Senior Hugh McCluggage (2016-)

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Best mates Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry share their journey to AFL stardom (Ben Hopkins)
The odds of playing in the AFL are slim. Of the estimated 2.8 million males in Australia aged between 18 and 35, only 0.028 per cent play professional football.

So what are the odds two best mates from Western Victoria would both be drafted, let alone to the same team? This was the glorious reality for Jarrod Berry and Hugh McCluggage who are playing a large role in turning the tide at the Brisbane Lions. The two Ballarat Clarendon College classmates and Greater Western Victoria Rebels teammates will never forget the moment they found out they would be going up north together.

"When it happened I was just in shock to be honest," McCluggage told The Courier. McCluggage had already been drafted to the Lions with the third pick in the 2016 AFL Draft and was following the remainder of the selections on a friend's phone. "It got to pick 13 and that's around where we thought Bez (Jarrod) would go and teams just kept passing him up - I just thought "gee there's a sniff here, Brisbane's pick is coming up."

When pick 17 came around, there was indeed 'a sniff' as Berry was selected. It took a few moments before Jarrod realised the grand scope of what had actually happened. "I turned and gave dad a hug and then looked over the table to where the McCluggage family was sitting and Christine (Hugh's mother) had the biggest smile on her face," he said. "I remember it so clearly and that was when it started to all sink in that we were drafted together. After that you couldn't wipe the smile off my face."

The two had been tied at the hip long before their AFL dreams came true on draft night, however there was a bit of apprehension when they first met in 2014. "My impressions of Hughy was obviously that he was a pretty quiet fella - I don't think I got a word out of his for the first four months (we played together)," Berry laughed.

Already a relatively quiet person, McCluggage admitted he was a bit intimidated by Berry in the beginning, who stood nearly 10 centimetres taller than him.
Originally from Warrnambool, McCluggage moved to Ballarat in 2015 to be closer to the Greater Western Victorian Rebels football program. Berry had made a similar move from Horsham in 2014, with the two pushed together inside the Ballarat Clarendon College boarding house. It was inside the boarding house that their friendship began to blossom, somewhat by necessity as the two were spending most of their waking hours together.

The two truly could not escape each other as they were also a part of a carpool group alongside now-Port Adelaide midfielder Willem Drew and Casterton Sandford's Todd Clode. Joining the four players in the car was then-GWV Rebels welfare manager Brooke Brown, who said the extended road trips forced the boys to come closer together. "The best way to get to know people is locking them in a car and they've got nowhere to go," she chuckled.

Their time in the car helped strengthen the boy's relationships, which paid dividends on the field. "When you get to know someone well and get to know how they've grown up and where they're from you're going to trust them more and play better footy with them," McCluggage said. While their time inside the Clarendon boarding house helped their relationship off the field, their journey as players were guided by Brown and AFL talent manager for the GWV Rebels, Phil Partington. Partington remembers having to push McCluggage as a 17 year old who was unsure if he belonged with the Rebels.

"It took some well timed phone calls and communication to convince him to play," Partington said. "From that time on he grew in confidence, he knew he belonged."

Without his mother during his time in Ballarat, Brooke Brown found herself thrust into a surrogate role for both Jarrod and Hugh. She struggled to put into words what the two boys mean to her. She couldn't help but laugh as she spoke about McCluggage's mischievous side that most were unaware of because of his quiet demeanour and Berry's way of bringing people together.

The boys similarly lit up when talking about Brown. "She was pretty big for me in filling the void mum left and that dad couldn't always be there for," Berry said. "She was really that motherly figure that took my journey and made me believe that I could get to where I wanted to. "It would be hard to truly encapsulate the relationship Brown and Berry share even now, however the fact Berry still sends her flowers each Mothers Day might give you a rough idea.
McCluggage echoed his teammate's sentiments and added in their world where so much of their life was devoted to football, she could always bring things back to earth for the boys. "You'd get to training on Thursday and she wouldn't be talking about footy, she's be talking about girls or something like that," he laughed.

While draft night was obviously full of celebrations, Brown couldn't help but feel a tad conflicted. "My first thought was how dare they draft them interstate," she laughed. "As soon as they drafted Hugh my thoughts were immediately 'when do Brisbane have their next pick, because we need to get Jarrod there with him."

Watch Jarrod and Hugh talk about how important the Greater Western Victoria Rebels were to their development.

The two live together in Brisbane with now vice-captain, 22-year-old Harris Andrews and amazingly, after spending the better part of four years together, the two aren't sick of each other.

Berry said the pair are basically siblings and thus fight as such. "We fight like brothers. He's a brother from another mother. We live pretty much out of each others' pockets," he said. "He's a very stubborn kid. He'll just argue a point to argue a point. He gets under my skin. I'm not the greatest arguer so he always annoys me in that way."

