There’s no denying that Chris Fagan inherited the toughest task in football when he agreed to coach Brisbane in October last year.
Of the positive attributes that would attract a potential coach to an AFL club, the Lions have exactly none of them.
In 2016 they had widely reported player culture and retention issues, league-worst facilities, dwindling support in a non-traditional AFL state and only narrowly avoided the wooden spoon ahead of half an Essendon side.
It was never going to be a quick fix.
So after the misery of the Voss and Leppitsch-eras, the only thing Lions fans would have been hoping to see this year were small signs that Fagan had their club on the right track.
Have they seen them? Kinda.
Dayne Beams has returned from injury and is playing career-best footy, Dayne Zorko and Tom Rockliff have both been excellent, Eric Hipwood is showing glimpses of his massive potential and Hugh McCluggage is justifying his early draft placing.
However, Brisbane have won just a single game, only improved their percentage by four compared with the same time last season and have been on the wrong end of some horrendous hidings.
They rank in the bottom four for average disposals, marks, contested marks, clangers committed and inside 50s, as well as disposal efficiency percentage, total points scored and total points conceded.
They also look resigned to losing another talented young player at the end of the year in former #2 draft pick Josh Schache. (Edit: re-signed until 2019!)
For all the promise of Fagan’s appointment, little has changed to date at the Lions and they look set to remain the league’s perennial problem child for the foreseeable future.
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