Chris Fagan opens up on his close bond with Neale Daniher, his path to coaching and how he helped rebuild the Lions

Chris Fagan’s arrival at Brisbane was a move few people saw coming. He had not played or coached at the top level and was walking into a club on its knees. This is how he rebuilt the Lions.

Chris Fagan took part in the Big Freeze in 2018 and has always had a special bond with Neale Daniher. Picture: AAP Images

Chris Fagan has nine beanies up on the wall of his coaching office.

Every now and then, when he feels frustrated or lost for answers, Fagan finds inspiration up on the wall.

Each beanie represents one of Neale Daniher’s “Big freeze at the ’G” fundraisers, and the almighty fight his great mate has waged against the horrific motor neurone disease.

The perspective came in handy when Fagan took over the toughest job in footy in 2016, and led a struggling Brisbane Lions side to only five wins in each of his first two seasons in charge.

Or when the Lions were pipped by one and three points in the 2019 and 2021 finals series, and were repeatedly potted for their failures at the MCG in recent years.

But no matter the headache, Fagan, 62, finds the clarity he needs in the blue beanies.

“I have got all of them sitting up in my office, and every time I think about feeling sorry for myself I look at them. I think, ‘Get on with it. Play on’,” Fagan told the Herald Sun.

“I read his book. My players know a lot about Neale Daniher. I talk about him and I quote him all of the time.

“He is such a great example of resilience, which is what we have needed more than anything to be that club which was no good, to be the club that is now a respected team and we are in the hunt every year.”

Chris Fagan took part in the Big Freeze in 2018 and has always had a special bond with Neale Daniher. Picture: AAP Images

On Saturday night, Fagan’s Lions will face another key crossroad when they take on Port Adelaide at the Gabba for the chance to book another home preliminary final in a fortnight’s time.

The criticism of the Lions in recent years has been that they cannot be trusted. Certainly not at the home of football.

But he is unshaken by the so-called hoodoo. As he tells his troops, the MCG is where the Lions toppled Melbourne in last year’s semi-final under similar pressure, knocking that monkey off their backs almost 12 months ago.

“People can talk about us at the MCG all they like. It’s not something we are concerned about. We look forward to playing there,” Fagan said.

There have been many of these sorts of sliding doors moments across Fagan’s decorated 40-year career which included the four famous flags at Hawthorn.

There was the time he gave up teaching to coach the Tassie Mariners in the mid-90s, the phone call he received from Daniher about taking over Melbourne’s reserves which changed his life, the premiership dynasty at Hawthorn, and then the call from Lions’ CEO Greg Swann about joining Brisbane.

Brisbane was a lost cause in 2016. Players left and the coach was sacked. They won three games, and were largely uncompetitive.

The Queensland club needed a steady hand. A positive force. Someone to connect with the players and re-instil self-belief.

When Fagan first joined Brisbane he was struck by the lack of confidence he noticed. Players seemed a bit ashamed.

Fagan had to change that.

He had dreamt of coaching all his life and took a considerable pay cut when he threw in his teaching job to accept the Tassie Mariners’ gig 30 years ago.

Greg Swann played a key role in getting Fagan to the Lions amid one of the club’s darkest on-field periods. Picture: Jono Searle

“Back then I just hoped one day there might be an opportunity when I could coach full-time and when I did, I thought ‘Oh wow, how good is this’,” he said.

“I had to go backwards a fair bit (in pay) because you got paid OK as a teacher and I had a young family, but my wife, Ursula, she just said ‘You’ve got to go for it’.

“I have always loved the game and developing people not only in a football sense but in a holistic sense.

“Football won’t last forever, so I have always just wanted people to learn good life lessons. Become better people.

“But I also love a contest. I have grown up with that since my old man was a coach on the West Coast of Tassie.”

It was a move few people saw coming when Brisbane made a play for Fagan, then aged 55, to replace Justin Leppitsch when Fagan was footy manager at Hawthorn.

He had not played or coached at the top level, but remained one of the most respected figures in the game for his role in the Hawks’ golden run.

When Clarkson was struck down and hospitalised by Guillian Barre syndrome in mid-2014, it is said that Fagan was the one who kept the club on track.

