Richmond kitty very healthyby: Jon Ralph
Herald Sun
June 08, 2012 RICHMOND says its successful Fighting Tiger Fund fundraiser has put the final plank in place for a free-agency assault, but Travis Cloke will not figure in the club's recruiting plans.
The Tigers raised more than $2.3 million on Saturday night, which puts them only $500,000 short of the club's $6 million target.
As well as reducing debt, the club can afford to fully fund its free-agency campaign, adding to successful recruits, including Ivan Maric, Bachar Houli and Shaun Grigg.
Asked specifically about Collingwood free agent Cloke on radio yesterday, Tigers chief executive Brendon Gale said, if he added value to the club, the list management group would have a look at it.
But club insiders do not believe Cloke will leave Collingwood, and will not make contact with his management despite him sharing representation with Dustin Martin.
But the fact they have enough room to entertain the competition's elite shows the club's potential in the post-season market.
Earlier Gale had told the Herald Sun the Tigers had the finances to pay 100 per cent of the salary cap and pre-pay contracts to create room for future raids.
In recent years they have had the inclination to pre-pay like Melbourne but not the cash resources.
Gale said head of football Craig Cameron and list analysis manager Blair Hartley were already scouting potential targets.
"In the past 18 months you can see the results of good list management and it hasn't happened by accident. It has happened because Craig saw the need to invest. We now have three full-time recruiters and Blair does our pro scouting (of established players), so we have lots of eyeballs on people," he said.
"Blair has come on board and prepared us for situations like free agency. They will make very targeted decisions. They are working through it now and we are relying on their judgment."
Pre-paying the salary cap allows clubs to save salary cap space in later years by front-ending contracts for young stars.
Richmond has pledged to split the money raised evenly between retiring depth and football spending.
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