‘Repay the faith’: Why Hugh McCluggage turned his back on free agency to re-sign with Brisbane Lions
He was the highest-profile free agent on the market, with seven-figure offers to return to Victoria. However, Hugh McCluggage tells CALLUM DICK why leaving the Lions never crossed his mind.
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Hugh McCluggage has made good on his promise to be a Brisbane Lion for life after signing a seven-year contract extension to the end of 2031.
In a major signing coup in keeping with Brisbane’s remarkable list building and retention under coach Chris Fagan, McCluggage, 26, will don the maroon, blue and gold into the twilight of his career.
The superstar midfielder’s mammoth new deal, set to be announced by the club on Tuesday, ends months of speculation surrounding the AFL’s most in-demand free agent and gives Lions fans something to smile about after a disappointing start to 2024 for last season’s grand finalists.
With rival clubs, including Collingwood, St Kilda, Essendon and Geelong, reportedly ready to stump up in excess of $1.3m per season for his services, McCluggage kept true to his word and will instead become Brisbane’s latest million-dollar man.
The Warrnambool product revealed he made a private pact on draft night back in 2016 to do everything he could to be a one-club player and this latest deal was a natural continuation of that.
“This was always my intention,” McCluggage told this masthead.
“It’s one of the values I hold, one of the things I took into my career when it first started, I wanted to give everything I could to the Lions once my name got called out and this (contract) allows me to do that.
“I’ve had so many people put so much time and effort into me and my development and the club has shown a lot of faith in me to get to this point. I wanted to repay that faith and I’m grateful they have put more faith in me by letting me stay on for the long term.
“All my conversations with anyone revolved around me being at the club this year, next year and long term. I don’t think there was ever any doubt I was going to stick around, everyone knew that it was just a matter of time.”
McCluggage’s management and the club used the bye week to sign, seal and deliver a long term deal that now outlasts even Eric Hipwood’s 2029 contract.
It is among the most important pieces of business the Lions have completed under Fagan.
McCluggage has transformed himself in recent years from a perennial All-Australian Squad nominee as an out-and-out winger to a classy inside midfielder whose preference to kick over handball makes him somewhat unique among the game’s best ball winners.
His potency with ball in-hand and the fact he still has his best years ahead of him made him one of the most sought-after free agents in recent years, even if he long maintained his love for the Lions.
McCluggage declared he felt no pressure to perform to his new contract, which will place him among the upper echelon of earners in the AFL.
“Not really to be honest. I don’t. Everything is relative,” he said.
“What people sometimes see is the player only, but there’s so much more that goes into me as a footballer. It’s the person off the field, the work you do as a leader, what you do around the club.
“I’m confident that I can be the person and the player that warrants the faith the club has shown in me by signing me on for the next seven years.
“So long as I know in myself that I’ve been able to do that, then things will sit pretty comfortably with me. And I know I have the trust and faith of everyone around me at the club to deliver on that.”
When McCluggage landed at the Lions with the No. 3 selection in the 2016 draft he was immediately thrust into a side languishing near the foot of the ladder.
He played in just nine wins over the first 40 games of his career, but has since become a staple of a Brisbane side which from 2019-2023 was the winningest regular season team in the AFL and went within a kick of a premiership last year.
An uber-consistent player who has missed only a handful of games throughout his career, McCluggage is on track to cross the 200 game threshold next year at the age of 27 and by the end of his new contract will comfortably sit among the club’s all-time greats, all going well.
“I want to make sure I continue to be a consistent player on the field but also that person around the club who is a role model for everyone,” the vice-captain said.
“The quicker I can help these young guys to build and grow the better we’re going to get as a team. I’ve been involved in a poor club on-field for the first two years of my career and a good club for the last four to five years, and I want nothing more than for that good performance to continue through the length of my contract.”
While the club and his manager negotiated the final details of his bumper deal, McCluggage enjoyed a short golfing trip to Melbourne with teammate Jaxon Prior during Brisbane’s bye week.
It was some much-needed time away that helped the midfielder reset and refocus his energies for the second half of the season.
“I also caught up with my sister who is living and working in Melbourne and some old school mates as well, which was nice. I always like getting back to Vic and spending some time with the people I grew up with,” he said.
With the bulk of his family still based in Warrnambool, McCluggage said he regularly kept them in the loop about his contract negotiations and they understood his desire to remain in Queensland with the Lions.
“It’s definitely something you talk about. It’s never easy for your family, especially for me when I’m a two hour flight and three hour drive away from home,” he said.
“I don’t think any family is going to find that easy. But it’s testament to the group and the club up here and the amount of care they’ve shown me and my family.
“They’re very understanding of where I sit and how much I love it up here.
“I’ve made my own life up here which they completely understand.”
While the McCluggage re-signing will come as welcome news to Lions fans, the man himself knows there remains an uphill battle for he and his teammates to turn their season around after a 4-6-1 start to the year.
The Lions are languishing 10 points outside the top eight at the turn for home.
They head to Melbourne to take on the Western Bulldogs on Friday night in a match that could have season-defining ramifications in defeat. But McCluggage says the playing group remains confident it can turn things around.
“There’s no doubt all of us have the confidence that our best is good enough and if we keep sticking to the process I think it will turn,” he said.
“It’s easy to look at the win-loss record and get a little bit down on that but we’ve seen teams in the past in a similar position at the bye be able to rebound. “
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Originally published as ‘Repay the faith’: Why Hugh McCluggage turned his back on free agency to re-sign with Brisbane Lions
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