Brisbane coach Chris Fagan (14.09.26)

0:00515 Saturday at the MCG, Hawthorne hosting the Back-to-Back champ, Brisbane Lines in one of the great prelim finals we are hoping to see, a man who has got his team to 5 prelims in a row. It is remarkable, Chris Faggins, his name fakes. Thanks so much for your time and congratulations. It is probably not something people are going to mention a lot, but 5 prelim finals in a row is remarkable. How are you feeling? Yeah, good things came. Thanks for the pump up mate. No, it's been a great effort by the group, to be honest. I'm just a coach, but players are the other ones that have got to go out and do it. It is exceptionally hard thing to do. We've given ourselves a chance, five years in a row to make a grand final, so it's a pretty special achievement, but we must do much time thinking about it. Got a game to win this weekend. When do you start thinking about picking the team?

1:00There's probably one change. I'm assuming Ann's worth his fit fakes. Can you confirm that firstly and then when will you make that decision? No, I'm not sure that Noah's fit. He wasn't able to run last week, so we'll see how it goes this week. That's one little sort of full name all about as the week goes on, so I can't help you. There, what was the other part of that question, Chris? When will you pick the team? Yeah, we'll start to do that probably later this afternoon. We'll get our review out of the way from Saturday night's game and then to our opposition and our opposition presentation tonight after the team meeting and then start picking the team. Fakes, that was unbelievable. That's start the other night. It's just that first five, well, seven minutes, five goals. What the hell did you say to them in the pre-match to get that sort of spark? It was all me, King. It was all me. Did you know all the kinds after the week that there would be a response? Yeah, I thought we'd start well.

2:01I mean, I didn't think we'd start that well. I mean, I'm on the head set down on the bench, talking to Danny Dalyat up in the box. And moment there's a favor to conversation going on the first five minutes as we try to work out what the opposition are trying to do to us, etc. And I didn't say anything to Danny. I told him that the five minute mark that I caught us, it was a pretty good start, mate. I would devise, would you stop and fire, but look, you could tell that they're really disappointed with themselves after the performance the previous week. Again, Sydney and so I expected a response, not that greater response, but anyway, worked out really well for us. You're not going to get that every week, but it's a good sign that they're still hungry. You might not want to let us in. You might want to keep this close to your chest, but I was intrigued. There's locking Neil start on the bench at the start of the game, start on the bench post half time. You got that jump. Is the decision to not have certain pairings in there? The can you have Ashcroft and Neil in there, or you're now looking at, I think it was Bailey, Dunkley and Ashcroft,

3:04where you're starting three at the start of the game. Are you looking to use Bailey more? Or was it a slant to not get caught? You've had your defensive problems from Cinebans' clearances. Is there something in that? No, I wouldn't say so to you. I mean, I've done it with you, sort of followed it that closely for the last half of the year. I've lucky often started off the ground if you started at games, and so is well Ashcroft. So that's not a really a response to what we think of the best mix in there. We just try to really change it up throughout the game and have different people in there. It's not specifically about lucky or all that combination, because sometimes we've had both of them in there at the start. But I think it's always a consideration that you're trying to get the mix right. You want some fast feeding there as well, and some guys that can explode out. So Maclegg and Jim Bailey and Rainer provide us with that. So they get in there a little bit. That's not really something that's sort of locked in for us.

4:05And we're quite happy to have both those boys in there at the one time. Is that pretty good at where I'm at 40? Of all the great things that happened for you on Saturday night, I thought maybe the most important was the form of fumaclogage. I just look like he turned a corner. Is it fair to say you're a bit testy during the week when you were questioned on him and his lack of form and confidence in his body? And you must be thrilled with what he produced. Yeah, I thought it was, I mean, I was. Yeah, I was tested because I love fumaclogage. And he's been a fantastic footballer for us. And he's had a difficult year this year with injury. And he was having his first game back last week. A fairly long time out. So he didn't have a good game. But he did about 19 of his mates. So, you know, I thought it was a little bit rough. It was straight to healy. I knew he'd be better for the run. And that's why we've already been for that first final. He was a lot better on Saturday night. He didn't necessarily get a lot of the ball, but everything that he did was quality. And he just looked better. And I'm expecting to be better again this week.

