Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Lions coach Chris Fagan says it would have been “nicer” if his star midfielder Lachie Neale had told him he was visiting Collingwood’s facilities the day before Brisbane’s heavy loss to Carlton despite being under no obligation to do so.
Neale, who is expected to leave the Lions to join the Magpies at the end of this season, used Brisbane’s trip Melbourne last week as a chance to inspect Collingwood’s headquarters.
He took the tour last Friday ahead of Brisbane’s clash with the Blues on Saturday night at Marvel Stadium, where the back-to-back premiers were thrashed by 76 points.
Fagan didn’t know Neale had organised to visit the Magpies.
“He hadn’t spoken to me about it, so I wasn’t aware,” the Lions coach said on Thursday ahead of his team’s battle with Hawthorn at the Gabba on Friday night.
“He doesn’t have to do that. It’d be nicer if he would, then you don’t get caught by surprise, but that’s the way it is.”
Fagan said he would rather Neale’s visit to Collingwood had occurred after Brisbane had played Carlton.
“I think as an industry, we probably need to get used to the idea that this sort of stuff is going to happen more and more. It seems to be the trend, doesn’t it?” he said.
“There’s more and more player movement, there are more and more free agents, and those free agents can exercise their rights to check out potentially their new workplace.
“To be honest, I probably would have preferred that if it did happen, it didn’t become public knowledge, or that it could have been done post our game last week, so then all the speculation around whether that was the right or wrong thing to do wouldn’t happen, but it has, and I’ve not lost any sleep over it, to be honest.”
Fagan has preferred to focus on Brisbane’s bid to return to winning ways against the Hawks who are fellow top-four contenders.
Before losing to Carlton, the Lions had won seven successive games, giving Fagan confidence that his team would bounce back on Friday night.
“I have a lot of faith in this group, and if you just look at their record over the last eight years, you’d have a lot of faith in them too,” he said.
“At the odd time over those years, we’ve had a poor loss, but we’ve always been able to respond, so I’m backing the group in to do that this week.”
Lions defender Ryan Lester is set to make his 250th AFL appearance on Friday after recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered against Carlton.
“He’s a good fella, a brilliant bloke around the footy club, so to see him achieve this milestone is so pleasing and a just reward for a lot of hard work and a lot of resilience,” Fagan said of the veteran, who turns 34 this month.
Lester admitted that he was “certain” that when he reached 200 appearances it would be his “last milestone”.
“The last few years have been a bit of a dream,” Lester said.
“My last three or four years, I think I’ve been a different player than what I was for the first 12 years of my career.
“Every year I feel like I’ve been able to add something small to my game that has helped me, and I feel like the coaches and the players really value what I bring to the club.
“You get confidence from continuity and confidence that other people believe and value you.”
