Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan has compared his side to that of the NBA Championship winning Denver Nuggets in relation to their away from home record.
Ever since they surged back into premiership contention in 2019, the main criticism of the Lions has been their ability to win games on the road, in particular the MCG.
But Fagan doesn’t believe that the Lions need a perfect away record to become a premiership winning team as he made note of how the Denver Nuggets were able to win their maiden NBA championship with a record of less than 50 per cent when playing away from home.
“I think we have played eight games on the road and six at the Gabba, so we are four (wins) and four (losses) on the road which is not a bad record,” Fagan said in post-game press conference.
“There’s some banter about how we’re not much of a team on the road, I’m not sure if any of you study the world of sport, but if you’re 50 per cent on the road you are actually pretty good.
“Who was it that won the NBA this year? The Nuggets? Their home record was (34) and seven and their away record was 19 wins and 22 losses and they won (the NBA championship).
“If we can be around 50 per cent I’ll be happy with that.”
The Lions have only won once in their past 14 matches at the MCG, but their record down the road at Marvel Stadium has been polar opposite as they have won seven of their last eight matches at the venue.
When asked about why the Lions have such an inconsistent record in Melbourne, Fagan delivered a tongue in cheek response.
“I don’t know, do you have any theories on it? Because I can’t work it out,” Fagan said.
“Look we play here (Marvel) a fair bit, that’s our third game here for the season here tonight.
“Over the last three or four years we have had a lot of games here, not so many at the MCG and I think it helps you if you play at the MCG it’s a unique sort of oval and we have played one game there.
“And I don’t think you should judge us on that (game) either because the way it’s looking, the results after bye’s haven’t been great when you are playing teams that haven’t had a bye. I think so far it’s about 100 per cent isn’t it?
“St Kilda’s the only team to win off the bye but they faced another team that had the bye.
“I am looking forward and we are all looking forward to further opportunities to play at the MCG. We did win a final at the MCG last year so I can’t see any reason why we won’t do well there (in the future).”
Brisbane have two more matches in Melbourne for the rest of the home and away season, one at the MCG against Melbourne in Round 18 and one at Marvel against Collingwood in Round 23.