While McCluggage's stubbornness and ability to pester Berry is somewhat famous, their coach from Ballarat Clarendon College said it pales in comparison with the level of annoyance Berry produced across his first year at the school. "He was a pest when he came here in year 10," Brad Mcgowan said. "He could just be a bit silly in the classroom and often needed to reined in."

While McCluggage sat chuckling next to him, Berry did not deny these accusations. "I was worse at Horsham College," he said as a wry smile crept across his face. "I guess I just had a big personality coming into the school and in the classroom I was a bit loud and just tried to be funny." Maybe coincidentally, it was once McCluggage arrived at the school that things began to turn around for Berry in the classroom. "In year 11 and year 12 you could really start to see Jarrod mature as a leader both on the field and in the classroom," Mcgowan said. "He always wanted to improve and help others improve, if there was something he didn't understand he would put in the work until he got it."
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Berry is now taking the leadership qualities he displayed with the Rebels and in the classroom and is imparting them onto the Lions, entering their seven-man leadership group ahead of the 2019 season. It was by his actions off the field the Mcgowan saw leadership qualities within Jarrod. "Personally I saw him be a leader in the classroom," Mcgowan said. "In terms of football, he was so competitive and he just wanted to win... he was a natural leader."

For Berry it was almost a surreal experience to find out he would be a club leader at the age of 21. "I was pretty lucky that I got a lot of opportunities as a junior to lead teams and I guess work on my leadership," he said. "The Rebels were really important in that because they always taught me to always be strong and true to yourself as a person no matter what was thrown at me as a junior. I can't thank them enough for that."

Brooke Brown could barely control herself when she heard the news. "When I saw that he had been put into the leadership group tears again started rolling down my face," she said. "I think it happened because Jarrod is a peoples person. It's just the way Jarrod is, people are drawn to him."

Watch Jarrod and Hugh speak about their expectations for the 2019 AFL season.

Partington believes it was his tireless work ethic that earned him a stop in the leadership group. "As a 21 year old, the Brisbane Lions obviously see a great future in what he provides to the club," he said.

Looking towards the upcoming 2019 AFL season, expectations are high for the duo as they enter their third season. "For the Lions we're not going to put a limit on where we can go or what we can achieve this year, we just want to keep improving," McCluggage said. "We obviously realise we only won five games last year so there's a long way for us to go but we're really excited with our list and what we can do."

Berry and McCluggage will return to their former home ground in Round 8 of the AFL season when Brisbane takes on the Western Bulldogs at Mars Stadium. The duo are excited about the proposition of lacing up the boots in the city that brought them together. "Obviously we've played a lot of home games there - it's close to family and friends and a lot of important people that we've been talking about," McCluggage said. While Berry is excited about the return, the winter conditions give him pause. "I hope the weather does us a treat and it's nice and sunny, not too cold," he laughed.

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Nine things we learned
8. Hugh McCluggage is the real deal
His best mate Jarrod Berry signed a four-year contract extension during the week, but on Saturday night it was Hugh McCluggage throwing the party against the Swans. With 24 disposals (13 contested), six tackles and two classy goals, the 21-year-old added another layer to his coming-out season as an emerging star. Taking McCluggage at No.3 in the 2016 AFL Draft, the Lions always had high hopes for the country Victorian, and after two seasons of steady progress, McCluggage is already delivering with a huge leap forward in 2019. Not only is he now strong enough to stand up and deliver the ball in tackles, he is finishing off around goal – kicking 10 through seven games. McCluggage is the perfect complement to the inside grunt provided by Lachie Neale, Jarryd Lyons and Mitch Robinson.
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Thread title needs to be changed to "The Suitcase" Hugh McCluggage
 
UNSUNG HEROES — ROUND 15
Brisbane: Hugh McCluggage

While midfielders Lachie Neale and Dayne Zorko and forward Eric Hipwood were receiving all the plaudits for their hardwork against Melbourne, Hugh McCluggage was quietly working away in the Lions’ engine room. The 21-year-old Lion gathered 23 disposals, to go with eight score involvements and six clearances as Brisbane improved to a 9-5 win-loss record for the year. But, it was two of his six tackles that resulted in holding the ball calls against the Demons late in the game that was most impressive.
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Science and luck: How the Lions' list has come together (Callum Twomey)
Brisbane's rise up the ladder has been borne from a mix of factors: a coach and football manager setting the plan and driving it; a development program that is well resourced and run; a productive Academy; a playing group that is young, close and committed and a recruiting team that has followed a clear strategy.

