Brisbane coach Chris Fagan conceded Fremantle “deserved to win” the grand final after his side produced an unbelievable late comeback to secure their third consecutive premiership.

And while the Lions mentor stopped short of confirming swirling rumours the game would be his last in charge of the AFL’s powerhouse, he admitted he was tempted by the thought of going out on top of the competition.

In what had been a nip-and-tuck affair for the entirety of the afternoon, a converted set shot from Pat Voss put the Dockers up by 17 points with only just over four minutes remaining.

Brisbane responded by rattling off four goals in the final 198 seconds of the contest to steal a remarkable seven-point win and leave the Dockers utterly devastated as they basked in the glory of becoming only the seventh side in the competition’s history to win three consecutive flags, and their first since their 2001-2003 outfit.

Fagan lauded his team’s resilience and nous, but also lavished praise on the performance of their opponents.

“To be honest . . . Fremantle deserved to win that game today,” Fagan said.

“They would’ve been deserved winners. We were fortuitous.

“They were better than us for longer periods. They were killing us at clearance, contested possession — particularly in that third quarter — and we couldn’t get any territory. They had a lot of inside-50s, they had more shots.

“I feel really sorry for them. I’m really happy for us, and we got our own bad luck at times, and it all evens itself up over the course of time, but they played super well today.

“I don’t think we did in the previous two we won, but we definitely had a little bit of luck today, and we were good enough to take it.”

On the morning of the grand final, speculation over whether Fagan was mulling his own future reached fever pitch.

The 65-year-old said he did not believe he was yet entirely finished with top-level football, but would make a call on his coaching future in the coming days.

“I’ve been coaching the club for 10 years now and I’ve got to work out whether it’s the right thing to continue on, which might sound a strange thing for me to say after we just won a premiership,” he said.

“I don’t really want to be that guy who hangs around until we fail. There’s a little bit inside me which would rather walk away when the team’s on top, I’ve got to be honest. That’s the dream way to finish in many ways, because for most coaches, unfortunately, it ends in tragedy, you’ve been given the boot.

“I’ve just got to work out whether I’ve still got the energy required to do that relentless responsibility and pressure which comes with being an AFL coach.

“You don’t really know what I’m talking about until you do it yourself, but it overtakes your life, and I don’t know whether I want to keep doing that.”