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"Is it time for something different?" | First Thoughts - GWS vs Brisbane (25.05.26)
24 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What signs indicate the Lions are struggling this season?
I think we have to start with the back-to-back champs and whether anyone out there is prepared to put a line through the back-to-back champs after what we saw, not only in the third quarter on the weekend, but for a couple of weeks now, there's been a few warning signs. The coach is Chris Fagan. He says they are miles off it.
It is a moment that we can sort of choose whether we get better from it or we continue to go backwards because at the moment we're going backwards and we're nowhere near a premiership fancy at all. We're just battling to find our form at the moment and that's been the case for the last two and a half games.
Chris Fagan there, Kingy. You had some concerns last week. No doubt your concerns are justified. Are you prepared to put a line through the lines as we wake up here leading into round 12?
Well, I've got too much respect for the footy club and what they've done the last couple of years to say at round 11 they've done because I still feel like they could gather and find for a 10-week block. Now, I don't know if that's just fanciful, but the she'll be right attitude is not going to work. It's going to require,
a serious sit down an honesty session an eyeball are we in this or not I understand if you're not and if you're not have the courage to say you're not it's one of those type chats it's an honest career defining and season shifting moment because there'll be some players that aren't really invested highlighted Yeah, the guys that aren't really putting in defensively.
The first sign is that we're not absolutely doing everything to help those down the chain. We're not helping the back six defend. We're not helping the scores.
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Chapter 2: What did Chris Fagan say about the team's performance?
We're choosing to run with the personal reward and not to help the team. So any time you're – I've got things that I stick to. There's numbers that I stick to, and you've heard me talk about the core four. They right now, without the footy, are ranked fifth last in the competition over the last six weeks. It's not the profile of a Premier.
The only team that will allow you to move the ball coast to coast more than Brisbane over the last six weeks is Essendon. If that stays remotely near there, they are non-competitive in terms of finals. And if they make them, it'll be the quickest exit you've ever seen.
So that's fixable, and they've shown that they can turn things around. There was a game that they played against the Giants last year or the year before at a similar stage where they got beaten by 56, I think it was, and it was awful. And everything that you're saying here was on display as well. They were able to turn it around.
So I think your attitude is right, that you can't put a line through them yet, but they'd want to rectify this quickly. And you spoke about...
you know what it's going to do career-wise this this is all time stuff if they have enough talent as we know to win the premiership for three in a row this is all time so that's the discussion you need to have like guys if we if we can rectify this in the next four months this is like we're we're in rare air type of stuff um and they'll get some players back and all that but
I think as Gerard said yesterday during the call, it was witch's hats. And when you see them after conceding eight goals in a row, let the Giants go from kicking untouched up the other end for the ninth goal in a row, I'm going, wow, this is outrageous. So I said last week that he... It would be a good time to drop a name.
He never has dropped a name and how could you ever be critical of Chris Fagan because it's worked for him and his loyalty is often rewarded. But is it time for something different to shake the group up? Like last week was the time to do that. He didn't get the response. He backed them in again.
Maybe some players finally need to start paying the price at selection, which they've never, ever had the threat that they were ever going to pay the price. If you're of any name at Brisbane, you play every week, regardless of your performance. Maybe that's the time now.
I don't think Chris believed it last week. That's the thing, right? He believes it now. Well, he believes it now. And maybe it's a blessing in disguise. You get the absolute honesty that the competition gives you. This is where you're at right now. There's no hiding from this. There's no shying away. And no one will be missed. They'll do a three-hour review on this game.
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Chapter 3: How can the Lions address their recent performance issues?
All right, well, let's have a listen to Chris Fagan on his thoughts on that third quarter, which was the most extraordinary footy you'll ever see.
I certainly didn't see it coming at half-time. When it did, nothing we tried worked. They played an unbelievable third quarter. I mean, it's when you look at the scores, you go, you know, we lost the first quarter by six, and even second quarter, we win the last quarter, but we lose the third quarter by 83 points. We got smashed everywhere, like at the contest, ball movement. We couldn't stop it.
They just controlled the game, unfortunately, and... To be truthful, our third quarters have been a problem to us for the last three weeks. We need to have a talk to the group and work out what's happening there. We tried putting the player behind the ball, we tried a whole lot of things, but when you can't win the footy and you can't get possession of it, this game's pretty hard to play.
All right. As good a quarter as you've ever seen, though, isn't it? Ever, ever. And they can do that, which is just – the Giants are just confusing, aren't they? What do we make of the Giants?
Well, I think they're getting some good youngsters come through. Gothard's become a player. He's becoming a really good player. Look, Thomas, I know Gerard's right. Thomas is on, I don't think he's in the squad of 40, but he's not far off it. I mean, if the squad was 50, he's pushing for that. And then they've just got these players that you rarely see. Look, Daniels, we rarely see him, right?
He's injured so regularly, but when he plays, you go, wow, what a difference maker.
Yeah. His first five minutes of the third quarter, he was centre bounce and he ripped it. He just single-handedly ripped it apart.
Yeah. And then Toby has that day and Jake Stringer's just making every post a winner. You sort of wish... I bet you the coach would think, you know, if I can just get... Just bottle that five minutes from him and put it somewhere else because I don't need it today. I don't need them all doing this today.
But if you talk about Craig Kelly talking about the Pies best football, how that looks, their best football blows your mind. Can beat anyone.
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