Tough Tuck repays Tiger faith
12:37:38 PM Wed 29 June, 2005
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to afl.com.au
With his strong build and fearless attack on the ball, Shane Tuck has added a hard edge to Richmond's midfield this year after an injury-wrecked 2004.
Coach Terry Wallace freely admits Tuck just barely survived his off-season player cull and the hard-nosed midfielder has repaid his coach by playing every game so far this season - returning an average of 23 possessions and five marks per match.
Tuck credits Wallace for showing faith in him and allowing him the time to find his niche in the Tigers' line-up.
"It was good that Terry gave me an opportunity in the practice matches because I ended up getting a few kicks and a full pre-season really helps," Tuck said.
"We started playing a few practice matches and he thought he'd just move me around a bit - down back, up forward and eventually found my place in the midfield.
"Just getting an opportunity from Terry (was great) and he's been really good to me this year. He's certainly a lot better coach than I've had in the past. He knows how to instill confidence in players and he's good at what he does."
The 23-year-old late bloomer admits he felt the weight of expectation that comes with being the son of a famous football father at Hawthorn and both his form and enjoyment of the game suffered as a result.
"When I was 18 or 19 (and) I was there on the rookie list I felt the Michael Tuck thing a fair bit - it used to play on my mind," he said.
"I suppose it affected me a little bit and I sort of didn't want to be there. When I got delisted it honestly didn't worry me that much because I just wasn't interested in footy so I had a year off.
"I played 12 games at a local club and then went to Westies and now that I'm playing at Richmond I suppose it's good to be away from Hawthorn because I'm away from all that sort of stuff."
The successful stint with SANFL side West Adelaide was the catalyst for his return to AFL football, but that wasn't Tuck's aim when he picked up and moved across the border.
"I just wanted to play footy again after a year off and wanted to play a good standard of footy," he said.
"So I went over there and really enjoyed my year at West Adelaide.
"About halfway through the season people started talking like,'gee, if you keep this up you might get drafted', but at the start of the year it was just something a bit different to try and get away from Victoria for a while."
Tuck may have finally established himself as an AFL footballer, but he isn't getting too far ahead of himself and has a simple plan for the rest of the season.
"I don't really set too many goals to be honest because sometimes you get injured and you just can't achieve them," he said.
"At the start of the year I just wanted to play 10 games and I've done that so from here on in I'll just take it week to week. I'll try and concentrate on playing well every week and try to do what I can for the team and hopefully we can win more games."
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