{"id":898282,"date":"2026-09-19T23:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T23:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898282\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T23:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T23:44:12","slug":"brisbane-to-lean-on-afl-grand-final-experience-in-decider-against-fremantle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898282\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane to lean on AFL grand final experience in decider against Fremantle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tell us about your experience. <\/p>\n

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has urged the Lions to lean into their experience to seize the rare prize of an AFL premiership three-peat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two-time reigning premiers qualified for a fourth consecutive grand final with an epic 20.11 (131) to 19.8 (122) win over Hawthorn<\/a>, in front of 97,835 fans at the MCG on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

The Lions can join the legendary Brisbane team of 2001-03 and Hawthorn from 2013-15 as modern-day teams to go back-to-back-to-back if they beat minor premier Fremantle at the MCG next Saturday.<\/p>\n

“It’s very exciting to be in the position where we can achieve something like that,” Fagan said.<\/p>\n

“But it’s not worth thinking about that because you get caught up in thinking the wrong way.<\/p>\n

“We’ve just got to get back, recover well, come back down and just follow our process.”<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Brisbane is one win away from its second premiership three-peat this century. (Getty Images: James Wiltshire\/AFL Photos)<\/p>\n

The Lions last played Fremantle at the Gabba on May 30, when they lost by 25 points amid a difficult run of form.<\/p>\n

But while that result didn’t go their way, they have experience on their side in their first final against the Dockers, who are chasing a maiden premiership.<\/p>\n

All of Brisbane’s 23 players, except recruits Oscar Allen and Sam Draper, have won flags, while Fremantle’s only premiership players are Shai Bolton, Luke Jackson and Mason Cox.<\/p>\n

“There was a bit to like about that game. That was our third loss in a row when we went through that bad patch,” Fagan said.<\/p>\n

“So we have to go back and have a little bit of a look at that.<\/p>\n

“The good thing for us is we’re an experienced team in this situation. So that will count for maybe just a little bit. It won’t necessarily give us the game.<\/p>\n

“But we know what next week is all about. Because our players have done it a few times now and they won’t be intimidated by it at all. They’ll be ready for it.<\/p>\n

“I’m sure they’ll give it their best to try and make the most of the opportunity. Because the opportunity is rare.”<\/p>\n

Fagan pondered the heartbreaking four-point grand final loss to Collingwood in 2023 that prompted Brisbane’s era of dominance.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The Lions are preparing for their fourth consecutive grand final. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone\/AFL Photos)<\/p>\n

“I’ve thought to myself at different times, maybe if we had got it right that day we would have been three in a row already,” Fagan said.<\/p>\n

“But we’re going to get a chance. We’ll have some fun trying to achieve it.”<\/p>\n

History beckons for Fremantle<\/a><\/p>\n

Sydney will be pondering what could have been, while Fremantle has an eye on history.<\/p>\n

The Lions have a decision to make on whether to recall defender Noah Answerth, who was unable to return from an ankle injury for the preliminary final.<\/p>\n

The defender would normally handle Hawks star Nick Watson, who nearly won the game off his own boot with six goals, and could be one of this year’s heartbreak stories.<\/p>\n

“He was relatively close. We’ll see how he goes and what their team looks like,” Fagan said.<\/p>\n

“Whether we think we’ve got the right team already and we don’t make a change \u2014 or whether we do. They’re always hard decisions to make.<\/p>\n

“We’re fortunate to be in that position. But you always feel for the person who misses out.”<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tell us about your experience. Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has urged the Lions to lean into their experience…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[638,64,63,651,3244,10993,10992,11288,16118,6854,4127,85],"class_list":["post-898282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane","tag-chris-fagan","tag-dockers","tag-fremantle","tag-grand-final","tag-hawks","tag-hawthorn","tag-lions","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898282","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=898282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}