Lengthy article about Alan Richardson. Leading candidate for the Richmond job according to Rohan Connolly...Mr MotivationRohan Connolly | August 1, 2009
ALAN Richardson has been a coach for 12 years now, but the most fundamental theories of the leading candidate for the Richmond senior job next year are underpinned by an unfortunate twist of fate nearly two decades ago during his playing days.
Richardson had worked hard to establish himself as a league footballer, first, unsuccessfully, with North Melbourne for two years, then, after returning to his suburban roots, with Collingwood. He finally cemented a regular senior spot in 1990 just as the Magpies were marching towards a famous drought-breaking premiership win.
Until a shocking piece of timing. In the second semi-final, as the Pies booked their grand final spot with a 10-goal thumping of Essendon, Richardson was crunched by Bomber Adrian Burns just after dishing off a handball, snapping his collarbone.
He wouldn't surrender a hard-earned place in football history without a fight. Richardson had a guard specially made for the injured joint, to be worn under a long-sleeved jumper. Pumped full of pain-killers, he fronted up for a searching fitness test with Magpie coach Leigh Matthews with 10,000 fans looking on as the Pies conducted their final training session.
For a brief moment, he appeared to have got through. But Matthews, never the sentimentalist, wasn't convinced. He went for a walk and a chat with his young defender. As he relaxed, the coach delivered a sudden, and solid, hip and shoulder. Richardson was in agony. By the next morning, he could barely lift his arm above his head, his dream shattered.
While, nearly 20 years later, Richardson doesn't dwell on how close he came to becoming a Collingwood immortal, the experience continues to shape his dealings with his players, from East Burwood in the Eastern Football League, where he won two premierships, to VFL side Coburg, the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, and now, as an assistant coach with Essendon.
"It doesn't affect the way I live my life," he reflects, "but it's when you see players stepping up to get their premiership medals, or when I go along to a Collingwood function, and just think: 'Gee, I wish I'd been part of that, it just would have been so special.'
"I remember speaking to a young group of players not so long ago, and you get the old blokes come in from time to time to speak and they say you've got to make sure you make the most of every opportunity, because you don't know whether you'll ever get one again, but it's not until it happens to you that you may truly realise that.
"It [missing out on the Collingwood flag] is very much a motivator when it comes to people that aren't getting the best out of themselves, and are treading water when they clearly have more in them.
"No doubt I would probably at times bore the players I work with to death with it. I hope that's not the case, but I am really strong on team and team success, even though for a big part of my coaching career, I've been focused on individual development."
While Richardson's public profile is nothing like those of other contenders for the Richmond job such as premiership players David King and Damien Hardwick, former Bulldog star Leon Cameron or even the incumbent, Jade Rawlings, his reputation as a coach and developer of talent among AFL clubs is lofty.
That's implicit enough in his CV, which incorporates being head-hunted by four AFL clubs.
First, by the Tigers, who were looking for someone to take the reins of their newly aligned VFL little brother Coburg in 2001. Then the Western Bulldogs, who came calling with a development role for 2003. In 2006, it was Collingwood, which wanted the right man to head its newly established football academy.
And at the end of last year, Essendon, whose coach Matthew Knights had seen Richardson in coaching action while he was finishing his playing days with the Tigers. All have observed Richardson's capacity to help players get the most out of their own talents, noticeably quickly at his last two ports of call.
At Collingwood, Richardson played a key role in the expedition of the likes of Travis Cloke and Scott Pendlebury, who quinellaed the 2007 Copeland Trophy, and young Irishman Marty Clarke, whose rapid progression the same year raised many eyebrows. At Essendon this year, it's been the continued steady development of young key defenders Tayte Pears and Cale Hooker that has attracted attention.
The setting up of the Collingwood academy, working with then Magpie chief executive Greg Swann, was a pivotal moment not only in Richardson's football career, but his life.
"It actually coincided with the death of my father," he says. "Some things happen in your life that just give you a massive reality jolt, or perspective, and it was probably one those. It was like if I had a choice to design a job for myself, what would I want to do, and that chance to set up an AIS or Olympic-type academy situation about long-term development was incredibly exciting."
