The Brisbane Lions have gifted coach Chris Fagan a birthday basket full of club records, personal bests and milestones. And a giant dose of renewed finals hope.
Fagan, who celebrated his 63rd birthday yesterday (Sunday), was treated to a stress-free night at Adelaide Oval on Saturday as the Lions cruised to their highest score ever against Port of 23-14 (152) and their biggest winning margin of 79 points.
In their 43rd game against the Power since they joined the competition in 1997, Brisbane also posted the highest score by an interstate side at Adelaide Oval, home of football in the South Australian capital since 2011.
And it was the Lions’ biggest away win and the equal biggest ‘away’ score of the Fagan era, topping the 75-point win against North Melbourne at Mt.Barker in Gather Round #1 last year, when they kicked a less accurate 22-20 (152)
Individually, Eric Hipwood moved into the elite of the club’s goalkickers when he kicked five against Port to became the seventh Brisbane player to reach 250 goals.
Now with 253, Hipwood follows Jonathan Brown (594), Daniel Bradshaw (496), Alastair Lynch (460), Jason Akermanis (307), Charlie Cameron (294) and Roger Merrett (285).
The 26-year-old Sunshine Coaster is the 19th member of the all-time Lions family to kick 250 goals after 12 players did so for Fitzroy – Jack Moriarty (626), Bernie Quinlan (576), Garry Wilson (452), Alan Ruthven (442), Jimmy Freake (442), Richard Osborne (411), Mick Conlan (395), John Murphy (326), Eddie Hart (323), Bob Beecroft (291), Paul Roos (270) and Claude Curtin (269).
Oscar McInerney also enjoyed a special goal-kicking moment with a career-best three goals against the Power, and Bruce Reville, with one goal in his first six games, trebled his total with his first two-goal bag.
Cam Rayner had a career-best four goal assists. Only six players in club history have had more goal assists in a game – Brown (7), Lachie Neale (6), Akermanis (6), Cameron (5), Dayne Zorko (5) and Simon Black (5).
And Logan Morris, with two goals in his seventh game, continued to close in on the club record for most consecutive games on the goalsheet from debut.
Morris has gone past Hipwood’s six-game streak to start his career and now trails only Patrick Karnezis’ eight games in a row in 2011 and John Hutton’s 10 games in a row in 1992.
Joe Daniher, who started 0-3-0-0-0 at Essendon, kicked at least one goal in his first 22 games with Brisbane in 2021 to hold the club record for most consecutive games on the goalsheet from his club debut.
Ex-Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola went 16 games in a row in 2010 and ex-Geelong utility David Cameron was a goal-kicker in each of his 15 games with the Bears in 1999. Ex-Sydney high-flyer Warwick Capper started with an 11-game streak in 1988.
The Fagan birthday means that he will be just the fourth coach in AFL history beyond the age of 63 when he takes charge in a critical Gabba clash with Melbourne on Friday night.
This is on top of the fact that at age 55 years 275 days in his first game with the Lions in 2017 he is the oldest first-time coach among 380 in the League all-time.
But all that, and all the team and individual highlights, will be secondary to Fagan after his side’s best four-quarter performance of the season provided a giant boost to their finals hopes.
With the ladder finally offering a meaningful picture of the standings after Round 15 brought the end of the mid-season byes, Brisbane are 10th with a 7-1-6 record.
After two wins from their first seven games their last seven games have brought five wins, an away draw with Adelaide and an away loss to Hawthorn, who have won six of their last seven and had a one-point loss away to Port when they led by 11 points with 38 seconds to play.
With eight games still to play Brisbane are half a game outside the top eight, one game behind fourth-placed Collingwood, and two games behind second-placed Carlton.
And, in an extraordinary ladder logjam, they are only half a game ahead of the Western Bulldogs, Hawthorn and Gold Coast, who are 11th-12-13th.
Importantly, too, the Lions have the second best percentage in the competition at 122.1 – behind the 148.8 of runaway ladder leaders Sydney.
With the draw this gives Brisbane the edge over third-placed Essendon and fifth-placed Fremantle should they finish level on premiership points. And if there is another draw involving any of the finals contenders in the last eight weeks it could be even more important.
Fagan moved into fourth spot on the ‘oldest coach’ list in Round 3 last year when he went past Mick Malthouse, who was 61 years 278 days old in the last of his Leage-record 718 games in 2015
The oldest coach in AFL history is League Hall of Famer and ex-Melbourne and Richmond coach Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes, who was 71 years 148 days old in a one-off comeback in 1965.
Hughes, who masterminded five premierships with Richmond (1932) and Melbourne (1939-40-41-48), coached his 377th game at 54 years 226 days in the 1948 grand final replay.
But in Round 13 1965, 17 years later, he deputised for the legendary Norm Smith when Smith was on representative coaching duties to claim his place at the top of the list.
Legendary Collingwood coach Jock McHale, who won seven flags in 713 games over 38 consecutive years at the helm of the Magpies from 1912-49, was 66 years 265 days old in his last game.
And Kevin Sheedy, record-breaking Essendon coach who finished at GWS, was 65 years 251 old when he finally called time on his career.
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