Will Chris Fagan Entertain a role at Carlton?
Written by Marcus Guarnera
Chris Fagan managed to lead the Brisbane Lions to their first straight premiership in a row last week in a comeback win against the Fremantle Dockers. The win came on a bitter sweet note however as Fagan announced that he would be stepping down as head coach of the Lions.
This season was Fagan’s ninth in charge of the Lions after joining the club in 2017, but Fagan decided that it was time to step down from the side. Fagan wanted to take a break from the mental drainage that being in a head coaching role can be.
However, Fagan has not announced his retirement entirely as he said in his statement that he still wants to work in football “somewhere”. But, this doesn’t elude a move to a different role at the Lions.
Fagan has also expressed his desire to return to Victoria to be close to his family. This means that he could take on a board room role at a club in Victoria. John Longmire did the same thing this week as he was announced as the general manager of performance for Essendon.
The question then has to be asked: could Chris Fagan come to Carlton? There is currently an empty role in Carlton’s backroom staff as the Blues still don’t have a list manager. However it is hard to see Fagan taking a very hands on day to day role like that currently.
Even if Fagan wanted a list management role he will likely prefer to take a year off first before returning to football similar to John Longmire. But this doesn’t necessarily rule out Carlton as he could join the Blues sometime after next season.
The rumours of a move to Carlton have been supported by former Brisbane Lions player and current agent Marty Pask’s yesterday on AFL trade radio as he said “Carlton is the obvious one that pops up for me” While this is all still speculation it shows the real possibility of a move for Fagan to join Carlton in a boardroom role sometime in the future.
Carlton will definitely explore the possibility of hiring Chris Fagan in a competitive role, as was confirmed to Mitch Clearly, as he would be “derelict in his duties” if he didn’t explore the possibility of hiring Chris Fagan, all though this is no guarantee we will see Fags at Ikon in 2027.
