‘I’m in it’: Coach cops blame… but says ‘same’ is the answer as ‘below par’ Lions languish

Chris Fagan has labelled the Lions’ effort in the second half as “well below par” in their matchup against the Giants on Wednesday night, but has included himself amongst the disappointment.

Brisbane went into the main break just eight points down, before losing the second half 61-15.

Fagan admits the Lions “just didn’t work as hard” as the opposition, but says he knows how to get an underperforming Brisbane team back to the top.

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“I admire them and respect them for the efforts they’ve been able to put in over the last five seasons,” he said.

“I’m not going to sit here and bag the team for the way they performed tonight, I’m in it with them. The way forward is together, that’s how we became a good team in the first place.

“When I first took over here, we won five games in each of my first two seasons. But we learned from our mistakes, we stuck together, and we became a good team. The way out of our situation at the moment is that exact same way.”

Fagan said the Lions aren’t changing tact but highlighted his side’s drop-off in effort in the second half on Friday night.

“We certainly haven’t tried to change the way that we’re playing, it’s been pretty successful way to play for the last five or so years,” he said.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to go back and have a look at the tape to really work out what happened.

“It was more about effort and contest in the second half and turning the ball over. Almost unforced at different times.

“First half (effort) I thought was fine, second half (was) well below par. I don’t really know the answer (to why the effort decreased) at this point in time.

“I have no excuses, we just didn’t work as hard as they did.”

Opposition coach Adam Kingsley and his men returned to the winners’ list after the 54-point win, despite missing key players for the ANZAC Day clash. Sam Taylor, Stephen Coniglio and Skipper Toby Greene all missed the match against the Lions.

However, it was first gamer Darcy Jones that brought Canberra’s Giants fans to their feet. The long awaited debut of the highly-touted youngster was off to a fast start as he kicked his first goal just 10 minutes in, and doubled his return in the final quarter.

After tearing his ACL halfway into his first VFL game for the club last year, Kingsley was impressed with Jones’ mentality to get back and was blown away by his performance on Friday.

“He looked electric,” Kingsley said, “He looked like every time he was near the ball something was going to happen.

“I think he showed really, really good composure for a guy playing his first game. He played half a VFL game last year and did his knee, he’s played four games this year, that’s not a lot of footy.”

After an “arm wrestle” in the first half, Kingsley was happy with his teams’ ability to work back into the game, after missing that mark in a couple of their previous outings.

“For us to be able to respond [to Brisbane’s fightback], is something we didn’t do against Carlton, we didn’t do it against St. Kilda.” He said.

“We responded really well tonight and kept the margin within reach, and to play the way we did in the second half was really pleasing.”