Chris Fagan was seething on Saturday night. His team had lost for just the second time since May. They’d lost to a club whose chair had just a few weeks ago declared their season “torpedoed”. But Fagan has been around football long enough not to buy into that. He spent most of the buildup to the qualifying final warning his players and the commentariat that Sydney shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Fagan knows his own players inside out, and he knows they’re at their most vulnerable when the task before them seems straightforward. He can tell early whether the imperial Brisbane has turned up, or the complacent Brisbane. He says he can tell by their reaction times, by their energy and urgency at stoppages, by whether his defenders are on their heels or their toes. Sydney had six goals on the board before Lachie Neale had touched the ball, and Fagan’s careworn face said it all.
