Chris Fagan spoke for the first time in the Navy Blue. Here is what he had to say ...

Chris Fagan on why he chose Carlton

“Fundamentally, I decided I didn’t want to be an AFL head coach anymore, after 10 years of doing it at Brisbane. The pressure and the responsibility is fairly relentless. I felt like I’ve done enough of that so I wanted to move back to Melbourne to be with my grandkids and my daughters. I didn’t want to not be in footy, so I made that known when I finished up at Brisbane. A few clubs called after that which is fortunate, so I’m able to keep working in footy."

“Big reason for choosing Carlton is I know Graham Wright, he’s a good friend of mine. Chris Townsend is on the board I know him pretty well. It’s always good when there’s people that you know at a Club. I like what I saw of Carlton last year, I enjoyed the way Josh coached. I do study all the coaches and try learn from them. His wisdom and composure for somebody who hadn’t done it before was pretty extraordinary. Part of the decision was I thought I could get on with this guy, I’d like to work with him. My job is just to help, I’m looking forward to that challenge.

"Carlton is a big Club, and I haven’t worked at too many big clubs other than Hawthorn. I must admit, I didn’t enjoy the game this year against the Brisbane Lions where we got absolutely pulverised at Marvel Stadium, but I did like the Carlton crowd. I love their passion, I thought it would be nice to get involved in that as well.”

On what his new role entails 

"I think the first three months of any new position is really important. I think what I've got to do straight away is build relationships with all the football department staff, the staff at the club in general, and obviously the players. It's pretty hard to have an influence until you do that, so that will be my first task."

"I'm looking forward to that. I want to learn about the Club, I want to understand the Club and its history. I think once I do that, I'll be able to assist people to become better at their roles. I'm not an expert, but I've had a lot of experiences so I think I can be pretty helpful around the Club as we grow and improve as a team.

"The exact description of the job, I think that's just going to evolve as I get to know the people and build relationships.

"Hopefully I get to have a lot to do with the younger players, because they're going to be important going forward so I want to spend some time in that space. Obviously hoping the coaches develop, I think that's one thing that's missing at a few clubs. I did this role at Hawthorn - the coaches are here to get better, but they have a resource like myself that can help steer them in the right direction.

"If you want your players to improve, I think they've got to see their coaches are improving too."

On his relationship with Josh Fraser 

"I shook hands with him after the loss against Carlton we had in the middle of the year, I think that was the year he lost his Dad which I didn't even know that was the case. When I found that out post-game, I thought that was amazing he was even able to get out there and do that. 

"He seems like an honest, enthusiastic football person. He's done a really good apprenticeship which I appreciate, I did one myself. I didn't get to be an AFL coach until I was 55. I think that's a great thing, he's had a variety of experiences. He seems level-headed and doesn't get too emotional, which is important.

"There's lots of things I think Josh does well, and I'm looking forward to working with him and anything I can do to help him I'll do, that's all I'm here to do. I'm not the senior coach anymore, I'm just a resource for others."

On Carlton beating Brisbane in Round 21 

"Well I saw how good the team can be, they were amazing. They just played with and for each other amazingly well in that game, and gave us a lesson. We were pretty flat after that. 

"I learnt that the fans are amazing, and noisy and passionate, you could see that. It was deafening at Marvel Stadium. I coached down on the bench and I could just hear it all - the bloke sitting next to me couldn't hear they were that excited. 

"You can see the fans want success, and I think that's great because players can get a lot of energy from their supporters. You can see the Carlton boys were doing that in this game. I just learnt it was a big Club with a strong following, if they can get some success again it will be pretty amazing for those people."

On the expectations at Carlton

"Expectation is great."

"I think that's a good thing. I think it just depends on the way you look at it. Attitude is one thing you control. I think the attitude for this group will be to embrace the expectations of the fans and the hunger of the fans, and deliver for them."

Chris Fagan's message to Carlton fans 

"It's an honour and a privilege to be here.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge of working with the group, hopefully I'll get to know a few of of the fans over a period of time. At the end of the day, we exist because we have fans. They have a team they want to follow, so we want to make sure it's a great team for them to follow for an extended period of time."