Brisbane Lions celebrations reached a jubilant peak in Melbourne after coach Chris Fagan was filmed riding on the shoulders of co-captain Harris Andrews following the club’s seven-point AFL Grand Final victory over Fremantle.
Fagan, 65, was lifted on to the 200cm defender’s shoulders during the team’s after-party at the Pullman Hotel East Melbourne on Saturday night. Grinning broadly, the coach threw his arms into the air as partygoers captured the moment on their phones.
The scenes marked Brisbane’s third consecutive premiership, after the Lions also won the flag in 2024 and 2025.
Fagan’s celebrations came only hours after he admitted he was considering his future, despite having a contract with the Lions until the end of 2027.
Speaking after the match, he said he would take several days to decide whether to continue in the job, which he has held for a decade.
“I’m going to have a think about it this week,” Fagan told Channel 7.
He added: “I’ve been doing it for 10 years. It’s a hard job. I’ll think about it. I’ll [give it] a few days just to clear my head and make a decision.”
Fagan also said: “I don’t really want to be that guy who hangs around until we fail.”
“There’s a little bit inside me that would rather walk away when the team’s on top… a dream way to finish,” he said.
Known as ‘Papa Fages’ among the Lions players, Fagan remained at the centre of the celebrations until at least midnight. Several players later continued their night at The Osborne Rooftop & Bar, a regular destination after the club’s previous two Grand Final victories.
Josh Dunkley, Logan Morris and Kai Lohmann were reported to have drunk from the premiership cup, while Cam Rayner performed a shoey for the cheering crowd.
On Sunday morning, Fagan and his players returned to Brunswick Oval in Fitzroy North, the historic home of the Fitzroy Lions, whose merger with the Brisbane Bears in 1996 moved the club’s operations to Queensland.
Players greeted supporters, signed autographs and appeared on stage wearing ‘three-peat’ T-shirts. Many concealed the effects of their celebrations behind dark sunglasses.
Addressing the crowd, Fagan reflected on a final in which Brisbane had trailed by 17 points late in the fourth quarter.
“It wasn’t the prettiest of grand finals and for large parts of it we looked like we probably weren’t going to win the game,” he said.
He praised the team’s “amazing heart” and “amazing resilience”, before describing the Lions’ response to Fremantle’s late surge.
Fagan had prepared his players for Fremantle’s ‘Wharfie Time’ celebration, which is used to rally the Dockers’ supporters during close matches. When it was played after Fremantle moved 17 points ahead, Brisbane scored four majors in the final four minutes.
“When they got 17 points up and played that wharfie thing, our boys fired up and were able to play the best five minutes you’ll ever see in a grand final,” Fagan said.
He left the Brunswick Oval stage to cheers of “10 more years”, despite having told reporters that he was weighing up whether the premiership would be the right moment to step away.
