This article discusses mental health issues. For immediate support please contact Headspace on 1800 650 890. You may also visit beyondblue.org.au or call the Beyond Blue Support Service on 1300 22 4636

CHRIS Fagan didn't know what was wrong with him.

The newly crowned premiership coach was about to celebrate Christmas with his family at the end of 2024, seemingly without a concern in the world, when he was suddenly struck by what he says was "the lowest patch of my life".

And he had no idea why.

In episode six of Return of the Pride, a new six-part podcast series on AFL.com.au that tracks the Lions' rise back to the top of the AFL, hosts Josh Gabelich and Michael Whiting look back at the 2024 and 2025 seasons as Brisbane returned to the top of the AFL pile, and the challenges that the club's key figures dealt with. 

>> LISTEN TO EPISODE SIX OF RETURN OF THE PRIDE BELOW

Fagan's nine-year tenure at the helm of Brisbane had culminated in the club's first premiership in 21 years and his place among the club's most influential figures was assured. The job, in short, was done.

But that's not how it felt to the then-63-year-old.

"It happened just before Christmas, and you think, 'you beauty, you've won the flag, that stuff that's going on in the background's over, life's good'," he recalled

"I reckon I hit the lowest patch of my life for about two or three months after that."

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Fagan had battled physical ailments, fatigue and the stress of the long-running Hawthorn racism investigation in the 24 months prior to the Lions' historic premiership. He now believes it had finally all caught up with him.

"You reach the pinnacle, (you're) exhausted. The thing that's been going on in the background suddenly goes away. Maybe it's just your body – you hold on, you hold on, try and get through, and then when you get through, it's sort of like the body does something," he said.

"I don't know what it was, but I was sort of like having a few panic attacks and couldn't sleep and felt anxious all the time. It's really hard to explain.

"The way forward was just, I talked to people about it, I got some help. Most of it was to do with rest and getting sleep and trying to get back to normal again.

"By the time the footy season started last year, I was back to feeling my old self again. But for three or four months there, I was like, every day was a bit tough."

Fagan wasn't the only important figure at the Lions who had felt the pinch during the rise to glory.

Key forward Joe Daniher, who had always been a reluctant public figure during his AFL career with Essendon and then Brisbane, wasn't part of the 2025 flag after calling it quits immediately after the 2024 triumph.

Lions football boss Danny Daly, who had worked alongside Fagan since the end of the 2020 season, said the club knew that the champion goalkicker was going to hang up the boots after the 2024 Grand Final – win, lose or draw.

And had the Lions won in 2023, he might well have retired 12 months earlier.

"Well, I think it's well documented he spoke to Fages the year before. Fages obviously let me know, but the day before the (2024) Grand Final, I think something came out about it might potentially be his last game when the Grand Final had finished," Daly recalled.

"And Joe walked into my office and said, 'Oh, can I have a chat with you and Fages? And I said, 'Oh, mate, we all know where this is going.' But we went into Fages' office. And so that's when we knew, ultimately.

"We had in the back of our heads it was going to be his last game and when he kicked that last goal, I was on the [headset] to Fages. And he said, 'This is it, isn't it?' And I said, 'Well, it looks like it, the way he's celebrating, mate.'

"He'd given us little hints along the way but he'd never come out and said that this was going to be his last game, or last year."

That memorable goal might have been Daniher's last significant act on the field in a Brisbane jumper, but it wasn't the final time he contributed to the club's success on a Grand Final day.

A year on from his retirement, Daniher joined the Lions after their captain's run at the MCG on Grand Final Eve and spoke to them about the opportunity that lay in front of them, even though he wouldn’t be part of it.

"It was pretty cool to get him back for the Grand Final last year and talk to the players before the Grand Final, after the captain's run, and the players loved that," Daly said

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