Brisbane Lions look to extend coach Chris Fagan’s contract until 2026
Brisbane Lions are poised to extend Chris Fagan’s tenure as one of the club’s veterans hailed this season as the best coaching performance of near-decade at the helm.
Brisbane Lions veteran Dayne Zorko says Chris Fagan has put in the “best coaching performance” of his career this year as the Lions eye a second Grand Final in as many seasons.
Brisbane will take on Geelong in a preliminary final at the MCG on Saturday as it looks to continue a remarkable turnaround.
The Lions sat 13th on the ladder with a 2-5 record after round 7 but have gone on to post 14 wins and a draw from 18 matches since.
Zorko said Fagan — who is in his eighth season at the club — had been masterful in the way he had handled the slow start.
“I reckon it’s been his best coaching performance for the entirety of his coaching career thus far,” Zorko said.
“At two and five, you (the media) were coming from everywhere for us. His ability to steady the ship, hold down, put a lot of trust in us to dig ourselves out of it, keep our game plan really simple. He shows statistics that really back up where we are as a football club and although results weren’t going the right way, our numbers were actually better than what they were in the previous year … when we were 8-2.
“For him it was just a simple message, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing, it’s going to turn, it’s going to turn’. Ultimately it did.”
The comments came as Brisbane seeks to extend Fagan’s contract until the end of 2026.
The 63-year-old’s current deal has him out of contract at the end of next season.
Fagan watched on as the Lions held a light captain’s run at the MCG on Friday afternoon.
Defender Jack Payne was sporting strapping around his left knee but took part in the session, but star midfielder Lachie Neale was largely stationary off to the side as he nurses a sore foot.
Neale had trained well on Thursday to be named to take on the Cats.
“Honestly, he’s trained the best he’s trained this week,” Zorko said of Neale before the session.
“Hopefully that’s a good indication.”
The Lions have lost six of their past eight games against Geelong and have fallen short in 16 of their past 18 matches at the MCG, but Zorko said his side held no fears about playing at the home of football.
“We might not get the results, but we play well enough here,” Zorko said.
“We’ve been close on a number of occasions. The result just hasn’t gone our way, but we certainly don’t fear it. It’s pretty close to the same dimensions as the Gabba.”
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