The insight and experience gained in match practice far outweighs the risk of injury according to Lions Senior Coach Chris Fagan.

In his two years with the Lions he has prided himself on encouraging his men to play hard, fierce football while at training, so it becomes second nature on game day.

Unfortunately for the Lions, match practice on Sunday morning did result in key defender Darcy Gardiner rupturing his PCL on his right leg.

“When you play match practice you always take that risk, but you can’t train soft, you’ve got to train hard, otherwise you’re not ready,” Fagan told Tasmanian media from training earlier today.

“You hope it doesn’t happen, but it does.

“It’s a pity for me because he’s just been rehabbing from a shoulder operation but that’s the nature of Darce.

“He puts himself in hard and he’s always at risk so hopefully it’s a straightforward PCL and he’s up and running for our pre-season games.”

Despite the setback, Fagan has been pleased with the outcomes of the camp so far. The aim for the coaching group was for the team to have plenty of match simulation, structure practice and of course time for bonding.

Already they have had three long field sessions at Twin Ovals. 

“We’ve had a fantastic four or five days here,” he said.

“Really happy with the venue, surface is great, good-sized oval, perfect weather.

“We couldn’t have asked for more and the attitude of the players has been outstanding.”

Fagan, originally from Queenstown, Tasmania, relishes coming home and is open to going even further south to escape Queensland’s humidity for a couple of weeks.

“Hobart’s a beautiful city to come to and a lot of players haven’t been here before,” he said.

“We usually sort of do two years in one place and then move on. We’ve had two years in Launnie [Launceston], a year down here, probably year in Hobart and then I don’t know, Antarctica’s the next coolest place isn’t it? We’ll see.”

This week he’s had two guests of honour watching him in action – his proud parents Austin and Beth.

Beth and Austin Fagan look on as son Chris puts his Lions through their paces at Twin Ovals, Hobart. Picture: Michael Wilson.

“They’ve been great supporters of mine for a long, long time,” he said.

“For them to make the effort to come down I think that’s great.

“My family is a close family and we stick together, so it’s good to have them here watching.”