Brisbane overtake Gold Coast as Queensland club with best young talent, says Simon Black

BRISBANE legend Simon Black believes the Lions have overtaken the Suns as the Queensland club with the best young talent and brightest future.

Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry are two of the Lions young stars.

BRISBANE legend Simon Black believes the Lions have overtaken the Suns as the Queensland club with the best young talent and brightest future.

From the day they entered the competition in 2011 much has been made of the Suns’ abundance of top end draft picks and special access selections.

The expectation from across the competition was that success was inevitable once the players had developed while throughout the same period the Lions have been seen as club in perennial crisis with not enough quality on their list and player retention issues.

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However the tide has turned.

Black said Brisbane remained a long way off contending for a premiership and it was too early to predict which club would get to the finals first, but was convinced the Lions had made a better fist of developing their younger players.

He said the contributions from the likes of draftees Jarrod Berry, Hugh McCluggage, Alex Witherden, Cedric Cox and Jacob Allison and second-year players Eric Hipwood and Rhys Mathieson surpassed what the Suns were getting from their younger players.

Alex Witherden in action for Brisbane.

Eric Hipwood in action for Brisbane.

Gold Coast had four picks in the top 10 in last year’s draft – Ben Ainsworth, Jack Scrimshaw, Jack Bowes and Will Brodie but only top pick Ainsworth has made any significant contribution in the seniors. And he is now injured.

Gold Coast Academy graduate Max Spencer and Scrimshaw have come into the side in recent weeks and performed well.

“The first and second-year players, the Lions have been able to give theirs more game time this year than what the Suns have,’’ Black said.

“And the pleasing thing is they have been able to hold their own.’’

Brisbane have earned three Rising Star nominations this season – Hipwood, McCluggage and Witherden while the Suns have yet to get a nod.

However, Black’s favourite is Berry.

Ben Ainsworth in action for Gold Coast.

Jack Bowes in action for Gold Coast. Picture: JUSTIN BRIERTY

“For mine Berry has been the standout first-year player for the Lions,’’ he said.

“To play as an inside midfielder at that age is a tough ask and to perform as manfully as the kid has is a wonderful effort.’’

While McCluggage was pick No.3 in the draft and expected to become a very good player, the impact Witherden and Cox who were taken at Nos.23 and 24, have made is a bonus.

“To see Witherden kicking the footy in from behinds, which is a very important role, says a lot about the faith the club has in him and the faith he has in himself,’’ he said.

“He probably goes for a few that are a bit ambitious, but he pulls off some incredible kicks.

“And Cox looks composed and moves very well.’’

Originally published as Brisbane overtake Gold Coast as Queensland club with best young talent, says Simon Black