Brisbane defender Alex Witherden has spoken candidly about former club captain Dayne Beams’ departure from the club during last year’s trade period.

After publicly saying he would be seeing out his contract at the Lions, Beams requested a trade to Collingwood.

Witherden, a close friend of the midfielder, said it was hard watching Beams have to go through the scrutiny he was put under towards the end of last season.

“Having not been in Dayne’s position but being good mates with him, I guess he just found it difficult everyday seeing himself on the back page of the papers and people start to speculate which ends up putting pressure on yourself and your family to make a decision,” Witherden told SEN Cricket.

“Being his teammates and his mates, it was hard to watch him sort of struggle through those couple of months.

“Between when we finish in late August and when the trade period actually finished, it was nearly two months.

“I guess that’s a long time to put up with a lot of uncertainty.”

Witherden added it was tough to see Beams go when the club was seemingly on the verge of surging up the ladder.

“For us, you build such a close relationship with these guys and to see them head off and you’re not able to see them every day and you’re trying to build this footy club together, it’s a little bit of a dagger to see them leave,” he said.

The Lions added two-time Fremantle best and fairest winner Lachie Neale over the trade period themselves.