{"id":908107,"date":"2026-09-28T03:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908107\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T03:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:28:12","slug":"afl-grand-final-darcy-gardiners-raw-reaction-to-lions-epic-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908107\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL grand final: Darcy Gardiner\u2019s raw reaction to Lions\u2019 epic comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Darcy Gardiner can\u2019t help but swear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be pretty f**king hard from here,\u201d the Brisbane defender recalls thinking when Pat Voss put Fremantle 17 points up deep into Saturday\u2019s grand final.<\/p>\n

The madness that swept over the MCG after that Voss goal triggered a filter-less response from Gardiner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe, full credit to those guys in the midfield and forward, they flicked the switch,\u201d Gardiner said, gripping his medal in one hand and a beer in the other.<\/p>\n

The Lions catapulted back into the match with two goals in 30 seconds through Charlie Cameron and Zac Bailey before Logan Morris kicked the final two goals to ice it.<\/p>\n

Gardiner was one of the Lions\u2019 feel-good stories of 2025 after missing the 2024 premiership due to injury.<\/p>\n

He watched a bittersweet rout of the Swans in \u201924 from the stands, but simply couldn\u2019t look when Morris lined up with 90 seconds left on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I watched Logan\u2019s set shot, to be honest. I was confident he\u2019d kick it, but I didn\u2019t want to be a part of it \u2013 it was so cool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Morris) was sticking at it (after a quiet first half), as we\u2019ve seen for all of our guys at times down there, you don\u2019t get involved that much in the first half but you keep going and you\u2019ll get your chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardiner was one of the first to celebrate with the now-legendary coach Chris Fagan on the interchange.<\/p>\n

Fagan is weighing up his future after a decade and a trilogy of premierships at the helm.<\/p>\n

Gardiner wants more from \u201cFages\u201d but understands if he wants to call time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope not because we all love him and he does such a f**king good job,\u201d Gardiner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an amazing coach but an amazing person, he makes you feel so valued. He\u2019s just such an amazing leader and role model for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he doesn\u2019t, but that\u2019s up to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as AFL: Brisbane Lions defender Darcy Gardiner lifts lid on dramatic grand final comeback win<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darcy Gardiner can\u2019t help but swear. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be pretty f**king hard from here,\u201d the Brisbane defender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[476150,476142,476140,476152,476129,460426,4891,84046,349899,417932,378414,476128,378346,476151,378194,476136,414913,638,318760,476126,476132,64,63,55,639,651,476130,476138,40737,476133,476141,232304,10992,475432,476144,380886,468432,1571,476139,476148,197925,20232,33678,36862,25629,43961,426176,476127,25824,413580,46907,85,476137,476146,476135,476145,476125,476143,382541,377510,476134,476131,7709,380148,403687,408186,476147,476149,378229,386315,128820,377104,383350,6618,64631,428491,409516,127671],"class_list":["post-908107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-candid-gf-reflection","tag-s-golden-run","tag-s-grand-final-the-madness","tag-s-set-shot","tag-fages","tag-17-points","tag-4891","tag-84046","tag-30-seconds","tag-90-seconds","tag-a-beer","tag-a-bittersweet-rout","tag-a-decade","tag-a-filter-less-response","tag-a-part","tag-a-quiet-first-half","tag-a-trilogy","tag-afl","tag-afternoon","tag-an-amazing-coach","tag-an-amazing-person","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions-defender-darcy-gardiner","tag-charlie-cameron-and","tag-darcy-gardiner","tag-dramatic-grand-final-comeback-win","tag-every-high-and-low","tag-feel-good-stories","tag-fremantle","tag-full-credit","tag-gardiner","tag-his-future","tag-his-medal","tag-history","tag-injury-he","tag-it-gardiner","tag-lid","tag-lion","tag-logan","tag-logan-morris","tag-morris","tag-newswire-sport","tag-one-hand","tag-our-guys","tag-pat-voss","tag-premierships","tag-saturday","tag-sports","tag-such-a-fking-good-job","tag-such-an-amazing-leader-and-role-model","tag-that-voss-goal","tag-the-2024-premiership","tag-the-brisbane-defender","tag-the-final-two-goals","tag-the-first","tag-the-first-half","tag-the-helm-gardiner","tag-the-interchange-fagan","tag-the-lions","tag-the-match","tag-the-mcg","tag-the-midfield","tag-the-now-legendary-coach-chris-fagan","tag-the-other-the-lions","tag-the-rest","tag-the-stands","tag-the-swans","tag-the-switch","tag-those-guys","tag-time","tag-times","tag-two-goals","tag-your-chance","tag-zac-bailey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908107","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=908107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}