Brisbane coach Chris Fagan brings Tasmania to AFL grand final

Asked that question back in 2007, he replied: "When I coached the Tassie Mariners and we won the Division 2 carnival for the first time in 1996, with a side including Russell Robertson, Mark Harwood, Leigh Brockman, Daniel McAlister, Ben Beams and Brodie Holland."

The coach who will lead Brisbane Lions into this year's AFL grand final may have been living on the mainland for a quarter of a century and enjoyed his standout achievements in Victoria and Queensland, but few people within the game carry such strong Tasmanian DNA.

Born into a rich West Coast footy heritage, he cut his teeth - and knees - on Queenstown's infamous gravel oval, won premierships and best and fairest awards in Hobart and Devonport, represented the state 12 times, was the inaugural coach of the Tassie Mariners and was at Hawthorn throughout their most successful spell allied to his home state.

As Fagan prepares for what could be his finest hour in football, a revisit of that 16-year-old interview from the year he was inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame reveals the state running through his veins like copper in the Mount Lyell mine.

Sitting in the stands of Collingwood's run-down old Victoria Park ground - ironic given the Lions' opposition on Saturday - Fagan was the general manager of football operations with the Melbourne Demons at the time.

It is a trait of all Tasmanian AFL graduates that they never miss a chance to talk up their state, but few can do it with more authority and knowledge than Fagan - whose daughters, Jessica and Ellen, were both Tassie-born.

Watching Robertson taking trademark speccies, he reminisced about first seeing the Penguin high-flyer as Mariners coach and, when David Neitz wandered by, recalled being boundary umpire when the Ulverstone-born forward's father, Alec, won the WTFA's Bartram Medal for Rosebery.

He chuckled at the yarn about his dad, Austin 'Doos' Fagan, kicking a ball into the wagon of a passing train bound from Queenstown to Strahan which remains the only known example of a 34-kilometre drop-punt.

And he happily relived what it was like being a rover on the notorious gravel surface.

''It was alright as long as you didn't fall over. If you fell over, you got cut - so you learned not to fall over," he explained.

''We always found playing on grass really unusual. It's actually a good practical surface because there's so much rainfall around the area. Rosebery Oval was 40-odd kilometres away and was unplayable by mid-year, but the gravel oval you could play on in any conditions.''

Fagan even recalled revisiting the ground after moving to Hobart.

''I remember playing in a TFL side that went down to Queenstown to play the WTFA on the gravel. I was only a young fella, about 18, and thought I'd be right because I'd played there all my life.

''We flew in on one of those little planes which made half the blokes turn white, and then when they saw the ground they turned whiter. When I got out there I thought 'How did I play on this for all those years?'

''It was definitely an intimidating environment and if you hadn't been there before it must have been even worse.''

While also sharing secrets of the best places to catch flathead in the state, Fagan revealed a passionate pride in his former home and its unique football landscape.

"Tassie is a fantastic footy state with a rich heritage and has produced some amazing players - probably per head of population far outreaching anything else around Australia,'' he said.

''I played 13 seasons in all parts of the state so understand all the regional rivalries down there which is an unfortunate thing about Tassie but just the way it is. It was a great experience playing in either end of the state.''

Born in Queenstown, Fagan lived on the West Coast until his family moved to the capital when he was in year 10. He made his senior debut for Hobart in the TFL aged just 16 and stayed for five years, more than 100 games and a premiership under Paul Sproule in 1980. After another five years under Sproule at Sandy Bay, a teaching transfer to Sheffield District High School saw him join Devonport who he helped to a statewide flag in 1988.

He won best and fairest awards at Hobart (in 1981) and Sandy Bay (1985) - where he was also leading goal-kicker three times (1983, '84 and '85) - amassing a total of 263 games in the Tasmanian Football League.

At North Hobart and then Sandy Bay he moved into coaching before giving up teaching for the joint roles of Tassie Mariners coach (1995 to '97) and state director of coaching.

''The Mariners concept came up and I couldn't help myself," he said. ''I wanted to do it and was passionate about football in Tasmania and thought we could compete strongly with the best teams in Victoria. That was my overriding motivation but how it's turned out for me personally to be able to come here and work in the AFL is a fortunate by-product I suppose.''

As for giving up his trained profession, he added: ''I'm probably still a teacher, just perhaps in a different environment.''

During his final season with the Mariners, Fagan circulated his resume around every AFL club. Newly-appointed Melbourne coach Neale Daniher took a punt and Fagan made the giant leap across Bass Strait.

In a decade with the Demons he was reserves coach (1998-2000), assistant coach (2000-04) and general manager of football operations (2005-07).

In 2008 he joined Hawthorn as an assistant coach to Alastair Clarkson and was instrumental in the 2008, 2013, '14 and '15 premierships, appointment of future head coaches including Damien Hardwick, Luke Beveridge, Adam Simpson, Brett Ratten and Brendon Bolton and the club's prosperous partnership with his home state.

In 2016 Fagan became head coach at Brisbane. Three years later he took the Lions to finals and earned the AFL Coaches Association's senior coach of the year award with further finals appearances from 2020 to '23.

On March 4, the Lions announced that he had signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club until the 2025 season.

Now aged 62, Fagan will this week become the oldest grand final coach in history and join John Worrall (Carlton 1902-09, Essendon 1911-20) as the only ones who never played in the competition.

Whatever the result at the MCG, the opening line of Christian Fagan's bio upon becoming the 181st person inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame will never have been more apt: "One of the finest all-round contributors to the game of football that Tasmania has produced."

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