{"id":910077,"date":"2026-09-29T18:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910077\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T18:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:20:13","slug":"afl-lions-plot-succession-as-chris-fagan-mulls-2027-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910077\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL: Lions plot succession as Chris Fagan mulls 2027 decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lions have already started planning for life after Chris Fagan despite maintaining hope that the triple-premiership-winning mentor will again coach Brisbane next season.<\/p>\n

Chants of \u201cone more year\u201d echoed around Brisbane\u2019s Riverstage on Tuesday when Fagan and his AFL grand final heroes were presented to passionate Lions supporters who congregated in their thousands to celebrate a hat-trick of flags.<\/p>\n

Fagan didn\u2019t respond to the pleas for him to fulfil the final year of his coaching contract and guide the Lions on their quest for a fourth successive premiership.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so good to see so many of you here today,\u201d Fagan told the fans after being given a key to the city by Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a super team of players to coach both with their great football ability and their fantastic characters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows what next year will bring for the team whether it will be a four-peat or not, but we should very happy with what they\u2019ve done so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also still unknown whether Fagan, 65, will be at the helm for an 11th straight season as speculation persists that he will step down from his role.<\/p>\n

Lions chief executive Sam Graham said if Fagan had the \u201cpassion and energy to keep coaching\u201d, he would again be in charge in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019ll all to play out over the next coming days and weeks\u201d Graham said,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have any deadlines on (Fagan making a decision). It\u2019s really just when the time is right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love him to keep coaching. He\u2019s an amazing role model, he\u2019s a mentor for many of our players, he\u2019s such a great leader and representative of our football club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans love him, we love him, the people love him, (and) hopefully that\u2019ll be the case for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, if Fagan did leave, Graham was confident the Lions would continue to evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group of staff and people around our footy department,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlans are already well in play for next year anyway, so that\u2019ll play out in due course. The planning is more around the list and the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of potential candidates to replace Fagan, Graham suggested the Lions would look internally, mentioning the likes of football manager Danny Daly and current assistant coaches Cam Bruce, Dale Morris and Daniel Lloyd.<\/p>\n

\u201c(They) are a terrific group. We\u2019ve got great people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf (Fagan leaves) there will be conversations around that, but that\u2019s premature. (Fagan) deserves the time to sit back and reflect. We\u2019ll see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of who coaches Brisbane next season and beyond, Graham said the club was better equipped to remain contenders for several years due to the host of young talent in the team, including Will and Levi Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher, Logan Morris and Kai Lohmann.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to continue that ability to compete every year. That\u2019s certainly the plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are really exciting times ahead for the footy club. Winning premierships gives you confidence, but we\u2019ve got to still stay really humble and keep working hard, and we won\u2019t take the support from our fans and members for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Brisbane Lions prepare contingency plans as triple-premiership coach Chris Fagan weighs future<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lions have already started planning for life after Chris Fagan despite maintaining hope that the triple-premiership-winning mentor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[478170,89838,247447,380180,478146,478178,410349,478159,384367,436932,478172,478144,478182,638,478168,478176,478150,64,63,55,639,651,478163,3237,478143,278347,478173,478156,10966,3244,3181,13284,22616,10875,250647,34990,478177,112674,478145,476699,377399,478181,393651,478153,478160,478148,21503,93513,406876,478179,478175,478147,26796,19101,261239,4689,8280,4127,36862,43961,33725,155207,478152,423215,478154,419421,478151,404134,478174,1917,38633,7820,478164,413580,94,312635,399440,428112,3203,85,478157,478180,3604,467779,478165,376840,222590,382205,284650,404000,383320,437908,401886,389310,380835,7709,194434,478158,379066,386391,478161,478149,378650,315971,376539,476714,478171,478166,446228,478167,25230,24080,478162,28333,478169,478155,19054],"class_list":["post-910077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-riverstage","tag-89838","tag-247447","tag-a-decision","tag-a-four-peat","tag-a-fourth-successive-premiership","tag-a-future","tag-a-great-group","tag-a-hat-trick","tag-a-key","tag-a-mentor","tag-a-super-team","tag-a-terrific-group","tag-afl","tag-an-11th-straight-season","tag-an-amazing-role-model","tag-any-deadlines","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-fans","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-brisbane-lord-mayor-adrian-schrinner","tag-brisbane-qld","tag-cam-bruce","tag-chants","tag-charge","tag-chris-fagan","tag-coach","tag-coaching","tag-confidence","tag-contenders","tag-contingency-plans","tag-conversations","tag-current-assistant-coaches","tag-dale-morris","tag-daniel-lloyd","tag-due-course","tag-every-year","tag-exciting-times","tag-fagan","tag-fagan-exit","tag-flags-fagan","tag-football-manager-danny-daly","tag-future","tag-graham","tag-great-people","tag-his-afl-grand-final-heroes","tag-his-coaching-contract","tag-his-role-lions-chief-executive-sam-graham","tag-hope","tag-jaspa-fletcher","tag-kai-lohmann","tag-leave","tag-life","tag-lions","tag-logan-morris","tag-newswire-sport","tag-next-season","tag-next-year","tag-no-deadlines","tag-one-more-year","tag-our-fans-and-members","tag-our-football-club","tag-our-footy-department","tag-our-players","tag-passionate-lions-supporters","tag-plans","tag-play","tag-players","tag-potential-candidates","tag-premierships","tag-qld","tag-sam-graham","tag-several-years","tag-so-many","tag-speculation","tag-sports","tag-staff-and-people","tag-such-a-great-leader-and-representative","tag-terms","tag-that-ability","tag-the-passion-and-energy","tag-the-case","tag-the-city","tag-the-club","tag-the-draft","tag-the-fans","tag-the-final-year","tag-the-footy-club","tag-the-helm","tag-the-host","tag-the-likes","tag-the-lions","tag-the-list","tag-the-next-coming-days-and-weeks","tag-the-people","tag-the-plan","tag-the-planning","tag-the-pleas","tag-the-support","tag-the-team","tag-the-time","tag-the-triple-premiership-winning-mentor","tag-their-fantastic-characters","tag-their-great-football-ability","tag-their-quest","tag-their-thousands","tag-thousands","tag-today","tag-triple-premiership-coach-chris-fagan","tag-tuesday","tag-will-and-levi-ashcroft","tag-winning-premierships","tag-young-talent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910077","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=910077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}