Fagan steps down on top after Brisbane's three-peat
Chris Fagan has stepped down as Brisbane Lions senior coach after 10 seasons, leaving on top after a third straight premiership. The club confirmed his retirement after the 2026 AFL Grand Final win over Fremantle Brisbane Lions.
That win sealed flags in 2024, 2025 and 2026. In AFL terms, the premiership is the championship and the Grand Final is the one game that decides it. Win again in 2027 and Brisbane will join the Depression-era Collingwood side as the only VFL/AFL clubs to win four in a row The Guardian.
Fagan said he wanted to go out with the team on top. "There's a little bit inside of me who'd rather walk away when the team's on top," he said. He called it "the dream way to finish."
The call did not come from nowhere. He hinted at stepping aside after the 2024 breakthrough and again the following year. Ahead of the 2026 decider he said it could be his last match in charge and that he would weigh up his future at season's end.
He was 65 when he stepped down. He was already the oldest premiership coach in history at age 63 when Brisbane won in 2024. He never played VFL or AFL football, though he had been a very good player in Tasmania, and he entered the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame in 2007.
His Brisbane story needed patience. Halfway through 2024 the Lions sat outside the top eight, the eight teams that qualify for the finals. They surged from there to win the flag, then backed it up twice. Along the way Fagan passed 238 games to become the longest-serving coach in club history.
Brisbane wanted him to stay. His contract was due to run to the end of 2027 after a two-year extension signed in December 2024, and the club had said it was keen for him to continue. Instead the Lions are expected to appoint his successor from inside the club, with football manager Danny Daly part of the transition The Age.
The city said thanks first. Fagan was presented with the keys to the city after the three-peat, two days before the retirement was confirmed ABC News.
What makes this stand out is the timing. Coaches rarely get to choose the exit. Fagan did. Three flags in a row, then the door on his own terms.
