Delighted Brisbane coach Chris Fagan felt the Lions’ 54-point winning margin at the Gabba on Thursday night perhaps flattered Collingwood such was the back-to-back premiers’ dominance.
The Lions’ defence of their latest flag is well and truly in motion after a 17.17 (119) to 10.5 (65) win over the Magpies.
Having started their season with two successive losses, Brisbane has bounced back with two consecutive wins and will be full of confidence heading into Saturday week’s Gather Round clash with North Melbourne.
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“It was a really even team performance, good over four quarters — I thought we played fantastic footy,” Fagan said.
“It felt like we could have won by a little bit more, to be honest.
“I don’t mean to sound greedy, but we did play exceptionally well in all the facets, whether it be contest, team defence, (and) our offence was outstanding.
“Collingwood have been doing a really good job defensively for their first three games of the season, and I thought we played in a way tonight that made it difficult for them to defend, so it was great.”
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Fagan said the late withdrawal of Collingwood star Nick Daicos had not altered his own side’s plans.
“It didn’t change a lot because we’d made a decision after what happened last week (against St Kilda), just to back our midfield in, and we were just going to try to quell Daicos’ influence at stoppage,” he said.
“When he didn’t play, we went to (Jordan) De Goey a little bit more to try to stop him from having a big influence, but there was never going to be a big hard tag like we had going on Nasiah (Wanganeen-Milera) last week.”
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The Lions will welcome back co-captain Harris Andrews from suspension against the Kangaroos, but Fagan was unsure if another of Brisbane’s leaders, star midfielder Hugh McCluggage, would return in the same game from a calf injury that has sidelined him for three games.
“I don’t know whether Hughie will be back next week, but Harris certainly will,” the Lions coach said.
“(McCluggage) turned the corner this week. To be fair, he’s done a lot more running and is more ready to play now than what he would have been a week ago, so it’ll be line-ball with him now.”
Fagan was relieved that his team had emerged unscathed on Thursday after a host of early season injuries.
“That was exciting. It has been the first time for probably four or five weeks that we haven’t pulled up with three or four injuries,” he said.
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