Richmond trade report: Every player traded during Hardwick's tenure (Herald-Sun)

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Richmond trade report: Every player who has arrived and departed Tigers under Damien Hardwick

Al Paton,
Herald Sun
31 May 2017

AFTER eight years of some hits and plenty of misses, has Richmond finally cracked the trade code?

The Tigers are shaping as the biggest winner from last year’s trade period with Toby Nankervis one of the biggest trade steals in recent history.

Squeezed out by Kurt Tippett, Callum Sinclair and Sam Naismith at Sydney, “Nank” has them all covered after heading to Punt Rd for pick 46 in a deal that didn’t get a lot of attention at the time.

Deals for Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy received a lot more press and also look like wins.

Although both players have shown their best only in patches, they have had a huge impact on the Tigers this year by easing the load on skipper Trent Cotchin — who is having his best season since his 2012 Brownlow year as a result — and freeing up Dustin Martin to play almost entirely in the forward half of the ground, with devastating results.

On the flip side, the two players Richmond let go — Ty Vickery and Brett Deledio — haven’t burnt them at all (yet), playing a combined five games.

Richmond’s reputation for failed trades was shaped by some big flops in the early 2000s headlined by giving the Western Bulldogs pick 19 for Jordan McMahon, who never fired as a Tiger. Meanwhile, the Dogs used that pick on a promising kid named Callan Ward — and when he was poached by GWS, the compensation pick was used to recruit Jack Macrae. Ouch.

But after running the rule over Collingwood’s trades during Nathan Buckley’s tenure, we are focusing here on the deals since Damien Hardwick took over as coach at the end of 2009.

In an era of compromised drafts, Richmond tried to be creative at the trade table and also used picks late in the national draft and in the rookie and pre-season drafts to recruit cast-offs like Nathan Gordon, Ricky Petterd, Sam Lonergan, Orren Stephenson, Todd Banfield, Matt Thomas and Addam Maric. All are gone while the Tigers passed on the chance to pluck a late gem from the junior talent pool.

To be fair, Bachar Houli and Dylan Grimes were both pre-season draft picks. And Jack Riewoldt wouldn’t complain about having Brad Miller up forward right now.

But how do the Tiger trades of the past eight years look when placed under the microscope in 2017? We rate every arrival and departure of the Hardwick era.
Troy Chaplin loved this goal against his former side. Picture: Getty Images

ARRIVALS

Mitch Farmer

Hardwick’s first trade was for a player in his own image — a tough Port Adelaide back pocket. Unfortunately he wasn’t good enough for AFL and was gone after two seasons (28 games). In a swap for Jay Schulz, the Tigers lost this one.

Shaun Grigg

Grigg cops it from Tiger fans sometimes and can kick a helicopter but he has been a solid contributor — and occasionally much better than that — for seven seasons (missing fewer than 10 games in that time). Andrew Collins — who joined the Blues in a straight swap — played just 11 matches for Carlton. Big win.

Ivan Maric

Another win. Undersized ruckman who battled to get a game at his former club but a super competitor whose value went far beyond his centre bounce work at Tigerland. Sound familiar? Great value for the pick 37 Richmond gave Adelaide.

Steven Morris

Arrived via rules that allowed GWS to trade pre-listed players before their first season. Morris and pick 14 were swapped for pick 15 so the move cost effectively nothing and Morris has been a Hardwick favourite for his single-minded attack on the ball. But has always been on the edge of the best 22 and has played just one game this year after returning from a knee injury.

Aaron Edwards

High-flying forward arrived from North Melbourne in exchange for a late pick and played a handful of very good games in 2013. But he will be remembered for missing an easy shot just after halftime in the elimination final which left the door open for a barnstorming Carlton comeback. Not that Tiger fans are bitter or anything.

Chris Knights

Showed glimpses of his huge talent after joining the Tigers as a free agent but pulled the pin on an injury-cursed career in 2015 after just six games in black and yellow. Was always a big risk but didn’t cost anything except a spot on the list.

Troy Chaplin

Big tick. Targeted as soon as free agency was introduced and formed a great partnership with Alex Rance in the key defensive posts from 2013-15, with Richmond playing finals in each of those seasons. End came quickly last year.

Shaun Hampson

After 2013 Richmond realised Ivan Maric needed help and gave up a second-round pick to get Hampson from Carlton. But his career has been plagued by injuries and he and Maric never worked in the same team. Great tap ruckman who doesn’t offer much else. Still on the list but out with a long-term back injury. Fail.

Taylor Hunt

Delisted free agent has added 41 games at Richmond — the club be barracked for as a kid — after starting his career at Geelong. But has always been a role player and has fallen well outside the best 22 this year, playing just one game.

