Chris Fagan has conceded he had doubts about his coaching midway through the season.
"You get a year-and-a-half in, you're in your second season and you've only won one game and it's natural to ask yourself the question, 'Are we on the right track? Are we playing the right way?'," Fagan said.
Just eight weeks later though, the Lions coach had won four more matches, signed a two-year contract extension and was leading a club that both internally and externally was seen to be heading in the right direction.
"I felt like the last 10 games, all that stubbornness to stick at the game plan and not change too many things started to bear some fruit," he said.
In truth, the Lions have progressed in each half-season block under Fagan; it was just the wins that didn't correlate.
And unless you're trying to play finals or win premierships – which Brisbane wasn't – wins are the final thing Fagan and the Lions needed to validate improvement.
Whether it
With two years under his belt, Fagan said he has learnt plenty about himself as a Senior Coach.
He took over the job after almost two decades in the system at both Melbourne and Hawthorn in a variety of roles, but never as the head honcho.
He had to wait until the age of 55 for that.
"You delegate more as you go along, get more confidence in your staff," Fagan said.
"You just let go a little more. They have to develop too.
"I've still got to get better at having downtime for myself. You think the more you do the better you're going to be, but that's just rubbish.
"You just work too hard sometimes and you can't think straight. It's always a struggle.
"Sometimes when you're losing you just work harder. Both years we've been better in the second half of the year and I reckon I've backed off a little bit.
"You're happier … working too hard doesn't give you more energy. Energy is more important than anything."
Fagan switches off by reading, exercising and listening to music and said he often comes up with solutions while not thinking about the problem.
Above all, he said it's the stability at Brisbane that would help the Club rise further.
Off-field the Lions have kept the key pieces the same – CEO Greg Swann, Football Manager David Noble,
The Lions have an acronym on its football department wall that says FOCUS – Follow One Course Until Success.
"You've got to create stability, you've got to have a plan and stick to it, don't change too much," Fagan said.
"Don't be that stubborn that you won't change if you need to but don't fear the pressure around you to change.
"Stick to your guns."