Friends described him this week as a father figure; a big-picture thinker, and a cool head in high-pressure environments, and most importantly a connector.

Fagan values his memories, the achievements and his friendships from the Hawthorn days enormously, despite the racism allegations.

“I reflect back on it (premierships) very positively,” he said.

“It is nearly impossible to be involved in something like that considering how competitive AFL footy is and to go four grannies in a row and three premierships in a row.

“It was a pretty special group of players and staff.”

Brisbane not only needed someone who could pull the right moves on the field, but also restore players’ self-esteem.

Fagan remembers the phone call from Swann at the end of 2015, vividly.

Fagan at the 2016 draft with Hugh McCluggage – an early piece in the Lions’ rebuild. Picture: AAP Images

“Swanny said to me, ‘So are you a football manager or are you a coach?” Fagan said.

“I said ‘I’m a footy manager at the moment’ but I always wanted to be a coach.

“To be honest, I always thought that would be a stretch too far given my background and the way the industry usually makes decisions and goes down a traditional path of picking coaches who are ex-players

“I understood that, but then I got the call. And the rest is history.”

It was a left-field move from the club which earlier this year re-signed him to a two-year extension (keeping him until 2025) despite the Hawthorn report allegations.

But Daniher, in particular, knew the Lions had made an excellent decision.

Daniher made the same call in 1997 plucking Fagan from obscurity in Tasmania to help lead a Melbourne team featuring some of the biggest names in the club’s history, including Garry Lyon, Todd Viney and Jim Stynes.

Shaking like a leaf when he first spoke in front of the group, uttering something brief like “thank you and I hope to earn your respect”, Fagan proved himself quickly as Melbourne rose to play in the 2000 Grand Final against Essendon.

But Daniher was direct. “He said you are not just here to move the cones, you know. He provided that opportunity for you to step up.”

Fast forward to 2016, as the Hawks came to the end of their glorious run, Fagan embraced the big chance at Brisbane and quickly went to work.

Brisbane had been terrible in contested ball for about a decade. Membership was about 20,000. And the players seemed unsure of themselves.

“I remember when I first got the job some people thought I was crazy (accepting it),” he said.

But Fagan’s first two years were about sowing the seeds of belief.

Even when they were well beaten at times, the coach didn’t blow up. He was positive and encouraging. People even questioned whether he was too optimistic.

But there was a big picture. He’d find the areas the graph was tracking positively, like contested possession, or inside 50s, centre clearances and turnover scores and put them up in lights in the auditorium.

Luke Hodge played a massive role in shaping the culture at the Lions after the playing group had hit rock bottom. Picture: AAP Images

“When I first turned up I felt like the players were ashamed of themselves and how they were going and didn’t really want to reach out to be a part of the community,” Fagan said.

“But now they are, and they changed pretty quickly and I think that was a little bit connected to self-esteem I think.

“Maybe they were not feeling great about the way the team was performing?

“It is a slow process. You have got to get good coaches in, good players in.

“‘Hodgey’ (Luke Hodge) was pivotal in getting our group going a little bit because he had all those experiences, and he just helped me enormously to coach the group to have the right mindset.

“So you are building relationships with players and understanding what makes them tick.”

But in the third season, the club skyrocketed from five wins the year before to 16 wins in 2019.

But this next step, trying to make the grand final and potentially premier is the toughest one, Fagan said.

They have previously bowed out in two semi-finals and two preliminary finals.

Goal kicking inaccuracy has been costly, but it’s the bumps you ride. The beanies bring him back to task.

“(That) third year was a bit too fast in a way, going from bottom or second-bottom to second top. Maybe we got under a few teams‘ guards,” he said.

“But it was staggering. It was fun to be involved with. It set a bar pretty high pretty quickly.

“Sometimes teams can spike like that and go down.

“We have managed to keep knocking at the door for the last five seasons. I think this is our fourth top-four finish in five years.

“History says you have got to earn premierships and you have got to go through that learning process and keep knocking at the door until you get through.

“So we have been doing that and I know you can’t do it forever, but we have been a pretty honest group.”

Originally published as Chris Fagan opens up on his close bond with Neale Daniher, his path to coaching and how he helped rebuild the Lions