diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f97a25f4f..e52c7c3a2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # CHANGELOG
 
 ## [next]
+ - Changed `parseAnchor` in `examples/widgets` to throw an exception instead of returning null when it cannot parse an anchor name
  - Code improvements and preparing APIs to null-safety
  - BaseComponent removes children marked as shouldRemove during update
  - Use `find` instead of `globstar` pattern in `scripts/lint.sh` as the later isn't enabled by default in bash
diff --git a/doc/examples/widgets/lib/main.dart b/doc/examples/widgets/lib/main.dart
index 0b14a5f32..e0fa3a1ff 100644
--- a/doc/examples/widgets/lib/main.dart
+++ b/doc/examples/widgets/lib/main.dart
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ Anchor parseAnchor(String name) {
       return Anchor.bottomRight;
   }
 
-  return null;
+  throw Exception("Cannot parse anchor name `$name`");
 }
 
 void main() async {
@@ -108,9 +108,8 @@ void main() async {
           child: SpriteWidget(
             sprite: shieldSprite,
             anchor: parseAnchor(
-                  ctx.listProperty('anchor', 'Anchor.center', anchorOptions),
-                ) ??
-                Anchor.topLeft,
+              ctx.listProperty('anchor', 'Anchor.center', anchorOptions),
+            ),
           ),
         ),
       );
@@ -135,9 +134,8 @@ void main() async {
             animation: _animation,
             playing: ctx.boolProperty('playing', true),
             anchor: parseAnchor(
-                  ctx.listProperty('anchor', 'Anchor.center', anchorOptions),
-                ) ??
-                Anchor.topLeft,
+              ctx.listProperty('anchor', 'Anchor.center', anchorOptions),
+            ),
           ),
         ),
       );