Chris Fagan officially unveiled as the Brisbane Lions new coach

Former Hawthorn football boss Chris Fagan has been officially unveiled as the Brisbane Lions' new head coach.

Fagan, along with new Brisbane football manager David Noble and Lions' CEO Greg Swann, fronted the press on Tuesday afternoon to formally announce the appointment.

While Fagan has never coached an AFL team before, he has spent the past 20 years in the AFL system.

The 55-year-old has been Hawthorn's general manager of football since 2013, and prior to that was the club's head of coaching and development.

He has also worked as an assistant coach at both North Melbourne and Melbourne.

Fagan said he is looking forward to working with the Lions' young list.

"Brisbane have a really talented list and their best form is ahead of them," he said.

"The opportunity to work with a young list was enticing and to build culture at the club.

"Coming from the coaches box at Hawthorn, I've learnt a lot. I'll bring all those experiences to the club."

The Lions managed just three wins in 2016 and finished second last, however, Fagan said he is optimistic the club can turn the corner sooner rather than later.

"As we've seen with the Bulldogs, things can turn around pretty quickly," Fagan said.

"We'll try and get consistent effort. That's what the fans want, they want to see the players play their heart out every week.

"A big priority of mine is to talk to each player before pre-season and see what their individual goals are.

"If we and the fans can see progress, then that's good. I come from a place where the players sacrifice & care for each other.

"I'm not coming up here to swan around, we want to see improvement. That's why I want to be the coach, to see and bring improvement."

Fagan replaces Justin Lepptisch as head coach, who was sacked at the end of this season, after three years in charge.