Chris Fagan has become the 45^th coach in AFL history to post 100 wins … and the first after starting his coaching career with a wooden-spoon.

The unquestioned poster boy for late starters to the coaching caper, 63-year-old Fagan is the oldest 100-win coach by more than nine years, and one of only five to post his ‘ton’ beyond 50.

He is the only 100-win AFL coach who did not play at the elite level, although the Tasmanian Football Hall of Famer was a 263-game star of Tasmanian football from 1978-1990 and an 11-time Tasmanian representative.

But the statistic that best underlines the wonderful job the man known by most as ‘Fages’ has done in rebuilding a Brisbane club that was in disarray when he took charge in 2017, and won only five games in each of his first two years at the helm, is his win ratio since then -  67.67%.

After starting 10-34 he’s gone 90-1-42 to rank 10^th against the equivalent statistic for each of the 100-win coaches – effectively their win/loss record at the time of their 100^th win minus their first two years.  The top 10 is:-

John Worrall – 82-1-26 – 75.23%
Kevin Sheedy – 68-0-24 – 73.91%
Ron Barassi – 80-1-31 – 71.43%
John Longmire – 68-1-27 – 70.83%
Mark Williams – 81-1-33 – 70.43%
Dick Reynolds – 83-3-33 – 69.75%
Chris Scott – 63-1-27 – 69.23%
Ross Lyon – 75-4-31 – 68.18%
Tom Hafey – 70-0-33 – 67.96%
Chris Fagan - 90-1-42 – 67.67%

Worrall, recognised as the first official VFL/AFL coach at Carlton in 1902, is a fascinating story. He was also an Australian Test cricketer in the late 1880’s, and after his coaching career ended in 1920 he was a well-respected sports journalist until his death aged 76 in 1937.

Technically, Worrall did not play in the VFL/AFL, which was formed in 1897. But he did play 90 games with Fitzroy from 1884-87 and 1889-93 in the VFA – the highest level at the time. He captained Fitzroy, ,then known as the “Maroons” in 1886-87 and 1889-92 and later coached Carlton to VFL premierships in 1906-07-08 and Essendon to VFL premierships in 1911-12.

The other coaches among this elite group were spread over almost 100 years – Reynolds at Essendon in the 1940’s, Barassi at Carlton in the late 1960’s, Hafey at Richmond in the early 1970s, Sheedy at Essendon in the mid-1980’s and since the turn of the century, Williams at Port Adelaide, Lyon at St.Kilda and Fremantle, Longmire at Sydney and Chris Scott at Geelong.

Remarkably, there is a Lions connection to half of them – Worrall, the ex-Fitzroy captain, ex-Brisbane players Williams, Lyon and Scott, and Fagan.

The only other AFL coaches to post their 100^th win after turning 50 have been Port’s Ken Hinkley (53), Worrall (52), Western Bulldogs’ Luke Beveridge (51) and North’s Denis Pagan (51).

It was fitting that Fagan’s 100^th win came against Melbourne, where he started his AFL journey as Reserves coach under Neale Daniher in 1998. Such was the Tasmanian’s impact that in 2014 Neale said: “Finding Chris Fagan was the best recruiting decision I made in all my time at Melbourne”.

Also, it was appropriate that Hugh McCluggage kicked the best goal of his career from the boundary line 70 seconds from full-time for win #100. He has played his entire career under Fagan – 170 of his 177 games and 96 of his 100 wins. Plus the only draw. And most among the 81 players who make up the Fagan era.

All but five of the current playing list have played their entire Brisbane career under the always wise and measured father-like figure. The exceptions are Zorko, who had played 101 games prior to his arrival, Ryan Lester (80), Darcy Gardiner (43), Harris Andrews (36) and Eric Hipwood (10).

Eighteen players have played 100 or more games under Fagan – McCluggage (170), Andrews (165), Zorko (164), Hipwood (157), Jarrod Berry (148), Charlie Cameron (144), Oscar McInerney (140), Daniel Rich (132), Cam Rayner and Zac Bailey (128), Lachie Neale (125), Darcy Gardiner (122), Lincoln McCarthy (122), Dan McStay (120), Ryan Lester (115), Brandon Starcevich (108), Mitch Robinson (105) and Jarryd Lyons (102).

A premiership player with Hobart (1980) and Devonport (1988) in Tasmania and a qualified school teacher, Fagan has had the joy of handing 31 Lions players their AFL debut.

AFL coach of the Year in 2019 when he took his side from five wins and 15^th in 2018 to 16 wins and an equal top on the home-and-away ladder in 2019, Fagan has a positive or even win/loss record against all clubs except Melbourne (6-7), Hawthorn (4-6), Richmond (5-8), Western Bulldogs (4-7) and Geelong (3-8).

His best record is against Gold Coast (12-2), Carlton (7-2), West Coast (5-2), Fremantle (7-3), StKilda (7-3), North Melbourne (7-3), Port Adelaide (7-4), Adelaide (5-1-3), Sydney (4-3), Essendon (5-4), GWS (6-5) and Collingwood (6-6).

