Fagan tells AFL stars: ‘suck it up’

Lions coach Chris Fagan says players need to “suck it up” and do what’s right for the game as the AFL attempts to reboot in hubs.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has been talking to cricketers about tour experiences

Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan says players need to “suck it up” and do what’s right for the game as the AFL attempts to reboot the premiership season in quarantine hubs.

And he believes the overwhelming majority of his players will do just that. Fagan invoked the plight of former Melbourne coach Neale Daniher as some players have struggled to come to terms with the league’s proposed hub plan.

The worst-case scenario to restart and complete the premiership season that was presented to players this week would see teams isolated for a total of 20 weeks.

That prospect has led some, like Adelaide’s Rory Sloane and North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein, to express concerns about families being excluded.

Fagan says a recent text from Daniher, who is fighting a high-profile battle with motor neurone disease, helped him approach the AFL’s plan to restart the season with renewed perspective.

“It made me think ‘How would Neale handle this?’ Fagan told SEN.

“When you think about (his battle) and then you think about what we’re faced with … it’s relatively minor, it’s short term.

“We’re not going to jail, we’re not going to die, we’re not going to war, it will end, we will get back to normal (but) it’s just going to take a bit of sacrifice for a while.

“I figure right now what we need to do is actually suck it up and do what’s best for the game in the hope that we can return to where we’ve been at over the past 50 years.

“That’s my attitude towards it, and the majority of our players.”

Fagan has contacted Australian cricketers to ask them about their experiences on lengthy tours to places such as India as he has sought to get a better understanding of the hub concept.

As the league seeks to emerge from the financially-crippling COVID-19 shutdown, there is growing confidence that relevant authorities will soon give the green light to restart the season as early as June.

AAP