Brisbane midfielder Hugh McCluggage made a point of taking it all in before last Sunday’s AFL match against Richmond.
The 21-year-old admits the experience of playing in front of a huge crowd at the MCG on a Sunday afternoon blew him away, even if the Lions would eventually fall to a 27-point defeat to the Tigers.
Coming just a week after he’d helped Brisbane steal a dramatic one-point win over boyhood club Geelong at a packed Gabba, it’s been a fortnight the youngster is unlikely to forget any time soon.
“I went out there and before the bounce, just before the umpire held the ball up, I just looked around and thought ‘this is unbelievable, can’t believe I’m here’,” McCluggage told AAP.
“Once the siren went, it was just another game of footy and that’s another thing for us is that experience.
“To see all the young boys, and the older boys that have probably never played there in front of that many people, to go out there and perform okay was really exciting.”
The Lions will need to use that experience to improve against the Tigers in next Saturday’s qualifying final at the Gabba.
McCluggage, one of several young Lions who’ll be playing finals for the first time, admits being a part of Brisbane’s first September action since 2009 is another new experience he’s revelling in.
“There’s 10 teams that have packed up their boots and are on holidays I guess but we wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. It’s awesome,” he said.
“I’m just really looking forward to the chance to get to play in one.
“Everyone says nothing compares to the intensity and the level of it, it’ll be an awesome test for our group.”
As for toppling Richmond, McCluggage is confident he and his teammates showed enough in that red-hot MCG atmosphere to suggest the return clash will be a much tighter contest.
“The fact that we were able to match it with them in a lot of areas gave us a great confidence,” he said.
“Our contested ball clearance work was really good. We probably just let ourselves down with that polish and that’s what they had.”