Summary* Jack got the quaddie on derby day with his two brothers and 9 mates. Each put $50 on it and they won $80,000. Still waiting for the cheque from the TAB after Jack lost the ticket in a marquee
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* Trying to get Jake King to ride in the last race at Sandown tomorrow
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* Going through the year beating the grand finalists but still missing the Eight does hurt. It's good for such a young group though to take heart from those performances. We didn't just beat them either; we beat them convincingly (60 pts vs Haw; 30 pts vs Syd second year running). So we know if we can play up to that standard every week and that's the thing next year it has to be every week. If we can find that consistency then we have no doubt we can push into the Eight and possibly even higher. Blokes are maturing. We saw that this year when we'd show a great passage of play and we'd play a great half. The Adelaide game for instance where we were up at half-time before getting steamrolled. So it comes back to maturity and getting miles in legs. With the young kids and the work we've done with Dimma over the last couple years we are about to see the benefits of that.
* Plus 8 year players only came back yesterday so he hasn't caught with new guys Chaplin and Knights. He spoke to them when they first arrived at the club and Jack is convinced they will be a great addition. Chris is a player we've been lacking up forward. High half-forward with a great left foot. So we needed that type of player in our forward line. Troy will not only improve us as an addition himself but also improve the blokes around him. He'll give Rance who has had to do the big roles a chop out and bring Astbury on with his coaching. The players we've brought in have come in for specific reasons which allows us to bring 3-4 young kids in the draft next week.
* Cotch is ready to be captain but we haven't made that decision yet. It should be done in the next few weeks as it's one we'd like to get sorted out early. With Richmond being such a big club and changing jumper numbers to 17 it's a pretty big decision. The void left by Chris Newman as captain is going to be a big one to fill. He obviously captained the club very well. He wasn't well known when he first took on the role but the appreciation he's gained from the outside world he was highly respected just as much as he was by the playing group. So those shoes will be big to fill. It's also not just about the captain; it's about the whole leadership group and future up and coming leaders. Got a great number of kids coming through as well as the core group. The way we support the new captain whomever that is will be very important.
* Mick McGuane asked Jack if he was captaincy material? Jack replied "Oh I don't know about that". He enjoys being in the leadership group and he enjoys having some say in what goes on but he thinks if he became captain it would turn into a bit of a media circus. He doesn't think he'll be putting his hand up to be captain but he's happy to help mentoring the young guys which is something he did this year and he really enjoyed it. Whoever gets the captaincy will be the right person for it.
* Jack said he probably won't have a full preseason as he had a little bit of hip-scope two weeks ago. He had a little bit of niggle which he tried to get through the offseason with so it was moreso just a clean up. So he's been struggling with that over the past two weeks but he hopes to be back on the track in a week or two's time and back training with the boys.
