Watch every match of the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n It gave the Lions a \u201cpositive\u201d 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\u2019s future. <\/p>\n \u201c(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,\u201d Fagan told Fox Footy after the win over Adelaide.<\/p>\n Fagan conceded he was \u201cworried at times\u201d that Bailey might\u2019ve been headed for the exit door, even though the 26-year old \u201creckons he was never, ever going to leave\u201d as a free agent.<\/p>\n Lions make statement! 3-peat dream alive | 02:53<\/p>\n The two shared a nice moment in Fagan\u2019s office when Bailey walked in and told the dual premiership coach of his plans.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just walked in and said, \u2018I just wanted to tell you I\u2019ve decided I\u2019m going to stay. So, I gave him a hug and said, \u2018thanks mate\u2019. Then he went and told a few other people and gave them a hug as well, I think,\u201d Fagan told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It continued a superb season from Bailey including a second-straight All-Australian blazer as the Lions eye a historic three-peat. <\/p>\n While it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI see some players when they come into their free agency year, they can tend to perform poorly. I didn\u2019t really want that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI sort of set myself for a big year at the start of the year. For the first half of the year, I didn\u2019t want want anything to do with the talks, just wanted to go out there and play footy.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that, I started to ramp things up. There was obviously a lot of interest from Adelaide and I had to consider that. <\/p>\n \u201cI always wanted to stay in Brisbane, I love it here, I love the boys, we have so much fun.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Bailey shows the Crows what they missed! | 00:59<\/p>\n Despite plenty of speculation on Bailey\u2019s future in recent weeks, the 190-gamer kept his plans under wraps, only talking through his decision with partner, Emilie, and his family. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s funny, I didn\u2019t really speak to anyone (other than) my partner, obviously, it\u2019s a joint decision. I spoke to family, but for the most part of the year, I kept it pretty quiet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last probably three or four weeks, I didn\u2019t tell anyone. All the stuff coming out was pure guesses, because I literally didn\u2019t speak to anyone about anything.<\/p>\n \u201cJust sat down, took the time over the four weeks to make a decision and came to a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lions jet says the main reason he stayed in Brisbane was because \u201cI just love this group so much,\u201d having progressed to a fifth-straight preliminary final with a chance for a fourth-consecutive grand final. <\/p>\n \u201cThis year, especially, I\u2019ve had so much fun gong into the club. It\u2019s just so enjoyable,\u201d Bailey added. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve kept a fairly similar group for a long period now, so got really good relationships with all of them.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, we\u2019re really settled and happy in Brisbane and love the lifestyle here. There were a lot of things that went into it, but Brisbane\u2019s where it ended up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane star Zac Bailey has revealed he told Chris Fagan he\u2019d recommitted to the club after the Lions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-889707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889707","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=889707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789243696_380_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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