Hugh McCluggage declares he wants to stay at Brisbane and sign a long-term deal

Hugh McCluggage is on par with Tim English as the biggest free agent in the AFL, but will he sign on the dotted line before the season is out? JON RALPH chats with the star Lion.

Hugh McCluggage. Picture: Getty Images

Brisbane vice-captain Hugh McCluggage has declared his intention to sign a new long-term deal at the Lions as his management brokers a contract to turn him into a Lion for life.

McCluggage is on par with Western Bulldogs ruckman Tim English as footy’s most in-demand free agent given five consecutive top-three finishes in the club’s best-and-fairest award.

McCluggage told this masthead he had no time frame on a signature as his manager David Trotter works through a new deal.

But he said it was important to make clear his preferred outcome to his teammates as they chase an elusive premiership.

“Myself and the club are comfortable with where it’s sitting. ‘Trotts’ is working through it with the club. I love it here. I was lucky to come along and see the turnaround and be at a club that has consistently pushed for finals and I have done a lot of hard work to play my part so I am really happy with where we sit and I have got my life set up here quite well.

“It is important to (state my intention to stay). The boys always ask you the question with subtle digs. We want to keep good people around and they are in the same boat with me. So yeah, I definitely want it to happen but it’s definitely a business so you have to make sure you do your due diligence and get the best possible result for both the club and yourself personally.”

Hugh McCluggage wants to sign a long-term deal at the Lions. Picture: Getty Images

McCluggage turns 26 in March so a deal as long as six seasons on around $1 million a season would only expire as he plays football as a 32-year-old.

“I don’t have too much involvement in it. I am proud I have got to the point in my career where I can hopefully sign a long-term deal. I have done a lot of work to get to that point and it would be enjoyable to sit here knowing I have that security. It’s one of those things that will get done and then I can continue on my way with my career,” he said.

A GROWTH MINDSET

That new contract will almost certainly cement South Warrnambool product McCluggage as a one-club player at Brisbane with a healthy respect for the code’s challenges in Queensland.

He is fiercely defensive of the northern states academies and father-son bidding that will secure the club likely top-five pick Levi Ashcroft, brother of Will, this upcoming draft.

And the new AFL Auskick ambassador believes the league’s new $1 billion investment over the next decade in game development and community football is a price worth paying.

The league’s aim is to sign up kids for 140,000 Auskick this year.

Last year’s 30,000 Auskickers in Queensland was a new record, with this year’s figures up 14 per cent amid a goal for 35 per cent of the state’s participants to be girls.

“Growing up in country Victoria you don’t have to put as much time into getting kids into footy and in Queensland here I have been lucky enough to be part of a club that has helped build and promote footy. I learnt a lot of life lessons through junior footy and was lucky enough to be involved at South Warrnambool so this helps make sure kids get the opportunity I did.”

The Lions look back at the grand final was a painful one. Picture: Getty Images

BRISBANE’S HONESTY SESSION

McCluggage and Joe Daniher went down swinging against Collingwood in the heartbreaking Grand Final defeat as the Lions best players.

Yet McCluggage says he was an active participant in the Grand Final post mortem as the players and coaching staff owned their mistakes in the big moments of the decider.

“It is a funny one. It’s sort of bittersweet. Offensively, I probably was able to impact the game, particularly after the first quarter, but I look back on a couple of things that I did throughout the game that I definitely thought I could have done better,” he said.

“And they’re the things that probably stay with me more than the positives, especially after a loss. So I haven’t reflected on it too much in terms of my personal game. My sole focus is to make sure that we get that opportunity down and everything I’ve done after that meeting is for the future not looking back.

“(The honesty session was) definitely beneficial. We all know it had to happen. The game goes quickly and then all of a sudden it’s over and you spend the next few nights thinking about the things you could have changed and you wish you could get your time back.

“And then to actually see those moments meant we could learn from them and put them to rest and launch into the pre-season. It wasn’t an easy meeting to sit through. We didn’t go after anyone but now we can make the subtle changes necessary to ensure those things didn’t happen again or as frequently as they happen in the Grand Final.”

THE FUTURE

ACL victim Will Ashcroft will be back in action mid-season and his brother Levi will follow not long after in the November national draft.

It shapes as another bumper draft for the Lions given Brisbane academy midfielder Sam Marshall is a potential first-rounder on talent.

“(Levi) trained with us for probably three or four weeks alongside Sam Marshall and a couple other boys. He’s awesome. He brought some great energy to the group. He fit in so well. Not too dissimilar to Will when he came through as a 17 year old,” McCluggage said.

“Even the training drills, they just get thrown straight into competitive work and it’s pretty exciting to see.

McCluggage has big wraps on the Ashcroft brothers. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

“It definitely helps when you have those father sons and those academy players coming through but it doesn’t just happen. You need great academy coaches through the academy and great resources to help the player flourish.

“We saw what Will did last year and also Jasper Fletcher who has such a high ceiling. There will always be things said (about academies) when you take players who are high picks but you still have to give up picks. They don’t just fall to us for nothing. Other clubs get father sons so it’s good for the game and good for the growth of footy in Queensland to get kids coming through.”

THE GABBA REDEVELOPMENT

The Olympics redevelopment of the Gabba is clearly dead in the water given recent developments, but it could pave the way for a smaller stand-by-stand renovation similar to Geelong’s gradual overhaul of GMHBA Stadium.

While it could limit the eventual scope of the rebuild, the huge upside for Brisbane in a premiership window is not moving out of the Gabba for four years to an alternative venue.

“There is a lot going on with it and as players we want to keep an eye on it because we want that security of having a home. It’s become a bit of a fortress for us. And it was a concern. Ideally we would be able to stay there as they do that stage-by-stage development. From a player’s view it’s still up in the air and it would be awesome for the Gabba to be upgraded. But in the short term we would love to keep playing at a home ground that provides us an advantage like the Gabba does.”