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Live sport on SN this weekend“Ego is the enemy”: How the Lions plan to avoid recent trend of premiership hangovers
Andrew Slevison • February 20th, 2025 1:11 pm
The Brisbane Lions will enter the 2025 season as the reigning AFL premiers on the back of last year’s 60-point triumph over Sydney.
Chris Fagan guided the Lions to an against-the-odds flag after they struggled early amid a number of injuries to key players, finishing the home and away season in fifth before launching their finals assault.
Now the Lions will look to avoid becoming the third premiership side in as many years to miss finals the following season after Geelong and Collingwood before them.
But having been at Hawthorn when they completed the 2013-2015 three-peat, and armed with information from the NRL’s four-straight premiers the Penrith Panthers, Fagan feels he is well-prepared not to follow the aforementioned trend.
He says “ego is the enemy” for his players and coaches as they strive to go back-to-back.
“You can always learn from others who have been through similar experiences,” Fagan said on SEN’s Whateley.
“I was lucky enough to be at Hawthorn when we did the three-peat so I understand some of the issues and things we confronted, and the attitude that you needed to have.
“In more recent times the Penrith Panthers have been the example for everybody having won four in a row. There’s a documentary on the year when they went back-to-back that we watched as a playing group during pre-season to see what we could learn from them. I’m always happy to learn from others.
“Still for us ego is the enemy. We’ve just got to make sure that we get back to working hard and staying humble. I think that’s the key thing and that’s what absolutely came through with the Panthers to be honest.”
Touching specifically on the cautionary tales of the 2023 Cats and 2024 Magpies, Fagan says all the Lions can focus on in the lead-up to the 2025 season is what is controllable for them.
“We’re aware of it, but I’ve also been involved in a situation where a team won three in a row,” he added.
“So all things are possible and you’ve just got to try and control the things that you can control.
“Hopefully the team turns up this year and competes really hard and give ourselves an opportunity.
“There are lots of things that can get in the way, particularly injury, but we don’t control that to any great degree given the competitive and combative nature of the AFL. The attitude bit we can (control) so we'll be doing our best to do that.”
The Lions will meet both the Magpies and the Suns in a three-club practice match on the Gold Coast on Thursday night before playing Adelaide in the AAMI Community Series February 27.
Their premiership defence begins in earnest with the season opener against Geelong in Opening Round at the Gabba on March 6.
