‘That’s just Joe’: Fagan hails Daniher after launching final bid to rethink retirement

Speaking on SEN Tassie on Friday morning, Fagan said he wasn’t surprised by the forward’s decision to call it quits after he played a starring role in last week’s grand final win over Sydney.

But it didn’t stop him throwing one last Hail Mary the day of the club’s best and fairest to tempt star forward Daniher into playing the final year of his contract.

“I caught up with him yesterday (Thursday) and had a chat, I said ‘mate why don’t you give it a couple of weeks and have a bit more of a think about it,’ but he’d made up his mind,” Fagan said.

“He wanted to announced it last night (at our best and fairest), and good on him. We had him for another year on contract and we’d love to still have him, but he made a great contribution to our footy club.”

Fagan suggested Daniher’s shift from Essendon to Brisbane in 2021 may have even prolonged his career, with the famously shy 30-year-old battling with the expectations his surname carries at the Bombers.

“I don’t think you can deny people having a choice in their lives, that’s what he wants to do,” Fagan said.

“Life as a Daniher, especially as an Essendon player, was pretty tough for him, in the sense there was a lot of expectation around him just because of the name.

“I think he found that a big weight on his shoulders and he’s really enjoyed his footy up here, because it’s not as footy mad a town as Melbourne is.

“I coach a bit differently. Sometimes I cop flak about not being hard on blokes but I like to let people be who they are, let their strengths shine through and not let them turn into a bunch of robots.

“He’s enjoyed playing in that environment for four years and he’s made that decision.

“He’s kicked a lot of goals and played well in big games. He does crazy things sometimes and you do think ‘what the hell was he thinking’ and you scratch our head, but that’s Joe and the way he is.

“We should all celebrate that’s the way he played his footy.”

Fagan revealed at the Lions’ best and fairest Daniher had told him last year that had they beaten Collingwood in last year’s grand final, he would have retired then.

“It was no surprise to me once we won that (retirement) was going to be the case,” Fagan said.

“The celebration with the goal (he kicked) at the end was a bit of a giveaway. I think he might have told a few of his teammates because they came from everywhere to celebrate with him.”

Fagan reaffirmed in the interview he seriously contemplated walking away from the Lions after their round eight clash with Gold Coast as he juggled a health scare, while the emotional effects from Hawthorn’s racism saga were also taking their toll.

“There was a day where I felt really close (to walking away),” Fagan said.

“We were struggling a bit as a team and I was copping a bit of flak in the media which is OK, it comes with the territory.

“That (Hawthorn saga) was still ongoing, and had been for a long time. I had a health scare around that period as well. I was starting to question whether an old fella like me should be coaching an AFL team.

“I suppose there was a day or so there where I thought what’s the right thing to do here, and I almost convinced myself to ask for some time off.

“We’d played this game against Gold Coast where we lost Darcy Gardner and Lincoln McCarthy to ACLs before halftime, we had 19 blokes to play with and one of those blokes had already played a game in reserves.

“I just thought to myself, if I thought this game would be my last for a while, I’ll have to rethink because there’s no way I’m going to do that when we’ve gone through all this adversity in this game.”

A reassuring chat with Lions bosses gave the 63-year-old the piece of mind to continue, and ultimately become the AFL’s oldest premiership coach.

“Unbenown to me, our doctor had told (CEO) Greg Swann and (president) Andrew Wellington that I was struggling a bit,” Fagan said.

“They lobbed around to my house the next morning and we had a good chat. I had their full support and I said that I’ll keep going for the time being and see how it pans out.

“Getting it off my chest to those blokes was good, and from that moment I thought ‘no I’m going to tough it out here, and see what happens’. I’m so glad I did.”

Originally published as ‘That’s just Joe’: Fagan hails Daniher after launching final bid to rethink retirement