Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan says Adelaide is the AFL’s ‘benchmark’ team

The coach of the AFL’s reigning premiers has handed the in-form Adelaide Crows a massive compliment.

They are the reigning AFL premiers and sitting pretty in second spot on the ladder, but the Lions will be the “underdogs” in Friday night’s battle with the Crows at Adelaide Oval.

That’s the verdict from Brisbane coach Chris Fagan, who said the in-form Adelaide would start as favourites.

The Crows, who are six points adrift of Brisbane, have won four of their past five games and are coming off a 90-point thrashing of Sydney, last year’s beaten grand finalists.

“Big crowd there, mostly South Australians barracking for the Crows, hostile environment, playing a team that’s in great form … I think we’ll go in as underdogs, which suits us down to the ground,” Fagan said.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity. We always like to test ourselves out, and they’re probably the benchmark team in the competition at the moment, so we’ll give it our best shot and see how we go.”

Fagan said the Lions were still searching for ways to improve despite having lost only two of their 12 games this season.

“All you are trying to do in the home and away season is win enough games to qualify for finals, and then hopefully what you can do is be at your best when the finals arrive,” he said.

It's no Norwood Oval but it'll do. pic.twitter.com/uaHf0FUGXs

— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) June 5, 2025

That was the case for the Lions last year, who after an early struggle finished fifth on the ladder, leading to them needing four successive wins in the finals series to claim the premiership.

“There’s some narrative around us that maybe we’re not going so well as we were last year, but I think people have forgotten how hard last year was and they’re just judging us on how we went in the grand final (a 60-point win over the Swans), which was reasonably exceptional, and doesn’t happen too often,” Fagan said.

“We’re happy to be where we are. We were a mile away from this at the same stage last year, so we’ve just got to keep going and keep trying to improve.”

The Lions have made one change to the 23 that beat Essendon by 18 points last week, with 19-year-old forward Ty Gallop to make his AFL debut.

Gallop will replace Darcy Gardiner, who will miss the match with knee soreness.

First-choice ruckman Oscar McInerney will be given another week off as he manages a back injury and other ailments.

It will be the fourth successive game McInerney has missed, but he has again been named among the emergencies.

Premiership-winning ruckman Darcy Fort will again fill the void left by McInerney.

“Darcy Fort’s been doing a great job for us,” Fagan said.

Originally published as Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan says Adelaide is the AFL’s ‘benchmark’ team