Brisbane star Zac Bailey has revealed he told Chris Fagan he’d recommitted to the club after the Lions coach sprayed the group following last week’s loss to Sydney.

Bailey starred in the Lions’ dominant 53-point semi-win over Adelaide on Saturday night after he snubbed heavy Crows interest to re-sign with Brisbane on a mega eight-year extension until 2034 worth up to $10 million.

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It gave the Lions a “positive” lift during the week after they lowered their colours in the shock qualifying final loss to an undermanned Swans and following season-long speculation surrounding Bailey’s future.

“(I told Fagan) On Monday after a pretty uncomfortable meeting where he sprayed us a bit, it was a bit of bad timing. I walked up to him straight after and said I was going to re-sign,” Fagan told Fox Footy after the win over Adelaide.

Fagan conceded he was “worried at times” that Bailey might’ve been headed for the exit door, even though the 26-year old “reckons he was never, ever going to leave” as a free agent.

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The two shared a nice moment in Fagan’s office when Bailey walked in and told the dual premiership coach of his plans.

“He just walked in and said, ‘I just wanted to tell you I’ve decided I’m going to stay. So, I gave him a hug and said, ‘thanks mate’. Then he went and told a few other people and gave them a hug as well, I think,” Fagan told Fox Footy.

“It was a big moment for the club, real positive news. Post the performance we had against Sydney, it was just good to get something positive happen during the week.”

Bailey says he wants to continue to get more midfield opportunities after he lit up the Gabba on Saturday night with 3.3 goals from 23 touches, 558 metres gained and a game-high 14 score involvements to burn the very team that was in hot pursuit of him.

It continued a superb season from Bailey including a second-straight All-Australian blazer as the Lions eye a historic three-peat.

While it’s usually uncommon for a player to re-sign with his team this far into the season and just a month out from free agency, Bailey said he purposely pushed back contract talks until later in the year.

“I see some players when they come into their free agency year, they can tend to perform poorly. I didn’t really want that,” he said.

“I sort of set myself for a big year at the start of the year. For the first half of the year, I didn’t want want anything to do with the talks, just wanted to go out there and play footy.

“After that, I started to ramp things up. There was obviously a lot of interest from Adelaide and I had to consider that.

“I always wanted to stay in Brisbane, I love it here, I love the boys, we have so much fun.

“I was playing good footy, so there was no real rush to sign. After that loss, I thought it was probably a good time to sign and give the boys a bit of a boost.”

Bailey shows the Crows what they missed! | 00:59

Despite plenty of speculation on Bailey’s future in recent weeks, the 190-gamer kept his plans under wraps, only talking through his decision with partner, Emilie, and his family.

“It’s funny, I didn’t really speak to anyone (other than) my partner, obviously, it’s a joint decision. I spoke to family, but for the most part of the year, I kept it pretty quiet,” he said.

“In the last probably three or four weeks, I didn’t tell anyone. All the stuff coming out was pure guesses, because I literally didn’t speak to anyone about anything.

“Just sat down, took the time over the four weeks to make a decision and came to a decision.”

The Lions jet says the main reason he stayed in Brisbane was because “I just love this group so much,” having progressed to a fifth-straight preliminary final with a chance for a fourth-consecutive grand final.

“This year, especially, I’ve had so much fun gong into the club. It’s just so enjoyable,” Bailey added.

“We’ve kept a fairly similar group for a long period now, so got really good relationships with all of them.

“In the end, we’re really settled and happy in Brisbane and love the lifestyle here. There were a lot of things that went into it, but Brisbane’s where it ended up.”