The Book of Fagan

The Book of Fagan

GuyWhoLikesSport

Improvement, in life and in work, is meant to be non-linear.

You move forward, you regress.

That’s the human experience, parents know it, Carmy Berzatto knows it, we all know it.

It’s also true in football.

Richmond made finals three years in a row from 2013-15, missed in 2016, started a dynasty in 2017.

Geelong made the finals twice in a row in 2005-05, missed in 06, started a dynasty in 2007. I could go on and on.

Time and again in football it’s been rise, fall, rise higher again.

Not so for Chris Fagan and his Brisbane Lions, who have essentially improved every single year of his coaching career in some capacity and now, finally, have reached the apex.

But what is so different about Fagan’s Lions, radical even, is that it stayed the same.

He is steadfast but not arrogant.

He is an absolutist with his football, in much the same way Ange Postecoglou is.

He believes in what he believes, and he believes it’s good enough.

He might have tweaked around the margins and with personnel, but the football Fagan played has been guided by the same principles: strength around the contest, turnovers on the wings, repeat entries inside 50 and, above all else, control.

Control of territory and of football.

We saw them all on display on Saturday afternoon, the greatest display of the Book of Fagan that we have seen.

But before we get to Saturday, let’s go backwards.

Fagan’s first year at Brisbane was 2017, coming off a year in 2016 where the Lions won just three games and were among the most inept teams in AFL history, conceding 79 more goals than any other team in the league that year.

In 2017 and 2018, the Lions were poor and won just 5 games in each season, though with a drastically improved percentage from 2017 to 2018.

In each of those seasons, though, you could see the tenets of the Faganism coming through.

In 2017 they were above average in total marks and fourth in centre clearances while sitting right at league average in total clearances.

In 2018 it grew again, particularly in terms of control.

Despite again just winning 5 games, the Lions were fifth in clearances, second in marks, and about broke even in inside 50 differential.

2019 was the year that the Lions explode,.going from five to 16 wins but lost in straight sets in the finals.

But their statistical profile was essentially the same as it is today, ranking first in inside 50s, third in metres gained, fifth in contested ball, top in clearances, and third in mark differential.

The year after, in 2020, they won their first final, in 2021, they minorly regressed, losing in straight sets again before winning two finals in 2022 and ultimately, finally, making the Grand Final in 2023.

Since 2019, the Lions have never been lower than sixth in inside 50s, fifth for mark differential, and third for clearances.

The Lions are like Breaking Bad, they stayed basically the same but have just got better over time and like Walter White, Chris Fagan’s recipe never changed, it just got more sophisticated.

The Grand Final on Saturday was a perfect encapsulation of Faganism, the Lions won territory by 800m, had 80 more disposals, 70 more marks, and won both the inside 50s and contested ball.

Like he has all finals series, Fagan successfully made little changes that helped his side as well.

Sydney was one of the most dangerous pressure and forward handball teams in the AFL over the course of the season, and Brisbane was better at both on Saturday.

When the game was a contest Brisbane hands in traffic and their forward handball game, particularly from Will Ashcroft and Lachie Neale, were the skeleton key that unlocked the space that Brisbane need to operate in at max capacity.

The other aspect of Brisbane’s game that was impressive against Sydney was their pressure.

Brisbane were one of the poorest pressure teams in the AFL in 2024, they didn’t prioritise it preferring to focus on positioning behind the ball to generate turnovers on the wings.

In the Grand Final, they cranked the pressure up to 11. Charlie Cameron, particularly, played with his hair on fire as he did in the preliminary final.

They didn’t let Sydney get their pinpoint kicking game going out of defence and forced the Swans into the Sophie’s choice of bombing to Harris Andrews or getting run down. That change is partly how Brisbane engineered their second-best intercept mark game for the season.

That Brisbane was able to do both of those things while not sacrificing what has got them to this point was exceptional.

But to write just about Fagan, would be to ignore another key element of the game: personnel changes.

While Brisbane played essentially the same type of game that was good enough to get them to the Grand Final last year, this year the players were good enough to win it.

The Lions were younger in this year’s Grand Final than last, and it showed in the game. The additions to the side brought real juice to a slowish veteran team.

The differences between the 2023 and 2024 Grand Final teams for Brisbane are as follows.

Out: Darcy Gardiner, Kidean Coleman, Oscar McInerney, Lincoln McCarthy, Jarryd Lyons, Deven Robertson.

In: Will Ashcroft, Noah Answerth, Jack Payne, Darcy Fort, Kai Lohmann, Logan Morris.

Swapping Will Ashcroft for Jarryd Lyons might have been enough for Brisbane to beat Collingwood last year.

His added athleticism to what is an otherwise plodding midfield when Rayner isn’t in there added an element of explosiveness that Brisbane just didn’t have in 2023.

Dropping him in this year was like dropping Steve Buscemi in the The Sopranos, turning very good into great.

And that’s to say nothing of the performances of Kai Lohmann and Logan Morris, who were Bernthal-like with the electricity of their moments.

The added youth helps explain why Brisbane looked so fast in pursuit without the ball, and so explosive with it.

Mix in the extraordinary performance of Lachie Neale, my personal best on ground because of his quality around the ball, and the fact that Dayne Zorko played the Kidean Coleman role better than Coleman ever has and that was enough.

For Fagan, what was true in 2017 was true in 2024.

And finally, after 7 years being guided by the same principles, and constantly getting better in the process, Faganism has finally reached the highest point that it can.

 

Like what you read from our hard-hitting columnist?

Follow @Guywholikessport on Twitter or check out his FULL BLOG HEREÂ