{"id":174728,"date":"2025-09-28T08:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T08:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174728\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T08:20:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T08:20:13","slug":"lions-coach-hails-afl-premiership-as-better-than-last-year-as-cats-lick-wounds-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174728\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions coach hails AFL premiership as \u2018better than last year\u2019 as Cats lick wounds | AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has described the Lions\u2019 stunning grand final blitz<\/a> of Geelong as even better than their drought-breaking 2024 premiership.<\/p>\n

Fagan, who broke his own record from 12 months earlier as the oldest premiership coach in VFL\/AFL history, addressed 6,000 euphoric Lions supporters at the club\u2019s spiritual Melbourne home of Brunswick Street Oval in Fitzroy North on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon it feels better than last year because it\u2019s bloody hard to do it two times in a row,\u201d the 64-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the obstacles we had to overcome this year to get to that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the fact that Geelong<\/a> beat us three weeks ago and we\u2019re able to turn the tables around, it was just so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brisbane\u2019s Hugh McCluggage signs autographs for fans. Photograph: Josh Chadwick\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Brisbane officially became the first AFL club to five premierships this century after steamrolling the Cats by 47 points during a stunning second-half onslaught on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group\u2019s freakish. Hopefully this is just the beginning,\u201d co-captain Lachie Neale said.<\/p>\n

After farewelling Melbourne fans, the premiership team flew home to Brisbane for another fan event at Brighton Homes Arena on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

The AFL re-posted a clip on Instagram of Lions players bringing the premiership cup through airport security as carry-on luggage, with the caption \u201cprecious cargo\u201d.<\/p>\n

Allow Instagram content?<\/p>\n

This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile a \u201cbitterly disappointed\u201d Geelong coach Chris Scott admitted he would rather have wallowed in bed than turn up for Sunday morning\u2019s club family day.<\/p>\n

But he issued a call to arms to fans, pointing to his team\u2019s consistency and urging the Cats to challenge again next season.<\/p>\n

While the Cats were left lamenting an opportunity lost, they have finished outside the finals only three times in the past two decades and in that time have won four premierships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had plenty of forks in the road \u2026 over the last decade or two. There was the possibility that we turn up our toes and go through a bit of a rebuilding process, and accept the best was behind us,\u201d Scott told Geelong fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just not prepared to concede that \u2013 and it\u2019s pretty safe to say I speak for everyone when I say we\u2019re not prepared to concede now, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re bitterly disappointed. In this game, sometimes all you can ask for is to give yourself a chance. Our players and our club did that for us this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Scott embraces Chris Fagan after the AFL grand final on Saturday. Photograph: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Scott added his emotions had been \u201cup and down\u201d over the previous 24 hours, but he is up for the fight. \u201cEven though it feels so raw now … I\u2019m ready for the work, to give ourselves a chance again next year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He praised the club\u2019s unity and urged the Geelong faithful to keep sticking with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn moments like these, the temptation is to focus on the things that we didn\u2019t do well. Internally, I\u2019m just so confident that everyone has each other\u2019s back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re better than I am. If I had my way, or in a weak moment, I\u2019d still be in bed with the doona pulled over my head.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when we frustrate you, stick with us. We really appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman medallist Jeremy Cameron missed Sunday morning\u2019s function as he was in hospital for tests after fracturing his right forearm in the grand final.<\/p>\n

He suffered the injury in a collision with captain Patrick Dangerfield, who likewise told Geelong fans that their team would rally from Saturday\u2019s bitter loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough and it will ferment over the summer period, but those tough periods are the reason it\u2019s all worth it when you get it right. It\u2019s why it means so much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has described the Lions\u2019 stunning grand final blitz of Geelong as even better than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-174728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}