Richo happy to call Punt Road home
The Age
Dan Oakes
April 27, 2005
On the eve of game 200, the Tiger spearhead no longer thinks of leaving, Dan Oakes reports.
It is well-documented that enigmatic Richmond forward Matthew Richardson has had a fraught relationship with the Tigers' faithful during his 199 games, but yesterday he said any thoughts of leaving Punt Road had long since been banished from his mind.
Richardson said that as he enters his 13th season at the club where his father Alan won a premiership in 1967, he feels he has matured as a player and no longer dwells on the criticism he has endured for his supposedly poor kicking and, at times, lackadaisical attitude.
Richardson's career has coincided with a 25-year dry spell for the Tigers, and he has, at times, been the whipping boy for the infamously savage Richmond fans. But while the 30-year-old admitted thinking about leaving Punt Road in the past, he said he was not looking for sympathy.
"No, probably a lot of (the criticism) has been warranted," he said.
"I just think once you get a perception about you as a footballer, it's fairly hard to change. I don't worry about it now, whatever people think they think and you have to do things right for a long time for that to change, I'd say, so it doesn't worry me any more."
With a wry smile, Richardson said his supposedly wonky kicking was nowhere near as bad as commonly thought, and that his figures stacked up well against those of other spearheads in the league generally considered to be good shots.
He also said he had worked at eradicating the poor body language that has been dissected so much over the years and even led to him being dropped by former coach Danny Frawley in 2002.
"I can't remember too many instances where I've been told that it's no good in the last 12 months, maybe once last year. It's something I keep working on and hopefully it will be a non-issue in the next few years," Richardson said.
Richardson has played in only one winning final in 13 years - over Carlton by 11 points in the 2001 first semi-final - but said he saw a faint glimmer of hope with the arrival of Terry Wallace and a batch of exciting young players at Punt Road.
The big forward said he believes he can play for another two or three years, enough time for Wallace's plans to come to fruition and for him to match his father's achievement.
"There's no doubt that when you get some exciting young players, it lifts the older players; you start to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel," Richardson said.
"I think we've made some inroads in the early part of this year, we've obviously got a fair way to go, but I think if we can get some more young recruits at the end of this year and whatever happens with draft picks and trades and that sort of thing, we can definitely build up to a finals side in the next few years."
Richardson also foreshadowed a more static, Alastair Lynch-type role for himself as he reaches the end of his career. Wallace agreed, but said the big man was still in prime physical condition and had plenty left to offer as a rampaging centre half-forward.
"Matthew might have seen himself doing that a little bit earlier and gone down that path last year, but I suppose when I came, I said I wanted him to get on his bike again and really sort of become the athlete that I know he can be for the next couple of years," Wallace said.
Asked to nominate the toughest full-backs, Richardson went for Ashley McIntosh ("very quick but very strong as well"), Glenn Archer "(a bit of a mismatch in size, but everyone knows what he's like") and Matthew Scarlett ("he's probably right up there").
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