Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says the Lions will continue to detail opposing players’ strengths and weaknesses on a whiteboard, describing it as an “educational tool” for the less experienced members of his squad.
However, Fagan said Brisbane’s naming of ex-Lion Jaxon Prior’s partner Bronte as his “strength” was “not OK” and “wasn’t good enough” from the reigning premiers.
The whiteboard controversy that arose from a leaked photo of the whiteboard erupted before Brisbane’s win over the Bombers last Saturday has been an unwanted talking point for the Lions in the build-up to their clash on Friday night against Carlton at the Gabba.
However, Fagan said some “good learnings” had come out of it.
“It was unfortunate, what happened with the whiteboard, (but) the good thing was that early in the week I was able to sit down with the leadership group and chat about what happened and as a result, we put a few things in place at the club,” the Lions mentor said.
He said some windows at Brisbane’s Springfield training facility would be frosted to prevent the public seeing inside.
“If that had been the case, we wouldn’t even talk about this stuff, so we were a little bit unlucky there,” Fagan said.
“We also talked about what’s OK to write on that board and what’s not, and certainly writing a partner’s name on the board isn’t, so we’ve made that clear to the playing group.
“That’s probably the first time a player’s partner’s name has ever been written on the board.
“On investigating, it was clearly just a bit of a joke and having a bit of fun, which unfortunately can be taken the wrong way, and I understand that.
“It wasn’t good enough on our behalf, (but) we’ll continue doing our whiteboard.
“I’m unapologetic about that. We’re in a pretty tough business where every little thing matters. It’s been a really good educational tool that we’ve used over the years.
“When I first got here (ahead of the 2017 season), I didn’t think our players knew enough about their opposition, so we put that whiteboard up to use, and now all the older guys are pretty good at that.
“We just use it for our one-to-four-year players as part of their education.”
Despite a member of the public having taken the photo and leaking it, Fagan said the Lions would continue to “welcome the community” to their Springfield base.
“People say the security should have been better, (but) that clinic wasn’t scheduled for that indoor area,” he said.
“What happened was the weather was a bit wet, so they asked if they could come inside and use that area, which we did, so we’re a pretty good footy club in that regard, in terms of looking after our community.
“We did the right thing, unfortunately, somebody else didn’t do the right thing, and now we find ourselves talking about this ridiculously small issue all week.
“We welcome the community, and we always have. We always will. It’s part of our mantra. We see it as a really important part of what we do.”
The Lions will start as red-hot favourites on Friday night against a Carlton team that has lost seven of its eight games this season.
It’s a poor record that has heaped pressure on Blues coach Michael Voss, who captained the Lions to a hat-trick of premierships from 2001 to 2003.
“I have real empathy for him.” Fagan said of Voss.
“I’ve gone through patches where I’ve been under pressure. It’s a tough place, and it’s a lonely place when you’re a senior coach. There are not many people that you can talk to other than your close friends about it, and you just have to be really resilient.
“I’ve watched him over the last few weeks, how he’s gone about it. I reckon he’s done a fantastic job of that under really difficult circumstances.
“I would love to see Carlton get going so that the pressure can get off him. I just don’t want it to be (on Friday night).
“It sounds terrible, but that’s just the way it is in this game. It’s ruthless in that regard.”
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