Chris Yarran

Oh dear. Complete bust who quit without playing a game after crossing from Carlton. Playing footy again in WA as he battles personal issues. At least the Tigers held their nerve and gave up pick 19 for him and not pick 12, which Carlton demanded (the Blues eventually used the pick on David Cuningham while the Tigers picked Daniel Rioli).

Jacob Townsend

Richmond gave GWS a fourth-round draft pick for Townsend, who played 38 games in four years at the Giants. He was supposed to be the tough inside midfielder to support Cotchin and Martin but has proven so far to be a good VFL player who struggles at the top level, with pace and kicking a concern. Played in three of the first five rounds last year but just once after that for the year and is yet to feature in 2017.

Andrew Moore

Richmond hoped it could extract the potential that led to Moore — the younger brother of former Tiger Kelvin — being selected by Port Adelaide with pick 9 in the 2009 draft. But after being recruited as a free agent he had the same limitations as Townsend and was delisted for a second time after five games for the Tigers.

Josh Caddy

Perhaps realising they had to aim higher, Tiger recruiters pounced late in last year’s trade period on Caddy, another former top-10 pick (No.7 in 2010). He was a good player at Geelong without being elite and his form this year hasn’t changed that assessment, but he has shown glimpses and should be entering his prime at age 24. Hardwick has to decide whether he’s a midfielder or a forward. Will be interesting to track his progress against Brandan Parfitt, the player Geelong picked with the draft selection (26) Richmond handed over for Caddy.

Dion Prestia

At his best Prestia is an elite inside ball-winner, but we haven’t seen a lot of that this year. And his kicking has been generally terrible, perhaps impacted by the knee injury that derailed his pre-season. Tigers need a lot more after parting with pick six in the draft, but at 24 he has plenty of time to live up to expectations.

Toby Nankervis

We saved the best til last. A steal as a swap for pick 46 (which the Swans used on Jack Maibaum) and a key reason for Richmond’s surprise jump up the ladder this season. Not tall for a ruckman at 199cm but his physical approach has won the hearts of Tiger fans and his elite intercept marking has made him a SuperCoach star. Still just 22.


DEPARTURES

Andrew Raines

The son of Tiger great Geoff Raines finished second in the AFL Rising Star Award (behind Danyle Pearce) and in Richmond’s best-and-fairest in 2006, his first full season. But he was unable to match that form in three more years at Richmond before being traded to Brisbane, where he became a handy tagger. Finished his career at Gold Coast but didn’t burn Richmond.

Jay Schulz

The No.12 pick in the 2002 draft teased Tiger fans for seven seasons and it wasn’t a controversial decision to let him go to Port Adelaide. But he settled in the goalsquare at Port and booted 275 goals in 123 games while Richmond struggled to find a reliable second tall forward. Oops.

Andrew Collins

Swapping the brave but small and injury-prone Collins to Carlton for Shaun Grigg was a huge win.

Mitch Morton

Morton arrived at the Tigers in a trade with West Coast in 2007 and was an inconsistent and occasionally brilliant performer before leaving for Sydney in exchange for pick 79 at the end of 2011. Morton played just 12 games for the Swans but one of them was the 2012 premiership.


Angus Graham

Richmond swapped the ruckman and pick 50 to Adelaide in exchange for pick 40 at the end of 2011. Graham didn’t play another AFL game and the player Richmond selected with that pick — Matt McDonough — managed 10 before being delisted. So, a win?

Matt White

White was a lifelong Tiger fan but left to join Port Adelaide as a free agent after a contract dispute. Has been a handy pick-up for the Power but has struggled to break into the team this year. The Tigers didn’t get any compensation from the AFL for his departure.

Ty Vickery (free agent)

Despite his struggles, Vickery would be getting a game at Richmond right now ahead of Todd Elton and Ivan Soldo. If the Tigers had known Ben Griffiths would run into more concussion issues they might have thought twice about letting Vickery join the Hawks as a free agent. But his lucrative two-year deal resulted in a second-round compensation pick, which Richmond used on Shai Bolton. Vickery, meanwhile, has played five games and kicked two goals as a Hawk.

Brett Deledio

Two-time best-and-fairest winner, twice All-Australian, Rising Star winner and out-and-out gun — no Tiger fan wanted to part ways with Lids. But after 12 years of dedicated service he earnt the right to finish his career with a shot at a flag, and the Tigers extracted a good deal for the 30-year-old in the form of Geelong’s first-round draft pick at the end of this year. And as Deledio battles calf issues Richmond looks well ahead on the deal — although if the former Tiger debuts in Round 22 and blitzes September the Giants will be pretty happy.



Note: Luke McGuane, Tom Derickx and Robin Nahas joined other clubs as delisted free agents after being cut by the Tigers. Nahas played 32 games for North Melbourne but McGuane managed just seven for Brisbane and Derickx (13 games for Sydney) is better known for his music project Kayex.

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