Lions coach Chris Fagan not about to tolerate another poor Brisbane display

Lions coach Chris Fagan is hoping Brisbane’s “uncharacteristic” performance against the Suns isn’t repeated in Saturday’s battle with Collingwood.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says the Lions have “no choice” but to bounce back from their shocking display against the Gold Coast Suns, warning he won’t accept another poor performance in Saturday night’s showdown with Collingwood at the MCG.

The Lions were thrashed by 66 points by the Suns in last weekend’s QClash, with Gold Coast’s midfielders totally dominating their star-studded Brisbane counterparts.

“It was really good, honest review that we had about the Gold Coast game,” said Fagan, who added Brisbane’s leadership group were heavily involved in the post-match wash-up.

“They recognised that we didn’t play football in the manner that we like to play football. It was a bit of a near enough, good enough performance, and as it turned out, it was nowhere near good enough, so we need to fix that up, and the leaders are a big part of that.

“They were terrific in the review at identifying what went wrong.”

Suns skipper Noah Anderson evades Brisbane’s Jarrod Berry during the Gold Coast’s easy QClash win. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

While confident Brisbane’s “uncharacteristic” performance was a one-off, a stern Fagan won’t tolerate a similarly slack display against the first-placed Magpies.

“Don’t make it sound like it’s something that happens every week. It hasn’t. It’s just a one-week thing – it better be a one-week thing,” he said.

The Lions have the added incentive of trying to beat Collingwood for the first time in five matches between the clubs.

“They’ve really been able to get the game on their teams, they’ve been able to win (the) contest, own the corridor – they’re probably the two main things. We haven’t been able to stop them well enough in those situations,” Fagan said.

Premiership-winning ruckman Darcy Fort is set to make his 50th AFL appearance this weekend; however, there are doubts that fellow big man Oscar McInerney will play as he battles form and fitness issues.

“I don’t talk about the bodies of players in press conferences. That’s giving away information to the opposition. That’s probably a little bit unnecessary” Fagan said.

“You guys can look at that and judge.”

Brisbane’s Josh Dunkley looks for a teammate during the Lions’ QClash lost to the Suns. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Brisbane’s bid for back-to-back premierships isn’t being helped by injuries, with the Lions’ depth being tested in the wake of Conor McKenna (hamstring) and Keidean Coleman (quad) this week joining a casualty list that already includes Kai Lohmann (calf) and long-term victims Jack Payne (knee), Noah Answerth (achilles tendon) and Linc McCarthy (knee).

“That’s the journey of a football season. It’s a marathon, and different things pop up at different times,” Fagan said.

“What it does is creates opportunities for others to come into the team and play well, and that’s what happened last year.

“We had an injury crisis, and now that we identified some players that ended up being pretty good players for us, so we never look at those things negatively.”

Originally published as Lions coach Chris Fagan not about to tolerate another poor Brisbane display