Richo's press conference / Richo on SEN and 3AW

[one-eyed]

* Comforably with the decision. Time is right.

* Club gave him every support to go on and wanted him to go on. Not everyone gets to make their own decision to retire so grateful for that.

* Honour to play for Richmond for 17 years.

* Wouldn't have changed too many things but of course would've loved to play more finals but the timing  meant it wasn't to be.

* Thanked his family for their support and thanks teammates past and present. Great thing about footy is the lifetime friendships you make. Looking forward to frothies with them later.

* Learnt something from everyone of his coaches.

* Thanked all the staff at the club.

* tThanked Flying Start management. Would thank Ricky but wanted to check he didn't call anyone a knob first (laughs)

* Thanks Tigers supporters for being so passionate and always turning up win, lose or draw. A great support to him. Nothing better than walking out on the 'G and hearing the roar. Biggest thing he'll miss is the Y&B army.

* Said to keep supporting the club as we rebuild.

....SEN then lost the link 

[WilliamPowell]

Yes the Bigpond link dropped out at that point too

Finally came back with Hardwick speaking - don't know what he said in total but I heard something like it' special to have someone at a club that people would pay to come and see"

Notice when he was thanking his family he mentioned Merinda - for god sake Richo get your act into gear and start a family with her - we want a future father/son 

Said players are better behaved now then ever and he should know he has been around a long time

Encouraged all suporters to keep supporting the club and but a membership - he said he bought one just before his press conference

Said he's looking at the media as a future job

Asked if he would still involved at the club in some capacity he said YES especailly with Benny being CEO - he's sure the Chief will give him a job! (everyone laughs)

- Said doctors report on Monday after a scan was that the recovery of the tendon had gone backwards since the last scan he had had in September. Made the decision very simple indeed.

Great to see all players, board, staff etc there

Conference was held in the gym 

[one-eyed]

* Also rated the 2001 SF win over Carlton as the greatest moment of his career.


Richo coming up now on SEN with KB after the news.

[one-eyed]

Richo on SEN

* Doubts since he came back and the hammy didn't come along. 15 weeks and it didn't progress. Had niggling thoughts but found out Monday he needed further surgery so it was time to get out.

* Going to Richmond was a no brainer. Brian Waldron recruited him whose on SEN now. Waldron said after Richo agreed to go Father-Son to us, Collingwood offered him a massive contract to go into the draft but Richo's loyalty stayed strong. Waldron said Richo was just 65kgs dripping wet as a 16 year old but when he first saw Richo play he took 24 marks for Devonport seniors. Waldron said I told the club we better sign this kid up lol.

* Never seriously considered changing clubs. Clubs showed interest but he never spoke to them.

* Still have the passion and desire to play on but the body is telling him otherwise. Comfortable now with the decision. Tell him in a few months time if he's missing it. He will miss going down to training with the boys but that was the problem as he wasn't able to have a kick with them.

* Coaching - don't think so. Wouldn't mind coming down and helping out our young forwards but doesn't think full-time coaching is for him.

* Biggest regret? No playing when it matters - finals. Only played one finals series. Everything clicked in '95 after winning 12 games in '94. John unfortunately decided to go to Brisbane and the club lost momentum. We had the players but didn't go. Similar with Frawley in 2001 - the club lost momentum.

* Current coaching staff are very organised and the young guys are taking on board what Hardwick has to say. They are working hard on their skills and the young guys desperately want to succeed. No doubt they will.

* Get to spend more time with his family which is good.

* Be lying if he said he wouldn't have loved to be captain. Timing was probably never right. No regrets. KB said it was disappointing to him that Richo was never captain and too much was made of his frustrations.

* Best opponent? Frawley and SOS in the early days but they were coming towards the end of their careers. Richo said the best was Max Hudghton. Never had a good game on him. Scarlett is the premier defender of the comp. and gets the accolades as he gets more of the ball but as a pure defender Max was the best in Richo's opinion.

* Best player he played with? Didn't like to individualise but Knights and Campbell would be ones. Both very consistent. Browny as talented as anyone he played with (those 10 games in 2005).

[Moi]

Wants to come back and help the forwards lol

[one-eyed]

Video of Richo's press conference:
http://www.afl.com.au/Video/tabid/76/videoid/51131/richardson+press+conference/Default.aspx


Audio of full press conference:
http://podsentral.com/node/2821


Audio of Richo on SEN with KB:
http://podsentral.com/node/2820

[one-eyed]

Richo on 3aw at 6.15pm with Healy and Bondy

* He's had plenty of time to think about it (last played in round 6 and then round 18 at Coburg). Knows he has made the right decision.

* How have you seen the reaction of love towards you?
Overwhelmed by it from not only Richmond supporters but also the wider football community.

* Highlights
- first game vs St Kilda. Played on Spud.
- 2001 SF win over Carlton is the main one.

* 1995 -  biggest disappoint? Not at the time as he was only 20 and he's career was ahead of him. Now though seeing how few finals he played it was disappointing to not be apart of that year and finals after doing his knee.

* Only twice was there serious interest in him but it went no further. Proud he played his whole career at Richmond.

* Moving to the wing proved to be good for him and the team especially Jack Riewoldt. Having said that he always saw himself as a forward and was happy to play up forward most of his career. He wouldn't have changed positions earlier in his career.

* Telling the boys was the hardest thing. Told them to take it and grab it. Don't take anything for granted as he knows well from playing only one finals series.

* Best players?
 Cambo with 4 B&Fs and Knighter starred in the 95 finals series. We would've seen how good Knighter really was if we had played more finals.

* Hardest Opponents?
Archer when Richo was younger - guys like that toughen you up. Later on Presti and Hudghton were the toughest.

* It's been a stressful few days so going to relax over the weekend. Then will have to look for a job or join the dole queue lol. Bondy said look out for the 3aw contract in the mail (Richo laughs).

[Tigermonk]

When Joel Bowden retired he faced his press conference & no-one from the club supported him yet Richo had the whole circus there