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. Picture: Jono Searle

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.

Introducing defensive values into the football side is another key plank of his plan to restore Brisbane to an AFL powerhouse.

Brisbane’s determination to introduce a cultural revolution under Fagan and new football manager David Noble has cast further doubt over the future of captain Tom Rockliff and Irishman Pearce Hanley, who was on Tuesday spotted touring the Gold Coast Suns facilities and undergoing a medical.

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Noble said he would not comment on the club’s plans for individual players when asked about Rockliff but nor did he guarantee his future.

“(It’s) fair to say we’re open to everything and anything. We’re not going to put anything on the table or take anything off,’’ Noble said.

New Brisbane coach Chris Fagan. Picture: Jono Searle

Fagan will take the advice of Noble and other people with more detailed knowledge of the players but stressed he is prepared to make any tough calls required to get the right individuals within the team.

“It is easier when you first walk in and you don’t have the history and you can probably be a bit more cold and calculating about decisions you decide to make,’’ he said.

Players will be asked to contribute to establishing new non-negotiable standards and then be expected to hold each other to account.

“That is the sort of culture we are trying to develop and that’s the sort of culture I have come from, you step out of line you get told,’’ he said.

“But ultimately, if any player doesn’t want to play by the rules that we set up and the culture that we set up, then we are better off not to have them.’’

Tom Rockliff’s future at the Lions is in doubt. Picture: Colleen Petch

Fagan also said he did not see the Lions’ precarious financial position as a reason the club could not rapidly improve and did not want to hear any more excuses.

“Let’s be honest, a 10kg weight is the same if it is in the bottom of a woodshed or in the Lexus Centre at Collingwood,’’ he said.

“You can’t tell me those Kenyans that can run marathons like they do get to train in the best conditions, they just put their runners on and go and run in the mountains.

“I think footy is like that, you just need an oval to train on, footballs, a gym to lift weights in and good people around.

“You can have an excuse mentality or you can make the most of what you have got.’’

His first observations on Brisbane’s on-field performances was their poor defence.

“It is a massive outlier and it needs to be fixed,’’ he said.

“The defensive side of things is a priority, you have got to measure the things that really matter and you have got to make the guys that do it the heroes of the team and really put a value on it.’’

Originally published as Chris Fagan to drive higher standards as new Brisbane Lions coach