'In my corner': Fagan admits to 'tough time' amid Hawks saga ...

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan thanked family, friends and his club for helping him through a “pretty tough time” dealing with the fallout of Hawthorn’s racism scandal to win his first flag as a senior coach.

Fagan expressed his gratitude to the people who “stood in my corner” as he became engulfed in allegations of racism at Hawthorn, which he strenuously denied and was cleared of any “adverse findings” in an AFL probe last year.

“I just felt fairly comfortable all the way through, to be honest. I don’t think I’m anything special, but a pretty tough time I guess, especially when (the allegations) all first came out and things are being said about you,” he said after the game.

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“I’m just very grateful for everyone who’s stood in my corner and looked after me.”

Fagan said his experience at Hawthorn as Alastair Clarkson’s director of coaching during the three-peat could be useful helping the Lions mount a strong flag defence after previous premiership sides Geelong and Collingwood failed to play finals the following year.

“I don’t know about that … you’ve got to get back to work, and you’ve got to stay grounded and not get too carried away,” Fagan said.

“That’s always the big challenge after you win one, because it’s pretty intoxicating winning an AFL premiership.

“I think I can use some of the things I learnt at Hawthorn, from Clarko and Hodgey as well, to get the group going again. I think they’ll be pretty motivated to have that feeling again.”

“Yep, we’re ready to roll, we’re all ready for pre-season,” Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft quipped as he sat to Fagan’s right.

Fagan said the key to the Lions’ barnstorming finals series after finishing fifth had been turning pressure from a weakness into a strength as they laid 19 more tackles than the Swans despite having 80 more disposals.

“Coming into the finals, our pressure hadn’t been all that good, it was probably our weakness,” he said.

“We talked about the idea that we could turn pressure into a secret weapon for us, because we hadn’t been doing it all that well, and across the course of the finals, our pressure has been enormous, and our better quarters, we’ve scored heavily.

Along with Ashcroft, inexperienced Lions Kai Lohmann (4.0) and Logan Morris (2.1) made vital contributions when the game was on the line.

Fagan said their emergence had been the silver lining in the shocking spate of ACL injuries to four first-choice players.

“The interesting thing is that crisis creates opportunity, and terrible it is for those boys to have the ACLs, and they’re all wonderful clubmen and popular boys … it opened the door for a lot of young players to get some opportunity.

“And what we found out is those young players … on the big stage today, they produced, and they have done from the moment they got into the team.

“I think the culture the players have created at the club, to make all the young players feel welcome very, very quickly – that’s helped as well, and they should take a lot of credit for that.”