Brisbane Lions toast of the town, Geelong Cats commiserate

Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan says this year’s victory is sweeter than 2024, because of how hard it is to go back-to-back.

Addressing the Fitzroy North crowd, he said the team had learnt a lot from their loss to Geelong only weeks ago, and had tapped into their “courage and resilience”.

“I reckon it feels better than last year because it’s hard, it’s bloody hard to do it two times in a row,” he said.

“From that perspective, all the obstacles we had to overcome this year to get to that point yesterday – even the fact that Geelong beat us three weeks ago – were able to turn the tables around.”

When asked about dual Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft, Fagan joked that he might have had a football in his hand “from the day he came out of his mother’s womb”.

“He copped a little bit of flack, I think, early in a practice game this year, some Gold Coast Suns players said, “What business do you [have], winning the Norm Smith Medal? Now he’s got it two years in a row, so that’s fantastic,” Fagan said.

Read Michael Gleeson’s story on the Norm Smith medallist here.

Sunglasses firmly planted on their faces after what must have been a big celebration last night, the Brisbane Lions took to the stage to the adulation of the Fitzroy North crowd on Sunday morning.

A sea of blue, yellow and maroon filled up WT Peterson Oval to celebrate their back-to-back victories. Flags waving, families were packed against the fences to get a glimpse to their favourite players on the stage.

Co-captain Harris Andrews told the crowd it had been an “awesome” night, but most of the boys had behaved themselves.

“I closed the eyes for a couple of hours [of sleep] which is good, feeling alright,” he said with a laugh.

“I hope you guys really enjoyed yesterday as much as we did. Thank you so much, and we’ll get ready to go again for next year.”

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