Chris Fagan has explained to the league the vast differences experiencing a grand final as Brisbane Lions coach and as a senior football executive with Hawthorn.
The Brisbane Lions’ 2023 grand final week experience, which left the club’s football staff exhausted, the families of some coaches and staff unable to afford the cost of attending the game, coach Chris Fagan “poked and prodded”, and Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale the target of constant abuse during the grand final eve parade, has provoked the AFL to make a series of practical and policy changes in the lead-up to the 2024 premiership play-off.
Stressing that the Lions in 2023 lost to a better team on the day in Collingwood, Fagan said Brisbane’s problems during grand final week were not the reason the club was defeated. However, he pointed out the historic challenges faced by non-Victorian clubs to win premierships on the MCG against Victorian teams and the vast logistical demands of grand final week faced by interstate teams.
Fagan said that one of his assistant coaches could not afford the cost of flying his family to and accommodating his family in Melbourne for the grand final, with costs estimated at between $6000 to $7000. His comments were strongly supported by other non-Victorian clubs given the AFL does not cover such costs against a backdrop of airline and hotel rate hikes during grand final week.
Brisbane’s attempt at a fourth consecutive premiership in 2004 was disadvantaged by the then-AFL agreement with the MCG, which guaranteed the stadium one preliminary final. Not only were the higher-placed Lions forced to host Geelong in Melbourne, but another deal struck between then-league boss Andrew Demetriou and host broadcaster Channel Ten dictated that the game was scheduled on Saturday night.
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