Richmond Tigers' mixed stripes by: Matt Windley
From: Herald Sun
December 16, 2011HAVE you heard the one about the Samoan, the Moroccan and the Irishman? Maybe not yet.
But new Tigers Ben Darrou, Piva Wright and John Heslin have added a multicultural flavour to Punt Rd this week after being selected as rookies in Tuesday's draft.
Darrou and Wright have joined former Melbourne forward Addam Maric, fellow rookies Steven Verrier and Gibson Turner, and pre-season draft selection Brett O'Hanlon at Tigerland.
Heslin, who had been training at the club, will link with his teammates in the new year after heading to Ireland for his Christmas break.
Richmond's membership department must be thanking its lucky stars the club's recruiting staff saw fit to select Samoan Wright, given the Dandenong Stingrays product has four brothers and four sisters.
He doesn't even know how many cousins he has given that his father is also one of 14 kids.
"I know I've got a lot of girl cousins, one of my uncles has six daughters and I think another has five daughters, but I'm not sure about guys," Wright said.
"I was telling my aunty that she needed to get everyone to sign on and she asked me what a membership was.
"I said, 'I'm not sure', and she said, 'Well you can pay for it now can't you?', and I'm like 'Well OK, I'll pay for all 40 of you, will I?'."
Darrou's father, born in Morocco, can speak nearly as many languages as Wright has brothers and sisters.
"Dad's whole side of the family is from North Africa, mum is from Australia," Darrou said.
"He came over about 20 years or so ago, but he's lived in Italy, France, Spain and he speaks five languages.
"I tried French at school, but that wasn't for me. Arabic has a completely different letter and number system, I just thought I better get through school doing English."
Wright said watching Tuesday's rookie draft via computer was a surreal experience.
"I watched it away from my family because my mum gets a bit crazy, I think everyone knows that," Wright said.
"I just watched it at my mate Michael's house."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-tigers-mixed-stripes/story-e6frf9jf-1226223490802
