Chris Fagan has chosen the rarest possible moment for an AFL coach to leave: with his team still standing at the very top.

The Brisbane Lions coach has stepped down just days after guiding the club to a third consecutive premiership, bringing an extraordinary coaching tenure to a close despite having another year remaining on his contract.

Fagan, 65, informed Brisbane players and staff of his decision at a meeting on Thursday afternoon ahead of the club’s best and fairest night. His departure comes after the Lions reached four consecutive grand finals and won three premierships during that run.

The timing immediately raises the obvious question: why did Chris Fagan retire when Brisbane were still at their peak?

The clearest answer came from Fagan himself.

Why did Chris Fagan retire from the Brisbane Lions?

Fagan had already signalled after Brisbane’s latest premiership that he was seriously considering whether he wanted to continue coaching in 2027.

His comments suggested the decision was not driven by results. Instead, he was weighing the appeal of finishing at the top against the relentless demands of being an AFL senior coach.

“It might sound like a strange thing for me to say after we just won a premiership, but I don’t really want to be that guy who hangs around until we fail,” Fagan said after the Grand Final.

“There’s a little bit inside of me who’d rather walk away when the team’s on top, I’ve got to be honest. It’s sort of the dream way to finish, in many ways.”

There was another part to his thinking.

Fagan openly questioned whether he still had the energy required for the job, describing the responsibility and pressure attached to AFL coaching as relentless.

“I’ve just got to work out whether I’ve still got the energy required to do that relentless responsibility and pressure that comes with being an AFL coach,” he said.

“You don’t really know what I’m talking about until you do it yourself, but it overtakes your life. I don’t know if I want to keep doing that, or I don’t.”

Those comments offer the strongest explanation for his decision. Fagan had the option of coaching for another season, but instead chose to leave with Brisbane at the height of its success.

Fagan leaves with one year remaining on his contract

Fagan was contracted through the 2027 season but opted not to see out the final year of his deal.

His exit was confirmed after Brisbane completed its third straight premiership, with the coach having acknowledged immediately after the Grand Final that he was torn over whether to continue.

It means his final game as Brisbane coach was a premiership victory.

That ending is particularly striking given where the Lions were when Fagan arrived.

He took charge in 2017, at the age of 55, with Brisbane sitting near the bottom of the AFL ladder. His first two seasons produced five wins each, but the rebuild accelerated sharply from there. Brisbane returned to the finals in 2019 and did not miss them again during the remainder of his tenure.

The transformation eventually carried Brisbane into four consecutive grand finals and three premierships.

From rebuilding Brisbane to a premiership dynasty

Fagan’s arrival at Brisbane was his first opportunity as an AFL senior coach, but he had already spent years working inside elite football programs.

A Tasmanian who played premiership football with Hobart and Devonport without reaching the top playing level, Fagan moved through coaching and administrative roles before joining Melbourne’s reserves coaching setup in 1998.

He later worked at Hawthorn, first as an assistant coach and subsequently as football boss, becoming a key figure during the Hawks’ premiership three-peat from 2013 to 2015.

Brisbane appointed him ahead of the 2017 season.

What followed was a long-term rebuild that turned into sustained contention. According to Nine, Fagan finished with 148 wins from 243 games in charge, having taken the Lions from the bottom end of the ladder to one of the AFL’s dominant sides.

His final four seasons produced a 70 per cent winning record, while also bringing the pressure that Fagan had spoken about openly. He had previously acknowledged that coaching a team expected to contend for premierships could be more stressful than overseeing a rebuilding side.

A finish Fagan had already imagined

In hindsight, Fagan’s post-Grand Final comments read less like an off-the-cuff reflection and more like a coach seriously considering his exit.

He spoke about not wanting to remain until results eventually turned against him. He also described leaving while the Lions were on top as a “dream way to finish”.

That is ultimately what he has done.

Rather than entering 2027 simply because another season remained on his contract, Fagan has stepped away after the strongest possible conclusion to his Brisbane career.

His final stretch included four straight Grand Final appearances, three premierships and a three-peat that placed him alongside Leigh Matthews as a three-time premiership coach of the Lions.

What happens next for Brisbane?

Fagan’s retirement leaves Brisbane searching for the coach who will inherit a team coming off three consecutive premierships.

Lions were expected to consider an internal appointment, with football manager Danny Daly and assistant coach Cameron Bruce among the potential candidates.

For now, however, the larger story is Fagan’s departure itself.

Coaches do not often get to choose an ending this clean. Fagan had another year available to him and a side still capable of competing at the highest level. Instead, after a decade of rebuilding, finals campaigns, grand finals and premierships, he decided the moment was right to stop.

His own words explain the decision better than any outside interpretation could.

He did not want to wait for failure to decide the ending for him.

He wanted to leave while Brisbane were still on top.

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