Now equal 48^th for most games coached in the AFL all-time, Fagan has coached at 17 venues and has a positive or even record at 10 of them. He’s 1-0 in Hobart and Cairns, and the Gather Round venues of Norwood Oval and Mt.Barker, and is 61-28 overall at the Gabba – including an overwhelming 57-10 since the start of 2019.

He’s 8-4 at Carrara, 2-1 in Canberra, 11-10 at Marvel Stadium, 3-3 at Perth Stadium, 2-2 at Sydney Showgrounds, 4-1-5 at Adelaide Oval, 2-3 in Launceston, 1-2 at the SCG, and 2-12 at the MCG. And he’s had three bogey grounds, having gone 0-3 at Geelong’s Kardinia Park, 0-2 in Ballarat and 0-1 at the old Subiaco Oval in Adelaide in his first season.

And having coached against 36 different coaches, he has an even or better record against all but 12.

He’s coached most often against Melbourne’s Simon Goodwin – 13 times – for a 6-7 split, and has also coached 10 or more games against Damien Hardwick (4-8), Ken Hinkley (7-4), Luke Beveridge (4-7), Chris Scott (3-8) and Stuart Dew (9-1).

He’s 6-3 against Alastair Clarkson, his long-time colleague at Hawthorn, 5-2 against Justin Longmuir, 4-3 against John Longmire, 3-4 against Leon Cameron, 5-1 against Ross Lyon, 4-1-1 against Matthew Nicks, 4-2 against Adam Simpson and 2-4 against Nathan Buckley.

Against coaches he’s locked horns with five or fewer times, he is 3-2 against Craig McRae, 2-3 against John Worsfold and Brad Scott, 3-1 against Michael Voss and Brett Ratten (3-1), 2-1 against Ben Rutten and David Teague, 1-2 against Don Pyke and Alan Richardson, and 1-1 against Adam Kingsley.

Sam Mitchell (0-3) is the only opposition coach he’s not yet beaten, while he’s unbeaten against Mark McVeigh, former Lions football boss David Noble, Rhyce Shaw and Brendon Bolton (2-0), and Adem Yze, Andrew McQualter, Robert Harvey, Dean Solomon, Rodney Eade, Matthew Knights and Steven King (1-0).

Brisbane sides under Fagan have scored 100 points 53 times and conceded 100 points 45 times, but, in a further pointer to the club’s turnaround, it’s 45-18 after his first two years.

His team’s overall percentage through 177 games is 107.55%, but it was 80.92% in 2017-18 and has been 119.72% since then.

His highest score and biggest win was against Richmond at the Gabba in Round 10 this year, when the Lions won 26-7 (163) to 6-8 (44), and his lowest score and biggest loss was in Round 4 2018 at the MCG when it was 2-5 (17) to 16-14 (110).

Friday night’s win, when the Lions came from 15 points down at three-quarter time, was the equal second-biggest last quarter turnaround for a win in the Fagan era.

They were also 15 points down at the last change against Port Adelaide at the Gabba in Round 1 2022, and in what is a statistical outrider, he masterminded an even better comeback win against Essendon at Marvel in just his 14^th game in 2017.

They were 19 points down at three-quarter time and 27 points down five minutes into the final term of what was Andrews’ 50^th game before piling on 6-6 to 1-1 to win 13-12 (90) to 11-16 (82), with Zorko (30 possessions, two goals) picking up three Brownlow votes and Hipwood (12 possessions, four goals) two votes.

Fagan is the second Brisbane coach to 100 wins behind Leigh Matthews, who was 142-3-92 from 237 games at 60.55% after also taking over a club in disarray in 1999. This is better than Fagan’s all-time win-ratio of 52.54% but below Fagan’s record since 2019 of 67.67%.

The triple premiership coach, still on the Lions board of directors, lives near Fagan and has been a great ally for the current coach.

A LITTLE-KNOWN FAGAN FACT …

The first name of the newest member of the 100-win club is not Chris – it is Christian.

ANOTHER ‘TON’

Harris Andrews, fresh off his 200^th game in Adelaide in Round 15, enjoyed another major milestone with Fagan on Friday night when he played his 100^th game at the Gabba. He is the 21^st on a list headed by Simon Black (170), Luke Power (149), Michael Voss (147) and Nigel Lappin (147) ahead of Daniel Rich (139) and Dayne Zorko (136).

FROM THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL STATS FILE …

Josh Dunkley, a key figure on Friday night with a game-high 32 possessions and 10 tackles, a team-high seven clearances and 10 score involvements, also wrote himself into the AFL record books as the first player to twice register a ‘quad double’ – double-figures in four categories. He had 17 kicks, 15 handballs, 12 marks and 10 tackles.

This is after the always team-first Dunkley had 22 kicks, 11 handballs, 11 marks and 13 tackles for three Brownlow Medal votes at Marvel in Round 8 last year when they beat Carlton by 26 points.

Ex-Brisbane captain Tom Rockliff is one of seven other players in AFL history to have recorded a ‘quad double’. He had 22 kicks, 18 handballs, 10 marks and 10 tackles in a 105-point loss to Adelaide at the Gabba in Round 20 2014.

The others have been Scott Thompson (Adel), Joel Selwood (Geel), Brett Stanton (Ess), Ben McGlynn (Syd), Corey Enright (Geel) and Karl Amon (Port).