Brisbane players celebrate a win over Hawthorn in round 24, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

CHRIS Fagan says 2025 is Brisbane’s “best ever” home and away season under his watch, after it locked up a double chance with a rousing 10-point win over Hawthorn on Sunday night.

The 11.23 (89) to 11.13 (79) victory was the Lions’ 16th of the season, to go with a draw, and secured third spot on a congested ladder.

LIONS v HAWKS Full match coverage and stats

In Fagan’s ninth season at the helm, it’s the fifth time Brisbane has finished inside the top four and seventh time it has reached finals.

But the premiership coach says there’s been nothing quite like trying to defend their flag.

“If I was to rate this home and away season, it’s probably been our best ever,” he said.

“With the difficulty of the draw, with the injuries we’ve had, it’s been a high degree of difficulty.

“To come up with 16 wins and a draw and to beat the teams we’ve beaten and where we’ve beaten them, I rate it really highly.”

The Lions have survived a brutal draw, with two matches against each of Geelong, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Gold Coast, the Western Bulldogs and Sydney.

They have also been well below full strength for large chunks of the season, missing Jack Payne, Noah Answerth, Keidean Coleman and Lincoln McCarthy to long-term injuries, while Lachie Neale (quad), Jarrod Berry (shoulder) and Eric Hipwood (calf) were all absent against the Hawks.

“I’m just really proud of the boys that they’ve been able to withstand all the pressure and the scrutiny,” Fagan said.

“Everyone picks your game to pieces when you win a flag, and here we are, we’ve earned a double chance again.

“We’ve got a long way to go but it’s been a fantastic effort.

“We’re in there with everybody else, but we’re going to have to play our best footy.”

Fagan described September as a “new season” and said any one of the other finalists could salute.

The Lions will likely regain Neale and Berry to face Geelong in a qualifying final at the MCG, although Hipwood is doubtful.

Aside from the wayward kicking, the coach believed the win over Hawthorn was the ideal rehearsal.

“We played a fantastic game tonight and the only part of our game that was below par was our kicking for goal,” he said.

“I’m really proud of the way we played, and we didn’t let it get us down. I’ve seen teams have a bad night in front of goals and lose the game. We didn’t do that. We stayed positive.

“It probably would have been a little unfair if we didn’t win the game.”

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was torn between being disappointed to miss the top four and optimistic about the month that was ahead.

Ahead of facing either Greater Western Sydney or Fremantle away from home in an elimination final, Mitchell said the Hawks’ 15-win home and away season was “good, but not great”.

Hawthorn has a 1-5 record outside of Victoria and Tasmania, with the one win coming against Sydney in Opening Round.

It has lost against Fremantle, Adelaide and now Brisbane in the past seven weeks.

“They’ve all been close ones,” he said. “That’ll turn. We’ll probably play interstate in our first final, so odds are in our favour.

“We’re not writing ourselves off. We’re disappointed, but excited. We get to play four finals instead of three now.

“Finals footy for the second year in a row, which is great for our group.”

Mitchell said there were plenty of lessons to take from losing to the premier in front of a packed Gabba.

He said they bombed some scoring chances in the front half of the ground and also let the Lions move the ball a little easily on occasions.