5:05So I'll always back my players in, especially guys like him. He's pretty much been there for the whole time, but I've been there. And he's close. Big player as a leader has been outstanding. So he deserved my defense. Backing your players in his work pretty well for you. Fakes despite some people, including myself suggesting that sometimes you should lose a bit of patience with him. Cam Rainer, look, I've got a lot of hate relationship with him. I've just at his best is the most one of watchable players in the league. And he was in that destructive mood on the way. How can we get that more consistently from Cam? Well, I think we do get it reasonably consistently. Can I and I think when you, I mean, he plays mostly as a permanent forward. He doesn't spend a lot of time in the midfield. So his numbers are never going to be huge. He's more of a quality and an impact player than he is necessarily a bulk of position kind of player. So that's what you're going to get with Cam.

6:06Like all boats who pay those sorts of roles, who play in the forward line, that can tend to be a little bit inconsistent. But mostly, Cam Rainer gets his job done. And he's, he's, you know, a big, a great cackels and so, and so, they light us up with his energy. It's something that's a real weapon for us. And I think, you know, he's been pretty consistent delivering that to us, given where he plays. Would you agree there was a different look in his eye on the, and we've, I think the previous final against Gold Coast that you won't, he broke eight tackles and he had that. I just want to, I don't know, is it fair to ask for a bit more of that or is that unfair? Well, there was a different look in all their eyes. I reckon on Saturday night, that was the week before. So now, look, you always want more from your players. And if you can get more, that's great. It's not like we don't push for it. But, you know, I'm pretty satisfied with the contribution camera. It has made over the last number of years.

7:07And, you know, he plays as well. Pretty nice. Fakes, what's the secret to winning finals, Fuddy? I mean, you've played, I think in, you've coached, well, 23 odd finals. Now, I think it is 24 finals. What would you say is the secret to being able to win these big games? Well, I have good players, King. That helps. Yeah. But most teams have some good ones. Yeah, I think, I just try to keep the place pretty calm. Don't overdo it because it's a final. I reckon early in my career, as a coach, when we started to make finals, I think we only won one of our first six finals. And I'll probably, I'll probably, in this election, might have made the good anxious at times because I might have overdone it as a coach. And what I think I've learned to do over the years is relax a little bit more, trust the good, back them in. And obviously they've had more experiences as well.

8:07So they get better at doing it. So, you know, say, with the winning 28 finals over the last, because of the last eight years, I think they've learned 20 to about it. And they'll have to, they'll have to self-regulate when they come into those games. And put Harold Sunarticle on Saturday Fakes about the regret of being potentially the best team in any given year or losing a grand final and having to live with that for a period of time, sometimes it never leaves you. I think we've all had those experiences in footy. I don't know whether this is a talking point or not in house, but you've got a group that's there to win it again. There is good as anyone. Their best is better than the four teams that are left or the other three teams that are left. Is it something you talk about just making sure you capitalize on this opportunity? Or do you think that is too stressful a discussion for now? No, to be honest with you, mate, it's something that we've probably talked about all year long, the opportunity that we've got to do something that is rarely done in football.

9:08And it's been sort of like a, I guess, a bit of a driving force behind the year, but it's not something that we talk about regularly. It was more something we talked about at the start of the year. Can we do this? We think we're good enough to do it, but can we do it? So it's not something I've raised in more recent times, but everyone likes to achieve in life, and it's really that you get an opportunity to try and win three in a row. And we've been given that. And we're going to try and make the most of it, but it's not a lot of mine. Just before we let you go, a few lines of fans texting in. Logan Morales, good to go. No worries there. Yeah, I know there was much talk about after the game, but he just had a bit of a corky, and we had the game under control. He's a very important player to us. So we chose to take him off for the last few minutes and I'll see him up. You've been good to us over the years. As always, we'll see you in Melbourne for that huge preling final. Your fifth in a row. Good luck, Fague. Appreciate your time. Thanks very much, boys. Good morning, Megan, the dual premiership coach chasing three in a row and rear air.

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