Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Triple-premiership coach Chris Fagan has decided to retire as coach of the Brisbane Lions after leading the club to a historic third flag on Saturday.
The 65-year-old told players and staff of his intentions at a meeting on Thursday afternoon ahead of the club’s best and fairest night.
He departs on top with one year remaining on his contract, having coached the Brisbane Lions into the past four grand finals for three premierships after taking the position in 2017 at the age of 55 when the Lions were second bottom on the ladder.
Fagan coached the team to five wins in each of his first two seasons as coach before leading the club into the finals for the first time in 2019. They have not missed the finals since and achieved the three-peat with a remarkable comeback against Fremantle in Saturday’s grand final.
From Tasmania, Fagan, a premiership player with Hobart and Devonport, did not play football at the top level. He began his remarkable career as an administrator and coach when the late Neale Daniher appointed him to be Melbourne’s reserves coach in 1998.
He then became an assistant coach at Hawthorn before progressing to become their football boss and was a key figure alongside senior coach Alastair Clarkson in the Hawks’ three-peat between 2013-15.
He left at the end of 2016 and then became embroiled in the AFL’s Hawthorn racism investigation, which ended up being resolved at the Human Rights Commission. The AFL found no adverse findings in relation to Fagan, who always denied wrongdoing, in their investigation, but the publicity took a toll on him.
Fagan is now a legend at the Lions, standing alongside his mentor and friend, AFL legend Leigh Matthews as a triple-premiership Lions’ coach. His winning record in the past four seasons as coach of the Lions has been 70 per cent, but he has admitted at times he has felt more stress coaching a team in premiership contention than he did when the team was rebuilding.
He did not shy away from discussion that the grand final might be his final match as coach in the lead up to the match and gave an indication as to which way he was leaning after the win.
“It might sound like a strange thing for me to say after we just won a premiership, but I don’t really want to be that guy who hangs around until we fail,” he said.
“There’s a little bit inside of me who’d rather walk away when the team’s on top, I’ve got to be honest. It’s sort of the dream way to finish, in many ways.
“For most coaches, unfortunately, it ends in tragedy, usually, with a coach getting the boot.”
The Lions are expected to make an internal appointment to replace Fagan as coach with football manager Danny Daly and assistant coach Cameron Bruce among the potential candidates.
