Bretts Stubbs and Andrew Hamilton, Mercury
CHRIS Fagan will add another Tasmanian thread to the rich tapestry of the AFL when he is appointed coach of the Brisbane Lions today.
For the first time, the only state with no AFL team will provide the league with three coaches. Fagan will join Brendon Bolton (Carlton) and Rodney Eade (Gold Coast).
After being Alastair Clarkson’s right-hand man through four flags as Hawthorn’s football operations general manager, Fagan will today officially be given the reins of the AFL’s problem child, Brisbane.
The 55-year-old comes with the AFL’s backing and will form a “Tasmanian dream team” with former Adelaide head of football, David Noble, who last month became Brisbane’s general manager of football.
Fagan, who like Bolton holds a Bachelor in Education, played 263 senior games for Hobart, Sandy Bay and Devonport before moving into coaching. He led Sandy Bay and the Tassie Mariners before heading to Melbourne.
At the Demons, he coached the reserves for two seasons before being elevated to assistant coach from 2000-2004 under Neale Daniher. He then moved into football operations at the Demons and later with Hawthorn from 2008.
Daniher in the past has spoken highly of the former Tasmanian teacher.
“Finding Chris Fagan was the best recruiting decision I made in all my time at Melbourne,” he told an interstate newspaper.
“His work ethic, his people management skills and his enthusiasm are unparalleled. And he was the cool head I needed, because I could get a bit feisty at times.”
Noble, originally from North Hobart, was hand-picked by the AFL and appointed late last month with the aim of making the club relevant again.
The Lions endured a horror 2016 season that saw their coach, favourite son Justin Leppitsch, sacked. The Lions recorded just three wins, avoiding the wooden spoon from suspension-hit Essendon by just 0.6 per cent.
Fagan was selected by a five-man committee, made up of chief executive Greg Swann, Noble, list manager Peter Schwab, premiership player Simon Black and psychologist Matti Clements.
Fagan today will be thrown immediately in the hot seat with the Gold Coast Suns yesterday making a play for troubled gamebreaker Pearce Hanley.
Fagan must make a quick decision whether he believes the Lions’ restoration can be achieved with Hanley and captain Tom Rockliff.
The Lions want Fagan to represent the club at Thursday’s draft combine.
Brisbane sees the draft as the way to drag themselves out of seven years of misery.
The club is already in possession of pick two and expects to receive a favourable vote from the AFL commission on its request for a priority pick.
The Lions can bolster their draft position further in deals for Hanley and Rockliff.
One of the Fagan’s first duties will be to make a decision with Noble and Schwab over the future of Hanley.
Hanley’s manager Paul Connors has said his client would be proud to run out for the Lions in Round 1 next year but said if the right offer came along they would look at it.
Hanley looked disinterested at Brisbane this year.