He would subsequently support Bolton, a fellow Tasmanian whom Fagan had recruited to Hawthorn, in his friend's pursuit of the Carlton gig. Essendon's interest stemmed from the fact that Neale Daniher was assisting his old club in their coach search. Daniher was close to Fagan from their near-decade together at Melbourne, and knew what Hawthorn's football department boss could bring. The Bombers duly appointed John Worsfold, a decision that had been flagged early in the process when a posse of officials and players flew to Adelaide in chairman Paul Little's private jet, importuning Worsfold to apply for the job. Fagan, then 54, seemed to have missed his chance. Indeed, he'd figured that he wouldn't land a senior coaching gig in 2005 when he agreed to move from Daniher's coaching group to run the Demons' footy department. By 2016, he was an age (55) when most coaches were winding up or done. He had never played at AFL level and did not present as the kind of domineering alpha male that clubs often favoured. And, after six years as "director of coaching" at the Hawks, he'd been an administrator since 2013.

In retrospect, this detour to management would prove beneficial, providing Fagan with the experience of managing staff, delegating down and reporting "up" to the chief executive and board – parts of the senior coach's lot that almost no one experiences before landing the gig. Today, as the Brisbane Lions sit inside the top four, Chris Fagan is viewed as a new model for a senior coach, having shifted perceptions about what matters in coaching and the ideal background for a senior coach. Fagan celebrates with the Lions after they make it two straight at the beginning of the 2019 season. Credit:AAP The AFL's head of game analysis, long-serving ex-Hawthorn assistant coach David Rath, believed the Lions' progress under Fagan was impacting upon what clubs perceived as "the necessary background and attributes needed to be an AFL coach". As they sift through candidates, weighing up their pros and cons, it is safe to assume that one or more of Carlton, St Kilda and North Melbourne have asked this question: Is there another Chris Fagan out there?

If we look beyond the blinkered, insular universe of AFL clubs, Fagan's life story and resume is far closer to the elite coaches in Europe and the United States, where experience in coaching, people management skills and teaching prowess – plus tertiary qualifications – trump whatever the coach did as an athlete/player. In 2014, an academic from the University of Queensland, Dr Steven Rynne, conducted a research project that sought to create a profile of an elite coach in international sports. Dr Rynne used 14 well-known coaches across elite sports – five team sports and nine individual sports. This study was handed to the AFL Coaches Association's Mark Brayshaw by Mark Riley, the long-time AFL assistant coach and Melbourne caretaker coach in 2007. None of the 14 were Australian, but hockey's Rick Charlesworth and rugby league's Wayne Bennett were considered close to the prototype. All 14 had (coached) gold medals and/or major titles at the highest level over a "prolonged period" and with different athletes or teams, including leading football/soccer coaches. The identikit of these elite coaches is closer to a match with Fagan than virtually any other current AFL coach. Most significantly, the average age of the super 14 was 55, ranging in age from 44 to 67.

Their average years coaching was 29, with more than 25 of those years spent coaching at the top level. The difference with Fagan is that he's been involved at the highest level for 22 years but not as head coach. All bar one of the 14 had tertiary qualifications – as Fagan, who came to footy in Tasmania as a teacher, does. All 14 were married men, 13 had children. Emotional intelligence – Fages has that in spades. There's a genuine investment in people. That's his strong suit. David Rath, AFL head of game analysis While most competed at the elite level, Rynne later told Brayshaw that the bulk of his super 14 were relative "plodders" who had to "wring out all they had just to stay in the game" - a description that matches the litany of rugged back pockets-turned coaches, from Tom Hafey, Kevin Sheedy and David Parkin to Mick Malthouse and Damien Hardwick. Fagan, a capable footballer in Tasmania, didn't play at league level.

To profile the coaches' personalities, Rynne used "The Big Five" psychological traits that are commonly used in contemporary psychology, with people usually measured on a scale of 1 to 5 on these traits: extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism. Overall, Dr Rynne found these coaches high in conscientiousness and extraversion and low in neuroticism. As low scorers in neuroticism, they worried little about those underneath posing a threat. The study summed up their key personalities traits thus: "Diligent and disciplined, emotionally stable and secure, quite sociable and enjoy challenges." Dr Rynne also told Brayshaw back in 2014 that these coaches "are not easily upset" and scored high on optimism. They liked to empower athletes and delegate to assistants underneath. They had, as Rynne wrote, "a clear vision that each wants and needs to be done in this regard – accompanied by a will and zeal to work and focus hard to reach set targets".

Many, though not all, of these traits apply to Fagan, who wouldn't be high in extraversion, but is renowned for his composure and empathy. Lions football boss David Noble said "calm" was the word that best described Fagan, who delegated to the point that he seldom ran training, preferring to sit back and assess. "He has clarity, he's clear, our game plan is clear," said Noble, who can only recall "three or four times" when Fagan "let rip" and castigated the players. Rath observed: "Emotional intelligence – Fages has that in spades. There's a genuine investment in people. That's his strong suit." Fagan greets fans at the Gabba. Credit:AAP Noble, who has a similar resume to Fagan (having coached Glenelg and the Bulldogs' VFL team before becoming a footy administrator), has also been spoken of as a potential senior coach, though he appears to be on a chief executive track.