Carlton captain Patrick Cripps has spoken glowingly about departing coach Michael Voss on a day of drama at Blues headquarters.
Arriving at the club on Tuesday morning, Cripps told awaiting media Voss had been a "great mentor" and "great coach".
"He just let me know before everyone else found out. Our relationship is really strong," Cripps said.
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan also lauded the outgoing Voss, who is also a legend of the Lions.
Voss is a three-time premiership player for the club, playing 289 games between 1992 and 2006 and winning the 1996 Brownlow Medal, before coaching from 2009 to 2013.
His last game as coach of Carlton was on Friday night against Brisbane, with the Blues reversing their fade-out trend, coming from 49 points down to close to within 11 late in the game.
"I thought they played well. We've had some great battles with Carlton over the last three or four years when 'Vossy' has been coach," Fagan said.
"They have won a few, we've won a few so it was no surprise to me it ended up a pretty tough contest the other night.
"I was hopeful that would be a turning point for Carlton and give them a bit of confidence. I wasn't expecting Michael would resign this week.
"Personally, I find him a fantastic bloke, he's obviously a legend of our football club. If you talk about the Brisbane Lions, there's two people who are legends of Brisbane in my eyes: Leigh Matthews and Michael Voss for all they did in the 2000s.
"I wanted to see him do well with his coaching and I always get disappointed when I see coaches get sacked. I don't know what it was in this instance, I just wish him all the best. I hope he's not lost to footy, he's always welcome at our club."
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Fagan also ruled Lincoln McCarthy from the grand final rematch against Geelong due to a hamstring injury, while indicating Jarrod Berry and Darcy Gardiner have boxes to tick at training to prove their fitness.
He also played down the prospect of the Cats clash being a grand final rematch.
"The grand final was a long time ago. You move on pretty quickly. For us, whenever we play Geelong, there is a healthy rivalry built out of respect," Fagan said.
"We've played a lot of big games against each other. Bot teams have had success and failures in those games.
"I expect our players will rise to the occasion because they understand the importance of it. It's not really anything to do with the grand final, it's just when we're playing Geelong, we want to do well and I'm pretty sure when they play against us, they feel the same way."
