Speechless Fagan surprised by 433-second Brisbane burst

Chris Fagan admits he did not expect Brisbane’s savage start to the Semi Final on Saturday.

The Lions, on the back of a hiding at the hands of the Swans the week before, blasted the Adelaide Crows off the Gabba in the first seven minutes.

Brissie kicked five goals from seven inside 50s within 433 seconds to essentially put the game to bed in the eventual 53-point crushing, making a fifth straight Preliminary Final in the process.

Fagan stopped short of taking credit for the blistering beginning, but did admit he was somewhat speechless while watching on from the interchange bench.

“It was all me,” Fagan laughed on SEN's Fireball.

“I thought we’d start well, I didn’t think we’d start that well.

“On the headset down on the bench talking to Danny Daly up in the box, normally there’s fair bit of conversation going on in the first five minutes as we work out what the opposition is trying to do us.

“I didn’t say anything until about the five-minute mark of the quarter. Then I said, ‘That’s a pretty good start mate’. The boys were just on fire.

“You could tell that they were really disappointed with themselves after the performance the previous week against Sydney.

“I expected a response. Not that great a response. It worked out really well for us.

“We’re not going to get that every week but it’s a good sign that they’re still hungry.”

That was Fagan’s 13th win in his 22nd final as Lions coach which includes the last two flags.

Does he have a secret to winning finals footy?

Fagan admits the more September experience he and his playing group has makes them much better at handling the cut-throat nature of finals footy.

“I just try to keep the players calm. Don’t overdo it because it’s a final,” Fagan added.

“Early in my career as a coach when we started to make finals, we only won one of our first six finals.

“In reflection I’ve probably made the group anxious at times because I might have overdone it as a coach. What I think I’ve learned to do over the years is relax a little bit more, trust the group, back them in.

“And obviously the players have had more experiences as well so they get better at doing it. When you’ve been in 20-odd finals over the last eight years, you’d think they’ve learnt plenty about it and how to self-regulate when they come into those games.”

Next on the agenda is the prelim against Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday twilight.

Widely regarded as the best teams in the league, the Lions have at times wobbled this year which has prompted some to question their credentials, but there is no doubting what’s in front of them.

If the Lions win that they get the opportunity to achieve a rare footy feat by playing off in another Grand Final in chase of a three-peat.

Fagan was asked - Is capitalising on this opportunity a talking point amongst the group?

“It’s something that we’ve talked about all year long - the opportunity that we’ve got to do something that is rarely done in football,” Fagan said.

“It’s been a bit of a driving force behind the year, but it’s not something we talk about regularly. It was more something we spoke about at the start of the year. ‘Can we do this? We think we’re good enough, but can we do it?’

“It’s not something I’ve raised in more recent times. Everyone likes to achieve in life. It’s rare that you get an opportunity to try and win three in a row. We’ve been given that, and we’re going to try to make the most of it.

“But it’s not front of mind.”

On the injury front, Fagan insists key forward Logan Morris “just had a bit of a corkie so we chose to take him off and ice him up”.

He’ll be ok to take on the Hawks, but defender Noah Answerth is no certainty after missing last week with a trolled ankle

“I’m sure that Noah’s fit. He wasn’t able to run last week, so we’ll see how he goes this week,” Fagan added.

“That’s one that we’ll know more about as the week goes on.”