Of the Lions line-up that comprehensively beat Port Adelaide on the weekend, 10 of the players were drafted by recruiting manager Stephen Conole, who has steered the club's recruiting division since 2012. Hugh McCluggage and Eric Hipwood would have boosted that number to 12 if not for injuries.

There has been some decisive recruiting calls that have shaped Brisbane's rise into third place.

The year previous saw them take a bigger risk. They completed a deal with the Giants, giving up pick 2, 31, 51 and 60 in exchange for GWS' picks three and 16. The Lions rated McCluggage at No.1 and would have taken him with the first pick in the draft. At pick No.2, they knew they'd get one of him or Andy McGrath. Moving back to pick three meant there was a risk they would miss out on both, but they were willing to take that gamble to add another first-round pick.

That McCluggage got through to their selection was the Lions' hope that came true. If McGrath and McCluggage had been the top-two selected (instead of McGrath and Tim Taranto), the Lions would have grabbed Ben Ainsworth at pick No.3 (he went the following selection to Gold Coast at No.4).

The second-part of the deal was where the Lions really had their fingers crossed. Their best-case scenario was McCluggage's close friend and schoolmate Jarrod Berry being available. Brisbane thought West Coast, which held pick No.13, could grab him but instead chose Daniel Venables, leaving the Lions to take Berry.

There was some science behind 'coupling' close friends together at the club, dating back to Geelong Falcons pair Darcy Gardiner and Lewis Taylor in 2013, but there was also some luck. If Berry had been off the board, the Lions might have gone with Venables, Will Hayward or just snapped up Alex Witherden earlier (they picked him at No.23 but rated him highly).

But the strategy in focusing on prospects from the country, who will have to move to forge an AFL career, was a strong starting point.
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Meet Brisbane's odd couple, the best pure wing combo in the comp (Michael Whiting)
MEET Brisbane's odd couple. One is 21 years old, the other 30. One is clean-cut, the other a little rough around the edges. One plays with a grace in space, the other more bash-and-crash. But as a combination, they're playing the wing role as well as any duo in the competition. They are Hugh McCluggage and Mitch Robinson.

McCluggage spent all of 2018 on a wing, but for Robinson it's totally new, a Chris Fagan masterstroke that has seen the Lions' wrecking ball play the most consistent football of his 11-year career. Between them they have kicked 37 goals and proved an integral part of the Lions' unlikely surge towards September.

"Wingmen are real stoppage players," Fagan told AFL.com.au. "You need wingers that can play strong footy on the inside and I thought that was Mitch. "They're the most complex of all the positions to play, because you're involved in most structures at most times."

Through a combination of good management and good luck, Brisbane's lack of injuries has allowed Fagan to keep McCluggage and Robinson fixed to the wings. And they've thrived, ranking one and two for that position in the AFL Official Player Ratings.

Their lockers are adjoined, but that's where the similarities end. As the third pick of the 2016 NAB AFL Draft, big things were always expected of McCluggage, but the leap he's made this year has been jaw-dropping. If the All Australian selectors pick pure wingmen, he is right in the frame.

Not only is his ball-use by foot damaging, but McCluggage has kicked 21 goals – more in a single season than noted wing specialists Josh Kelly, Andrew Gaff and Brad Hill ever have. "He's always trying to improve himself," Fagan said. "He's improved his running ability, he's stronger, he's more comfortable with his role after 18 months and he feels more comfortable at AFL level." His goal against North Melbourne in round 18, where players seemed to stand still as he burst from congestion, was a prime example of how McCluggage makes the difficult look easy.

Then there's Robinson. A fan favourite around the league, his story of resurrection has been well-told, but it's worth remembering that as recently as February, the feisty Tasmanian was in the Lions' 'B' team in intraclub matches.

He worked hard, surpassed Tom Cutler and Ryan Bastinac and found a home in the best team. Recently rewarded with a two-year contract extension, Robinson is averaging 21 disposals and has kicked 16 goals. He's more sledge-hammer than a chisel, but he does what his coach asks (aside from giving away the odd 50m penalty!) and his teammates walk taller when he's on the field.

"He always gives 100 per cent effort and he brings energy, voice, encouragement and enthusiasm," Fagan said. "And some of the things he does are quite inspirational, he's courageous and desperate."

They're an unlikely duo, but every bit as important to Brisbane's success as a Lachie Neale clearance, a Dayne Zorko goal or a Harris Andrews intercept mark. And while Fremantle's combination of Hill and Ed Langdon, West Coast's of Gaff and Dom Sheed and Hawthorn's of Isaac Smith and Ricky Henderson have all had wonderful seasons, none is playing better than the Lions' version of chalk and cheese.
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