Christian Fagan (born 23 June 1961) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL), where he won the premiership in 2024. He spent his entire playing career in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, playing 263 senior games with

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, Sandy Bay, and Devonport. Before being appointed head coach of Brisbane in October 2016, Fagan had spent long periods as an assistant coach at

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

(1999–2007) and Hawthorn (2008–2016).

Playing career

Fagan was born in

Queenstown, Tasmania Queenstown is a historic mining town in the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast region of the island of Tasmania, Australia. It is in a valley on the western slopes of Mount Owen (Tasmania), Mount Owen on the West Coast Range. At the , Queenstown h ...

. He played 263 senior games in the Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL) and

Tasmanian Football League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the Tasmanian Football League (TFL), was the highest-level Australian rules football competition in the state of Tasmania. It disbanded following the end of the 2024 TSL season, 2024 season ...

(TFL) with

, Sandy Bay and Devonport and kicked 430 goals in his career. He represented Tasmania on 11 occasions and played in two Premiership teams – Hobart in 1980 and Devonport in 1988.

Coaching career

Tasmania

Fagan spent two years as an assistant coach at North Hobart before being appointed senior coach of Sandy Bay for 1993 and 1994. He was the inaugural coach of the Tassie Mariners from 1995 to 1997. He was the 181st person to be inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

Melbourne Football Club assistant coach (1999–2007)

Fagan was an assistant coach at the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

under senior coach Neale Daniher between 1999 and 2007, during which the club reached the

2000 AFL Grand Final The 2000 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and the Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 2 September 2000 rather than in its usual last Sa ...

, where they lost to .

Hawthorn Football Club assistant coach and general manager of football (2008–2016)

He served two roles at the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

between 2008 and 2016, where he was instrumental in the club's

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

premiership victories. He was head of coaching and development between 2008 and mid-2013, while he was also the general manager of football alongside senior coach

Alastair Clarkson Alastair Thomas Clarkson (born 27 April 1968) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and was previously head coach of t ...

between mid-2013 and the end of 2016.

Brisbane Lions senior coach (2017–present)

On 4 October 2016, Fagan was appointed as the senior coach of the

, replacing Justin Leppitsch. He took the Lions to the finals in his third season as coach and was subsequently honoured by the AFL Coaches Association with the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year Award, although the Lions lost both their home qualifying and semi-finals to and . He led the Lions to the finals in the subsequent

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

seasons. But did not reach the grand final in any of those seasons, falling short in two preliminary finals defeats to the Geelong Cats, and a semi-final defeat to the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

in 2021. On 1 March 2023, the Brisbane Lions announced that Fagan had signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club until the 2025 season. In the 2023 season, Fagan led a successful finals campaign that saw the Brisbane Lions advance to the 2023 Grand Final against Collingwood, which they lost by four points. In the 2024 season, after staging the second highest finals comeback against in the semi-final, coming back from 44 points down. Fagan coached the Brisbane Lions to the 2024 Grand Final, where they defeated

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

by 60 points to win the premiership. He was the third winning VFL/AFL premiership coach to have never played in the league, as well as the oldest coach to feature in a grand final at 63. In September 2024, his contract was extended again, until the end of the 2026 season.

Head coaching record

Honours and achievements

Playing honours

Team * TANFL premiership player (

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

* TFL Statewide League premiership player ( Devonport):

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Individual ** Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame (2007 Inductee)

Coaching honours

Individual * 2 x AFLCA Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year Award:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Premiership Coach

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Chris 1961 births Brisbane Lions coaches Living people Hobart Football Club players Sandy Bay Football Club players Devonport Football Club players Sandy Bay Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Queenstown, Tasmania