Brisbane coach Chris Fagan revealed match fitness was the key driver of his tough grand final selection decision to retain defender Darcy Gardiner instead of recalling Jack Payne, with heat set to be a factor in Saturday’s MCG showdown with Collingwood.
On the back of an “uplifting” open training session at the ground on Friday morning, Fagan dismissed any concerns over his team’s poor MCG record — which includes just one win since 2015 — but claimed the Lions were clear “underdogs”.
“There’s no doubt we come into this game as the underdogs – and that’s OK. In some ways that’s easier than being the favourites,” Fagan said with a wry smile.
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Brisbane’s one win at the MCG in eight years was in a final, against Melbourne last year, which was followed by a 71-point thrashing at the hands of eventual premiers Geelong at the same ground.
But Fagan said even though the MCG is Collingwood’s home ground it wasn’t a daunting prospect for his side.
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“They play there on a regular basis, our record has been talked about a lot there. Despite that, I feel like in more recent times we’ve really improved our performances at the ground,” he said on Friday.
“We won a final there last year and it’s grand final, I don’t think you care where you’re playing on grand final day so we’ll be giving it our best shot.”
After the stirring MCG reception, Fagan said the Lions were fully feeling the Melbourne grand final buzz and were primed to deliver the Lions a first AFL premiership in 20 years.
Thousands of Lions supporters packed the lower level at the Punt Road end of the MCG as the players were put through their paces at a ground where they have only claimed a single win from their last 15 attempts.
Fagan, who joked the big crowd had ambushed him when he went to put cones out at the start of training, said it was another great moment to enjoy as his team treats grand final week as a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity.
“It was a great moment, they showed their appreciation for myself and the team, and it was really uplifting for the boys,” he said.
“There’s a lot of Brisbane Lions supporters down here, and there’s a lot of Fitzroy supporters still living in Victoria, so I think they’re going to be loud tomorrow.
“(He told his players) just embrace it and have fun and smile about it, because it might be the only time that it ever happens in your life.
“You couldn’t wipe the smile off our faces this morning at training and during the parade, even though we got heckled by all those Collingwood supporters out there.”
Fagan said leaving out key defender Payne after he trained strongly on Thursday had been an “extremely hard decision to make”.
The 23-year-old had only missed one game all season before an ankle injury kept him out of the preliminary final, but experienced replacement Darcy Gardiner held his spot after a strong performance against the Blues.
“It was an extremely hard decision to make, because Jack’s been a part of the team for most of the year,” Fagan said.
“It came down really to match fitness, Jack Payne leading into this Grand Final had played one game in five weeks, and his first full training session was (Thursday).
“He did really well, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be hot out there tomorrow, he would be bashing in pretty hard, we just thought it was a wiser decision to go with a guy that was a little bit more match-hardened.”
Praised by captain Lachie Neale for his “leadership through adversity”, Fagan said he was focused only on the team’s success after a tough year for him personally marred by allegations of racism during his time at Hawthorn.
“It’s not really about me, I don’t see it that way … it is fantastic to be part of the journey though, to start working with a group of players who were a long way off being a winning team, to now – this is the fifth year where we’ve been really competitive,” Fagan said.
“We’ve been so close to getting to the big dance a few times, but not close enough, so to get there is just a tremendous reward for everybody at the football club.”
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