the start of the Brisbane Lions’ rise up the ladder under new coach Chris Fagan?

THE COACH

THERE is a model most expect new Brisbane Lions senior coach Chris Fagan to follow. It comes in two parts.

The first is to borrow from the philosophy most notably used by Brendon Bolton at Carlton in 2016 and build from the backline onwards. The Lions’ historically bad defence must improve, purely based on regression to the mean as much as anything. Fagan’s game plan will also impact on that.

The second is to use what he learned from his time as Hawthorn’s football manager and head of coaching and development. Not only will this give the Lions insight into how the most well-run team of the past decade operates but provide a point of difference.

Fagan is more a teacher than anything, it would seem, after never playing at AFL level or graduating from the assistant coaching ranks into his current role.

Given the Lions have the youngest list in the league — averaging under 23 years — a teacher sounds like just what they need.

 

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‘THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN MY LIFE’

FAGAN comes from a successful football background, having played an integral role in building the Hawthorn teams that won premierships in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

He said the prospect of rebuilding a Brisbane side that had reached one of its lowest points shaped as a difficult, but exciting challenge. “It’s a real challenge, probably the biggest challenge in my life (and) something I’m really looking forward to,” he said. “(I’m) really hopeful that in time I’ll be able to get smiles back on the faces of Brisbane supporters and our players because we’re achieving and I know it’s going to be a bit of a grind but I’m really confident that we’re going to get there given the attitude of the players and the club.”

Brisbane opted for a more experienced football figure — despite Fagan’s lack of senior coaching jobs — to help kickstart the club. The 55-year-old said he hoped to set a trend of more older coaches getting a job at AFL level.

“The view at Brisbane was probably that they need an older head that can ride the bumps a bit with this group as they grow and develop into a really good team, so that’s probably why I was able to secure the job,” he said. “I’m just really grateful to get the opportunity and hopefully I can be a little bit of a trailblazer for a few older blokes around the place who have been earning their stripes.”

As for the playing group at Brisbane, Fagan said he’d arrived at a club down on confidence after a horror run. While he acknowledged it would take time to get the Lions up to scratch, the coach was optimistic he would get the club back on track and believing again. “I think that’s just human nature that after a while, of you keep getting beaten, that it affects your enthusiasm and your attitude and you probably get to that point where you think that a good thing’s never going to happen again,” Fagan said.

“One of the things that we’ve had to coach really strongly over the pre-season is to have a growth mindset: To believe you can improve, to believe you can overcome hurdles.“That’ll take a little bit of time but I can see that belief coming. “We’re not quite there yet but we’ll get there.”

 

[T Rick]

Chris Fagan's presser after the win against the Suns = class, composure and vision for the future journey...just exceptional.

 

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Five talking points: Gold Coast v Brisbane Lions

1. Fagan shows his hand straight away
So, what would be the style under new Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan? It didn't take the players long to answer the pre-season intrigue with the first two centre clearances - fast, long and direct to post two goals. The Lions had five in 12 minutes and Dayne Zorko exemplified Brisbane's unrelenting attack on the ball and ball-carrier. By the time everyone caught their breath on the first-quarter siren, Zorko had 10 possessions, two goals, six inside 50 entries and three tackles.

 

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One from the heart - Fagan praises his players

IT WAS no surprise to see Chris Fagan beaming after the Brisbane Lions' upset win over Gold Coast on Saturday night, praising his team's heart for overcoming their more fancied rivals.

In his first match in charge, Fagan watched a 47-point lead dwindle to levelled scores, before his men steadied the ship to win by two points.

He said although the Lions would not get carried away with the first-up triumph, there was a lot to like about the showing.

They kicked seven goals in an opening 20-minute ambush and led by 46 at the main break.

"It was very exciting to watch the way we played the game in the fist half," Fagan said.

"The way we moved the ball, and our offence and our defence was just outstanding in the first half as well, to hold a high-scoring team like Gold Coast to three goals.

"If we bring that effort and intent as we did in the first half and we show that spirit we showed, particularly in the dying stages, then by the end of the year we'll be known as a really honest football team, but there's a long way to go."

Gold Coast kicked eight goals to three in the third quarter and then the first three of the last term to draw level.

Fagan said there was no magic dust being sprinkled from the coaches' box to stem the flow, and was happy to heap the credit on his young team.

"I think it was heart within the group," he said.

"There wasn't anything special we tried to do. We were probably saying Hail Mary's up in the box to tell you the truth.

"The boys steadied, they knew what to do.

"In the end it comes down to heart.

"We were probably lucky to win in the end, but we won and it's great for our group."

While captain Dayne Beams deservedly won the Marcus Ashcroft Medal, young fullback Harris Andrews was also among his team's best players.

In an engrossing battle with Suns co-captain Tom Lynch, Andrews had to absorb 74 inside 50s and kept Lynch to three goals.

"What a fantastic battle," Fagan said.

"Lynch is a great player and Harris was part of a backline that had to defend 72 (74) inside 50 entries. I dip my lid to Harris Andrews tonight for the job he did."

 

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'We've only got ourselves to blame': Fagan fumes

CHRIS Fagan was proud of the comeback, but the Brisbane Lions coach wasn't sugarcoating Saturday night's loss to Essendon, describing it as one that got away.

In his own quietly stated way, Fagan was fuming at his team's second-quarter performance, where they conceded a 42-point deficit to the Bombers.

Essendon kicked eight successive goals at one stage.

The Lions hit the front in the opening minutes of the final term before fading again, but Fagan couldn't cop the second term.

"We got smacked up in contested possessions and clearances in the second quarter," he said.

"We won both those areas for the game but in the second quarter it was a disaster for us.

"There wasn’t much tackling in the game in the first half, and we wanted that (tackling), but we didn’t get it so those two things combined led to that second quarter.

"Our players are really disappointed about that because we came to the game tonight with a really high expectation that we could actually get out there and win that game and we didn’t.

"We aim to win every time that we play. We didn’t get the job done tonight.

"To a degree, I’m not being disrespectful to Essendon, but we've only got ourselves to blame."

Fagan said most of the problems came from centre clearances and defensive transition.

The third-quarter turnaround was stark, with the Lions laying 24 tackles (after just 21 in the first two terms) and winning the clearance count 15-8.

"We need to become better when our bodies get tired," Fagan said.

"We just need to learn how to play a little bit more composed and get some uncontested marks and take the sting out of the game.

"That’s a learning for us.

"Don’t get me wrong, I was proud of the way that we fought back in the third quarter.

"It was a fantastic effort, but if we want to become a really good team we can't put ourselves in that position.

"It’s very, very hard to play with the effort required to catch back up again and then go with it."

 

[kylegee28]

Yes Chris! Love the honesty. Refreshing to not have excuses thrown at us.

 

[SRH17]

So refreshing - no excuses, no victim mentality, no constant referring to "our young list".
This guy is teaching our players what it means to be successful.

 

[BuntonRules]

This bloke is going to wind up as big a legend at our club as Leigh Matthews.

 

[T Rick]

This bloke is going to wind up as big a legend at our club as Leigh Matthews.

He is certainly impressive in everything he does and says and his manner is calm, reasoned and honest. My guess is that as a player you could not help but warm to him as a coach - no wonder the player referees he used from Hawthorn were so positive. He is a breath of fresh air and I suspect we may have uncovered a diamond. I was very interested in how he would handle a disappointing loss - both in the box and at his presser - 10/10 for both.

 

[Ceebee]

We may finally have a coach our players respect ,hopefully .