IT’S FINALS OR BUST
Lions coach targeting final eight
AFL: Breaking Brisbane’s finals drought is the next item on coach Chris Fagan’s agenda after he yesterday extended his contract until the end of 2021.
Fagan believes most of the hard work has already been done in the two years since he was appointed to the job, after serving for nine seasons under Alastair Clarkson at Hawthorn.
He can even see parallels between the steady rise of the Hawks last decade and how the Lions have been tracking under his reign.
Fagan has now set his sights on cracking the top eight, something the club has managed just once since their last grand final appearance in 2004.
He was reluctant to say how soon it could happen but admitted if the Lions don’t play finals within the next three years he would have failed in his job.
“Certainly, we’ve got to be in the finals sometime in the next three years. That’s without a doubt a goal of ours. It’s got to be,” Fagan said yesterday.
“(But) the focus always for us has been on improvement.
“That might sound like a bit of a cop out but it’s a good thing to focus on. Then you haven’t got any limits on yourself.
“You could say we want to win x number of games, but we might be capable of winning more than that.”
Fagan has always been unwilling to set clear win-loss goals during his tenure at Brisbane, but his approach seems to be paying off.
Despite winning only five games this season, the Lions have clearly made big strides.
Their average points conceded is down from 131 at the start of last year to 93, which is reflected in their percentage, far and away the best of the AFL’s bottom six sides.
Brisbane have also lost five games by seven points or less and have only been blown away once – by rampant premiers Richmond in round four.
“It’s all about becoming more competitive and we’ve done that against some really good teams,” Fagan said.
“The teams in the eight last year would beat us by 10 goals or more pretty regularly.
“We’ve come a long way, but there’s still lots of work for us to do.”
The Lions, four-point winners over the Gold Coast in a Q-Clash thriller last weekend, will host West Coast at the Gabba on Sunday.