Lions not stuck on MCG streak ahead of rare return

Murray Wenzel | July 10, 2023

Chris Fagan is relishing the Brisbane Lions’ rare return to the MCG to face Melbourne and their 12-game regular season losing streak.

A nine-year hoodoo can be broken in Friday’s clash with the Demons, just the second of two games at the grand final venue for Fagan’s men this regular season.

The last was a shock loss to a struggling Hawthorn that extended their barren MCG run to 12 games. 

At the time Fagan said he had no answers for the streak, but thought they had exorcised any demons with an upset win there over Melbourne in a semi-final last season.

The Lions have struggled there ever since the club’s 1996 merger, with just 16 wins to go with one draw and 41 losses in their 58 visits.

But, after cruising in an 81-point defeat of West Coast on Saturday, Fagan said he wouldn’t be dwelling on it.

“I haven’t because … coming off the bye (against Hawthorn), we didn’t play well at all,” he said. 

“I felt like we were getting better at the MCG last year, just by playing on it.

“We made progress … and I’m not as caught up in it as what the whole footy world is.”

After Friday, Brisbane won’t play there again until finals. 

Their penultimate round blockbuster against Collingwood will take place at Marvel Stadium, both clubs understood to have had their request to move the fixture knocked back.

“You’d love to be able to play there a bit more than twice a year,” Fagan said of the MCG.

“If we could I’d play there every week for the next seven weeks, just for the practice.

“But we’ll take every opportunity we get.”

Fagan hopes to have some selection headaches after Jack Gunston kicked six goals after being recalled and Dayne Zorko also made a successful return from injury.

Callum Ah Chee (concussion), Lincoln McCarthy (suspended), Jarrod Berry (hamstring) and Josh Dunkley (calf) all missed the game, with Dunkley the only man likely to remain sidelined.