THE WINGER. 

It’s a role that’s commonly misunderstood even to this day outside of the four walls of a football club. 

For Lochie O’Brien, it has been a role that while he has played it for the majority of his career in the AFL, it's one he admits he still has to inform his dad about the specifics of it all.

So what is the winger role? 

“We’re that link between the defence and the offence – it’s so pivotal these days to control the outside and also link the two lines,” O’Brien said. 

Often a thankless role and not one that stuffs the stats sheet, O’Brien is well aware of the his requirements: he must be there whenever his teammates need him. 

“I’ve probably spent the last five years trying to teach my dad what I do and he’s still coming to terms with it, when I can go in and when I can’t go in and things like that,” he said. 

“It’s just making sure you bring your run and that you’re always there, because when you have the boys inside that tend to barge through packs and go forward – you may not be used but it’s making sure that anytime they do need us, we’re there to support and bring what we can.” 

With that in mind, O’Brien - who was a star junior in the 400 metres - knew he was going to need to continue building his strengths to maximise his chance at the elite level.

The chance to train with some senior teammates during the off-season this time last year pushed him to get the best out of himself on the way to a full pre-season.

“I had a really good pre-season and off-season and most players say that’s the way to set up your year and it’s so important. The way I feel like I attacked that, I had really good support around me,” he said. 

“I did a huge chunk of that off-season program with Zac Fisher and Sam Docherty and came back in the best condition I’d been in and just went from there. 

“Getting the continuous training into you and I had a good off-season as well, it really fuelled me and drove me to the best that I could.” 

Using the competitiveness of his teammates as well as advice from Andrew Russell, O’Brien set himself up to impress his new senior coach in Michael Voss and midfield coach Tim Clarke, who was at the Blues when O'Brien first arrived in 2018.

That in turn allowed O’Brien the chance to put pen to paper and sign a new deal at the end of 2022, seeing him stay in the Navy Blue for another two years to hone his craft. 

“I was at a real crossroads and whether I was just going to be here or make an impact and the leadership from ‘Doc’, ‘Weiters’ and even Zac Fisher in a way: the continuous support but also connecting with those players is so important,” he said. 

“When you’re training by yourself, you can be getting it done but when there’s a little bit of extra added value of competitiveness, wanting to be better for them, it can take you to a whole other level and something that I did learn.”