Lions coach Chris Fagan confident about Brisbane’s premiership chances after ‘seven years’ of preparations

Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan says a finals thrashing last year is a reminder to his players to make the most of their premiership chances.

Chris Fagan has been pleased with Brisbane’s form this season. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan has used footage of a previous finals thrashing to urge his team to make the most of an AFL premiership opportunity that has been “seven years” in the making.

The Lions host Port Adelaide in a qualifying final on Saturday night at the Gabba, with the prize for the winner being a week off and a home preliminary final.

Fagan has gone deep with his players in the build-up, using the theory of loss aversion – in which people experience more pain in losing something than joy in winning – to remind them to be positive and proactive and play to win.

The veteran coach has used footage of a 71-point preliminary final loss to Geelong last year at the MCG as part of Brisbane’s preparations for Saturday night in an attempt to motivate his players to make amends for their most recent finals appearance.

“It’s just putting them back there and remembering what they felt like,” he said.

“There is a really strong motivating, psychological thing called loss aversion.

“It’s not that every meeting that we have do we look at the dark side because there are plenty of positives to what we’ve done over the last four or so years, but that was our last memory of the finals and we don’t want to go back there if we can help it.

“Showing them that might help a little bit with motivation and just remembering why we’ve done what we’ve done this year.”

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan wants the Lions to make the most of their premiership opportunity. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

A confident and composed Fagan said the Lions had never been better placed to win the flag since he became Brisbane’s coach in 2017.

“We’ve had a really good season, and we’re hard to beat,” he said on Friday.

“There have been games (this year) that we might have lost in the past that we’ve found a way to win.

“I feel like we’re a tougher side mentally, which is something we deliberately worked on throughout the pre-season and throughout the course of the year.

“You get confidence through performance, and I’ve been with these boys for a long time now, and I think the best example I can show them is to be calm.

“It feels like we’ve been getting ready for this for seven years … particularly for the guys that have been here for the whole journey.

“You want to just make the most of your opportunity. You don’t want to let it slip by.

“We been getting closer all the time. This year we’re as close as we’ve been, so we want to try to make the most of that.”

Fagan suggested it was a premiership chance his players needed to treasure, particularly after the misfortune suffered by 30-year-old defender Marcus Adams, who was forced to announce his premature retirement last week as a result of ongoing concussion symptoms stemming from a blow he copped more than a year ago in a game against Carlton.

“I know it motivates our players,” the Lions coach said.

“When there’s a guy who through no fault of his own has to finish his career, and miss out on the opportunity that this group is now having, surely that makes them feel like how lucky they are and how they should make the most of that opportunity because you never quite know when your opportunity might be gone.”