Brisbane Lions midfielder Hugh McCluggage continues to add ‘layers' to his game
Still only 27, McCluggage – who chalks up his double century of top-flight games on Friday night against the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba – is arguably in career-best form in his ninth season of AFL football.
'As an inside midfielder, I've been able to have a good balance of contested work and uncontested work and (been) trying to add different layers to my game every year,' the Warrnambool product said.
'(It has been) a bit of defensive stuff this year that I've worked on alongside Josh Dunkley and Lachie (Neale), and the other mids, and I'm always trying to improve.
'That's what keeps me motivated to keep playing for as long as I can.
'I've been pretty lucky being able to play a lot of games in a row since I debuted (in April 2017 against St Kilda).'
Including his debut game, McCluggage has played in 199 of Brisbane's past 204 matches.
'I've only missed a handful, so it's a testament to all the hard work but also the work of everyone else around the club to help get me to this milestone, and hopefully there's plenty more to come,' he said.
However, only nine of McCluggage's first 40 appearances ended up wins for Brisbane, as the Lions struggled in his first two seasons at the club.
Other players in his situation might have asked for a trade to a Victorian club, which would have given him the chance to not only return home but also potentially taste more success.
But McCluggage had no intention of turning his back on his Brisbane teammates and Chris Fagan, who remains the only head coach he has played under at AFL level.
'I could see that it was a really tight group. We had some really good leaders here already that probably just hadn't had the opportunity to play in the good side, so I was really keen to help guys like 'Zorks' (Dayne Zorko) and 'Frog' (Ryan Lester) play in some finals,' he said.
'Helping those guys achieve what they deserved was one of the motivating factors, and then also how close I was with guys like Jarrod Berry, Cam Rayner, Zac Bailey, 'Zorks', 'Frog', Dizz (Darcy Gardiner), Harris (Andrews) … the list goes on.
'They helped us when we first got here, we became really close, we've learned a lot of lessons along the way, and I think if you achieve success with people that you've gone through the ups and downs with, there's nothing that can compare to that.
'Probably in our wildest dreams we couldn't imagine we'd do what we've done in terms of the consistency that we've been able to play at, and winning a premiership as well is pretty special.'
McCluggage also paid tribute to 'father figure' Fagan.
'In all the ups and the downs, he's been there the whole time. He wraps an arm around you when he when he realises that you need it, but he also is someone that can challenge you, and he's always wanted to help me grow in that way,' he said of the man who guided Brisbane to last season's flag.
'I couldn't imagine having anyone else as a coach because I've had him the whole time, and I've just really enjoyed working with him day in, day out.'
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