AFL premiership coach Chris Fagan has urged his Brisbane Lions to "stay humble" as he believes the group has more success in them.
A month on from the Lions' stunning grand final thumping of Sydney, Fagan - who became the oldest premiership coach in VFL/AFL history - already has his sights set on more silverware.
Brisbane are plotting how to tackle their premiership defence without star forward Joe Daniher, who retired in the days after the flag aged just 30.
But with key players such as Keidean Coleman, Linc McCarthy, Oscar McInerney and Darcy Gardiner to return from long-term injuries, their depth is the envy of the AFL.
Fagan believed the whole club was on the same page about how to handle 2025.
"The one thing about our group is, we're not a flash in the pan," Fagan told the Dyl and Friends podcast in his first extended interview following the grand final celebrations.
"I talked to them about this straight after the grand final - 'you've got to stay humble about this, boys'.
"It's really intoxicating winning an AFL premiership and there will be so many people patting you on the back.
"(Lions co-captain) Harris (Andrews) spoke to our group on the Thursday before we broke up (for leave), he kept the group behind and talked about that theme."
After playing finals for a sixth-straight season to finally breakthrough for a premiership following some near-misses, the Lions are well-placed to avoid a steep drop-off, or a so-called premiership hangover.
"You can't guarantee everyone's going to be back down to earth and ready to get back to work when we get back," Fagan said.
"But I think we've got a pretty good chance that could happen and the boys sense they have got more success in them if they want to apply themselves.
"What worked this year and the level of effort we put in this year won't necessarily work next year.
"I think we're doing as much as we can to bulletproof ourselves from a flat year (in 2025) but there's no guarantees."
Daniher's retirement came as a major shock to many, with the news he could call it quits only filtering out into the public the night before the grand final.
But Fagan said Daniher would have retired at the end of 2023 had Brisbane beaten Collingwood in the grand final instead of losing a classic by four points.
Daniher instead played one last year, going out on the ultimate high after starring in all of the Lions' four finals wins.
The enigimatic left-footer told Fagan of his decision to retire on the day of the club's best-and-fairest awards.
"He looked at me and said, 'Fages, I was pretty keen on retiring when I was 20'," Fagan said.
"Well you got 10 more years out of yourself, that's pretty good, so I've got no hope and gave up (trying to talk him out of retiring) straight away."