Similarly, his move to Essendon for this season as forward coach was well-timed. "It coincided with me just missing the cut and thrust and emotion of game day, and the potential to have an influence on the outcome of a game," he says.
Richardson hopes the time spent as a development coach hasn't typecast him in the eyes of his would-be employers as someone to work solely with the kids.
"I'm sure people do, but I'd suggest there's far more actual coaching in a development role than in an assistant coaching role, with the amount of time you have to spend in meetings, match committee, and planning training as an assistant, compared to just focusing on getting the best out of individuals."
Not that Collingwood ever pigeon-holed Richardson as "kids only". In fact, the player he worked with most closely was the oldest on the list, 34-year-old full-back Shane Wakelin, who swears by his credentials for a senior job.
"He was the coach I sounded out the most for advice on all parts of my game," Wakelin says. "He observes the game very technically, whether it's with kicking or marking or how players position themselves in a marking contest. His observational skills, both of game situations as well as individual flaws and strengths, are as good as anyone I've seen."
Nick Butler, a one-time draft hopeful who played under Richardson at Coburg, cites similar qualities, the capacity to read different personalities and get the best of them, combined simply with a willingness to "get his hands dirty".
"He was still working as an electrician with his own business when he started at Coburg, but he'd be down there early, pumping up the footies, or organising an auction night when they were struggling for cash," Butler recalls.
"I remember a practice match against Werribee. I played centre half-forward on [former Bulldog] Matthew Croft, and he absolutely towelled me. At three-quarter-time, 'Richo' really baked me, and I thought it was pretty harsh, but he pulled me in on the Monday and said: 'I only did that because I rate you, and I really think you can go on with it'.
"We had a really good heart-to-heart, and the next training night I just wanted to run through walls for him.
"He knew which buttons to press for which people. We had about four or five teenagers in the side then, and we all loved him."
Butler recalls another occasion when his coach thought he was going too hard at his marking, telling him he wanted him catching the ball as a wicketkeeper would take a delivery from a bowler in his gloves.
Richardson told him to get to training early, strapped a tackle bag to himself, and had a trainer kick high balls while his young forward jumped all over him. "He could tell whether I was doing it right just by the sound," Butler says admiringly. "It didn't surprise me at all the way Marty Clarke came on at Collingwood with 'Richo' teaching him the fundamentals."
Not that he'd say so himself. Richardson remains wary of being seen to pump up his own tyres.
"I'd hate the players to see this and think this is the footy gospel according to me," he quips.
Pushed to sum up his attributes as a coach, he settles on communication. "I think one of my strengths would be the ability to have players understand where they need to improve, then to be able to deliver that message through all different sorts of mediums, whether that be video, or actually out on the paddock doing it," he says.
But he's happy enough to say he thinks he's ready for a senior job. "You start to get a bit more confident in your own abilities, you get a bit more rounded in your philosophy.
"Perhaps some people get to that position earlier. Perhaps it's a bit like my playing career.
"But for me, the timing is right. I've been in coaching now 12 years, and I do feel pretty confident that I'm ready to go."
Richardson played 114 games with Collingwood, and can still laugh about the backhanded compliment plastered on the Magpie banner the day he played his 100th: "Well done Richo on 100 dogged games".
"I understand exactly where I was as a player, and I'm really proud of my achievement given I probably didn't have quite as much natural talent as some," he smiles.
"But also in some ways I think that helps me relate to a greater percentage of most lists.
"Yes, there are superstars, but most players need a fair bit of work and a fair bit of understanding to be as good as they can, and perhaps the fact it took me so long and that I had to fight tooth and nail to be a regular member of a team probably helps too."
Not to mention the crushing blow of having every footballer's dream snatched away when it was within touching distance.
If Richardson does become a senior AFL coach in 2010, any player to whom he does have to deliver bad news will at least know he has a fair idea how they'll be feeling.
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