As Chris Fagan took to Riverstage to the tune of thunderous applause, the crowd of thousands who came to celebrate their third-straight premiership waited with bated breath for him to reveal whether he would continue to coach the Brisbane Lions or sail into the sunset.
But the waiting game will continue.
Cries from the crowd of “one more year” emanated throughout the venue as Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner presented Fagan with the keys to the city, at a time when he is weighing up whether to see out his 2027 contract after lifting the club from the wooden spoon to AFL immortality.
“What an honour that is, the keys to the city? I don’t quite know what that means; does that mean I can go anywhere, do anything? That’ll be fantastic,” Fagan laughed.
The 65-year-old, jokingly hushing the chants with an arm motion perhaps reminiscent of his days as a teacher, would not reveal his plans for next year, instead choosing to lather praise on his players after their thrilling seven-point triumph over Fremantle.
“Credit for the victory goes to all the boys standing here on my right, they’re absolutely magnificent competitors. Just a super team of players to coach, both with great football ability and they’re fantastic characters as well,” he said.
“Who knows what next year will bring for the team, whether it will be a four-peat or not, but we should be very, very happy with what they’ve done so far.”
From the side of the stage as players began a signing session, Lions chief executive Sam Graham confirmed he and Fagan had not yet finalised plans for 2027, nor had he put a hard timeline on when the triumphant coach needed to make a call.
“Like we have in previous years, at the end of the year, we’ll sit down and have a chat about what’s next, and if Fages has got the passion and energy to keep coaching, he’ll be OK. That’ll all play out over the coming days and weeks,” Graham said.
“There’s no real time on it, it’s really just when the time is right. We don’t have any deadlines on that. It’s only been a couple of days since we’ve won the grand final, and he deserves the time to sit back and reflect, and we’ll see how it plays out.
“We’d love him to keep coaching; he’s been a great leader for our club, an amazing role model, and a mentor for many of our players.”
Brisbane’s head of football, Danny Daly, has long been touted as Fagan’s eventual successor, with Lions’ midfielder Jarrod Berry praising his influence before the grand final.
“He cares so much, he cares deeply, and he doesn’t feel like a boss. He feels like a genuine mate and brother, and that’s how we sort of run our club here,” he said.
“If you feel comfortable in your own skin around the place coming to work, you’re going to get results, and he’s been a big driver of that.”
When asked about internal candidates to fill Fagan’s void, Graham said: “We’ve got great people – Danny Daly, [assistant coaches] Cam Bruce, Daniel Lloyd and Dale Morris are a terrific group, and if that plays out, then there’ll be conversations around that.
“But that’s premature, we need to work through the next few days and see if Chris has got the energy and passion to keep coaching.”
Fans crammed into the Riverstage venue ahead of its anticipated 11am gate opening, the earliest attendees rushing to the front of the stage.
They would still need to wait close to an hour for the team to arrive fresh – or perhaps, not quite so – from their Mad Monday antics. However, the sight of them subtly entering backstage at 11.07am was hardly missed by those who could see, with a quick round of applause ensuing.
But when they did grace the podium, the noise of the Lions faithful was deafening.
Each player was called onto the stage individually, but there were no typical showman moves from Kai Lohmann, who offered only a smile and a two-handed wave.
But Sam Draper – one of the club’s first-time premiership winners, who was reduced to tears as the final siren sounded – had a boogie and threw around a few finger guns to spectators, to cap off a remarkable maiden campaign in Brisbane after his injury-plagued time at Essendon.
“So much emotion, so much has gone into getting to that point, and I’m just so happy to be part of this great team,” Draper said.
“It [the move] has worked out all right so far – I think I’ll be around for a few more years.”
The volume was turned up when Will Ashcroft – “the Prince of Brisbane”, as veteran Dayne Zorko labelled him – was summoned to the stage, fresh off claiming the Gary Ayres Award for player of the finals and tipped by Zorko to clean up at the Lions’ best and fairest awards on Thursday night.
There were only strong cheers, rather than any jeers, when Lachie Neale joined at the end of a turbulent year – his last in Brisbane ahead of a likely move to Collingwood.
“Lachie’s a superstar of the competition. Obviously, there’s been some speculation about how he ends up, but I don’t think anything is official yet,” Graham said.
Zorko came out with the first of the three premiership cups. Cam Rayner was welcomed with a loud rendition of Sweet Caroline, which transitioned to Take Me Home, Country Roads for Charlie Cameron.
After Ryan Lester had brought out Brisbane’s second trophy of this era, co-captains Josh Dunkley, Hugh McCluggage and Harris Andrews rounded out the squad introductions and brought with them the final piece of silverware.
“From where the club was when Fages first arrived, to a powerhouse team of the AFL, I’m very proud to be part of this club,” Andrews gushed.
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