Alex Witherden on the wooden spoon Lions now hunting a premiership
Alex Witherden’s 50th game marks a collective coming out party for a quartet of Brisbane players who struggled through the wooden spoon season of 2017 to now be on the cusp of premiership glory.
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The Brisbane of 2017 threw its rookies to the wolves but young Lion Alex Witherden believes that ‘sink or swim’ mentality is paying dividends ahead of the club’s sellout clash with Geelong.
The likes of Witherden, Eric Hipwood, Jarrod Berry, and Hugh McCluggage have played key roles in busting Brisbane’s decade-long finals hoodoo and will complete a collective coming of age when Witherden runs out for his 50th senior game against the Cats.
All four cut their teeth during a Lions’ wooden spoon year that yielded just five wins but Witherden attributes the harsh lessons learned as the base for 2019’s meteoric rise and their own development as players.
“That’s the direction the club took in 2016, 2017 just to try and get games into us younger guys so that was a big learning curve for us,” Witherden said.
“We were going out there against bigger harder bodies and we maybe at times weren’t ready to be playing AFL footy but I think it’s held us in really good stead.
“We’ve probably learned lessons quicker than maybe other people have because we were been exposed to those opportunities and now Hugh and Jarrod have played 50, Eric’s played 70-odd and I’m lucky enough to play my 50th this week, so I think that’s indicative of how the group has grown this year.”
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Exactly how much growth will be determined on Saturday night when the Lions host the flag favourites in front of 35,000 fans.
Much was made of Brisbane’s stellar start to the season before Collingwood delivered an Easter Thursday spanking at The Gabba and Witherden says his side must shake off their big-stage jitters if they’re to pinch top spot on the ladder.
“If you play fearful that’s when you make mistakes,” he said.
“You become timid and your attack on the ball isn’t there.
“It’s about continuing to play that fearless, ruthless type of footy that has held us in good stead for 20 weeks until this point.”
Witherden conceded questions marks could be raised as to whether Brisbane are “the real deal” given they’ve yet to face Geelong and fellow top-four aspirant Richmond but the 20-year-old says their form on paper speaks for itself.
“Obviously we’ve not played Geelong or Richmond yet this year so it’ll be a good test for us over the next fortnight to see where we’re at against those sides,” Witherden said.
“But we’ve played 16 other sides throughout the comp and held our own on most occasions.
“You can’t be overawed by the situation, you’ve got to embrace it and we’re really excited about testing out where we’re at and I think we’ll know a little bit more after Saturday.”
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