Fagan focus firmly on Lions
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has dismissed concerns his involvement in conciliation talks over the Hawthorn racism scandal had further disrupted the Lions’ preparations for Thursday night’s grand-final rematch that were rocked by Tom Doedee’s shattering knee injury.
Fagan was in Melbourne on Tuesday for sessions at the Human Rights Commission when off-season recruit Doedee suffered a partial tear to his right knee’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) that he ruptured in June last year.
Unable to go into detail about the conciliation talks, Fagan said he had become accustomed to switching focus when required since he was named in the racism saga in September 2022, and the showdown with Collingwood was big enough to demand his full attention.
“Conciliation continues. All of us that participated have agreed to keep everything pretty much in house,” Fagan said. “If there is a point in time where I can talk about it, I will, but for now I’ve just got to let it be and let the process work.”
Doedee was set to make his first AFL appearance for the Lions against Collingwood in the Gabba showdown after returning to football last Saturday in Brisbane’s VFL team after a 10-month absence.
“I had a good conversation with him (on Tuesday) night,” Fagan said. “Him and his family have been through a few things in their lives. He was pretty stoic.
“The guy’s worked so hard to get back to play.”
Sydney coach John Longmire has hit out at “unfair” criticism of concussed Swan Harry Cunningham and says the defender has recovered well from a brutal collision with Peter Wright.
Longmire said he found it “a little bit interesting” that Cunningham had received blame from some quarters for the collision, which left him unconscious on the turf and without memory of the incident or the rest of Saturday night’s game against Essendon.
The coach said Cunningham was feeling “fantastic” on Wednesday as Collingwood recruit Taylor Adams also stepped up his training in pursuit of a Swans debut.
“All we can do as coaches is to move with the times and move with the legislation and move with the rules of the game at the time,” Longmire said when asked about Cunningham.
“We’ve been trying to do that, and when these incidents happen, then it’s just a matter of caring as much as we can for the player.
“From our perspective, the only thing I found a little bit interesting was when some of the blame got directed at Harry.
“Now, I think that was maybe a little bit unfair … but the main thing is, as I said, from my perspective, that he’s feeling really good, and his health and wellbeing is always at the forefront for us.”
Adams, who was listed as a “test” by the Swans on Tuesday, remains at least another week away from playing, according to Longmire.