‘Devastated’: Lions veteran Mitch Robinson’s parting shot at coach Chris Fagan

AFL veteran Mitch Robinson has delivered a parting shot at Brisbane coach Chris Fagan after playing his last match for the Lions.

Mitch Robinson of the Lions. Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Brisbane veteran Mitch Robinson has delivered a parting shot at Lions coach Chris Fagan after announcing that the 2022 season would be his last at the club.

The 33-year-old featured in Brisbane’s thrilling two-point victory over the Richmond Tigers in week one of the AFL finals, but was dropped for the semi-final against Melbourne and Friday evening’s preliminary final against Geelong.

On Saturday evening, Robinson confirmed to his 85,000 Instagram followers that he had played his final match for the Lions after not having his contract renewed for 2023, taking a bizarre swipe at Fagan.

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In the emotional social media post, the midfielder seemingly took issue with Fagan denying a public retirement announcement.

“This was my last photo as a Lion,” he wrote.

“Happy beating the Tiges but sad knowing it’d be my last at the Gabba.

“Devastated Fages wouldn’t allow me to announce this in person to the supporters and my teammates, but I guess that’s footy …

“It’s been an absolute privilege pulling on the Fitzroy and Lions jumper!

“Thank you all for the last 8 years, I’ll never forget the love you all showed me, Emma and my kids.

“I left it all out there every single game, I love you all.”

Former Carlton teammate Brendan Fevola commented: “Congratulations champion️. You left nothing out there mate. Most courageous player I played with.”

Robinson represented the Lions 147 times after joining the club in 2015, earning the club’s joint best and fairest winner in his first season.

He previously played 100 games for the Blues after making his AFL debut in 2009, kicking 139 goals over 14 seasons for both clubs.

The Cats booked their spot in next weekend’s AFL grand final after comprehensively beating the Lions by 71 points at the MCG on Friday evening.

After a tight first quarter tussle, the Cats began to flex their muscles as they ran away to claim the decisive 18.12 (120) to 7.7 (49) victory.

Mitch Robinson of the Lions. Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“They outplayed us in every facet of the game, really,” Fagan told reporters in the post-match press conference.

“The contest, their team defence tonight was excellent, the way they moved the ball was outstanding.

“It‘s hard to know whether the two finals that we played in where we had to go to the wire every week, what sort of toll that takes on the group mentally and physically – I don’t know, there perhaps is … Maybe we were pretty ripe for the picking, but they’ve certainly managed their training and preparation exceptionally well over the last couple of weeks and they looked really sharp tonight, so congratulations to them.

“You look at Geelong and I admire them as a footy club enormously. We‘ve played in the last four final series and we’ll learn from that, (but) they’ve played in a lot of finals series and haven’t got to the big dance all that often. Tonight, I felt like the performance they put in was a reflection of the frustration that they probably feel about that. They’ve given themselves a chance.

“So we just have to look at what they‘ve done and go back and learn the lessons from tonight and come out a better team next year, which is what we’ve been trying to do for the last six years since I’ve been coach.

“Whoever plays them in the grand final next week, they‘re going to be pretty hard to beat, I would’ve thought. That was a complete performance tonight.”

The win puts them into the season decider for the 19th time next weekend where they’ll take on the winner of tomorrow’s preliminary final between Sydney and Collingwood.