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The honest Lions meeting that turned it all around
Andrew Slevison • July 27th, 2026 3:28 pm
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan needed to find out what was going on.
The back-to-back premiers had just been beaten by 78 points after GWS piled on a mammoth 14 goals in the third quarter in Round 11.
That was a second defeat on the trot which had the Lions reeling on the edge of the eight with doubt creeping in.
Fagan admits had to speak honestly with his players in a bid to work out if they were committed to chasing a three-peat.
“It started after we lost the Giants game when they kicked 14 goals in the third quarter which keeps getting talked about. It makes me laugh, sort of,” Fagan said on SEN’s Fireball in the wake of Sunday’s 59-point win over Port Adelaide.
“We’d had a meeting after that game on the Monday to talk about where we were at. We’d lost to Geelong and the Giants and I was thinking that we were off the boil.
“We needed to have a good chat about where we were at. It was a really good, honest meeting. A lot of players spoke up, a lot of staff spoke up, and I think it just changed everyone’s mindset to some degree.”
The heart to heart took a week to kick in because they lost to Fremantle in Round 12, but since then the Lions have won seven in a row to put themselves back firmly in the flag mix.
“It didn’t transfer to a win straight away because we played Fremantle at the Gabba the next week and they beat us. But it was a much better performance and they were playing very well,” Fagan continued.
“So we took a lot of positives out of that and built from there. It was really the honest of the staff and players that helped get our mindset right. Too many minds were going in different directions and that meeting turned everything around in terms of what our singular focus was and what we thought we could still do during the season if we put our mind to it.
“That’s where it all started. We got the win the next week against Gold Coast and haven’t looked back since.”
The two-time premiership coach does admit that he was worried his playing group had lost their edge.
“Yeah, I wondered that, and I wondered it for a reason,” Fagan added.
“We’d gone through seven campaigns and got to Grand Finals three years in a row - it takes a physical and mental toll on a group of players.
“So I would have understood if that’s where they were at. I said that to them, but sometimes when you say that sort of stuff to a group it fires them up and they want to prove you wrong.
“I did think that was a possibility.”
That positivity extends to Hugh McCluggage who was back to his best with 29 touches, 14 contested possessions, five clearances and a goal.
The reigning All-Australian has struggled with repeated calf injuries for much of the season but sent a reminder to the competition that at his best he is still a force to be reckoned with.
“He’s one of the most dedicated and honest people you could ever meet,” Fagan said of the co-captain.
“He’s been harder on himself than what anyone has been for his for over the last couple of weeks.
“With context, he’s missed a lot of the year with injury. Post the Origin game he hurt himself in the next practice match and didn’t start the season. Then injured himself at training and missed another five or six weeks.
“He’s had a bit of a bad run so you’ve got to give a little bit of understanding there. We’ve managed his minutes the first two weeks back as well to make sure he got through.
“One of the key things on Sunday was we actually started him on the ground in the middle and said ‘we’ve got confidence in you, we think you can get this job done’. He didn’t let us down.
“It was probably as simple as that. I’m pretty patient with my players. He’s been such a consistent guy over the years that you sort of back them in to find their form. Fortunately he found his yesterday.”
The Lions, currently sitting fourth, will look to extend their winning run to eight when they meet Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
