“Bloody hell, he’s sired a thoroughbred”. Cameron Schwab
CEO | Leadership Coach | Speaker | Writer | Artist
2 Dec 2016Personally, I have two strong memories of father-son players being recruited to clubs I was involved with.
The first is Matthew Richardson at Richmond, the son of 1967 Tiger Premiership player Alan ‘Bull’ Richardson.
At the age of 17, Matthew was developing at an extraordinary rate. All of sudden he was growing into his lanky body. With each game he played, his confidence grew and there appeared no limits to what he could do, or what he’d develop into.
Whilst he still looked like a leggy colt on the field, he was destined for Flemington, either Spring or Autumn. He was seriously quick and was adding power, but could also run all day. He had an engine, and it had plenty of gears...and turbo. He also had enigmatic talent. There was a game in the national underage championships (then Teal Cup) when he took 20 plus marks, and whilst some of his decision making and kicking was definitely a work in progress (and would remain so throughout his illustrious career), we could barely contain our excitement.
Of course, we were not alone in our interest. He was the talk of the recruiters, and no doubt some of the sneakiest and mischievous minds in the game were working on ways to get him to their club.
Matthew however, had made his mind up. He was playing for Richmond. As unlikely as it seemed, he was more excited than us. It was his dream to play for the Tigers, and all of a sudden it was his reality. We quickly learned how committed he was. As part of the ‘wining and dining’ of the potential new recruit, and in response to the interest of other clubs (in particular Collingwood) we brought Matthew, Bull and family to Melbourne to watch the Tigers play at the MCG. We were thrashed. Non-competitive. This didn’t faze Richo. We wandered back to the Punt Road Oval after the game, he came into my office with his family and signed a contract, for a number far less than was probably on offer elsewhere, but the best the cash-strapped Tigers could muster.
At that time, all we were required to do was find a place for him on our list. We didn’t have to give up a draft pick. From memory, we were able to list 52 players, and Richo became player number 52.
There was every chance he would have been selected as the first pick in that year’s draft.
Matthew made his debut the following year against St Kilda, having just turned 18 and earlier than planned or expected, due in part to his very good form in the reserves but also our lack of quality at senior level.
I watched the game with my late father Alan, who was Secretary of Richmond when Bull Richardson was playing. About half way through the first quarter he turned to me and said, “The old Bull was a terrific player, but he was draught horse, but bloody hell, he’s sired a thoroughbred”. It was the last game I watched with dad. He died a few weeks later.
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