This is what Greg had to say yesterday:
* On Kingsley's selection - we've got a great bunch of youngsters and we've added 5 more from the National draft. Add Polak and that makes it 6 new young players to our club. We felt and it's Terry's belief that you can't get enough high scoring forwards (Miller agrees with this). The way Kingsley has trainied over the past 5-6 weeks has showed to us he is hungry and wants to prove he is a better footballer than some people think he is.
* Micky McGuane then asked Miller was he surprised by the backlash from supporters? Greg said no at Richmond. All part of the educational process and explaining to our members our reasons. He said he understands there's some angst out there over the decision but Kingsley is a proven goalkicker and will add value to the team. Come round 2 and if he's got 8-9 goals on the board then they'll all claim him.
* We're a attacking team and we'll have two new forwards basically with Browny back as well. Add Richo and Pettifer and we'll have a pretty potent forward line that will make it difficult for the opposition. At Richmond Kingsley will be our 3rd forward whereas at Geelong he was the focal point.This will help not only Kingsley but also Richo from time to time. Will vary our set-up so Richo may play high with Kingsley near goal and vice versa.
* Kingsley training form - We wanted to see if our senior players wanted him as well and would come to us and say "we want him". We are wanting to perform well in the next 2 years and not just wait 3-4 years for our youngsters to come through. We want to be up there now. And that's what happened - Joel, Browny, Gas, etc said his training hard to play and we want Kent Kingsley.
* Kingsley body is good although the first couple of training sessions hit him until he adjusted to our training regime. He had been holidaying in China and Miller gave him a call and said we wanted him down at training the next morning.
* Tas Clingan - we thought Tas was pretty good this year and impressive as a player. Pleased to get him as a rookie. He'll bring a touch a class. In the practice matches you can see he has got good balance, kicks the ball long and deep, good footy brain and plays with no fuss. Just wants to play footy. It'll take time to build up his body but he got that class so we're pleased.
* Jake King - plays on bigs and smalls and has a fierce attack on the ball. Got pace and kicks the ball long and low. Great story going from Nth Heidelberg to Coburg to Richmond. Also boosts our relationship with Coburg.
* Polak - Like Kent found training initially tough but he's now improved his run around the tan by 2 minutes. He working hard, got a unit organised and with have his girlfriend coming over end of Jan. He's fitting in well with players and at training showing he has good hands and depth in his kicking.
* Riewoldt - Very confident kid. We're holding him back on the footy back but he has his eyes glued on the footy work. We've got him running around the boundary as he's not a natural runner like a Shane Edwards. He's living with Browny so he's learning the metrosexual lifestyle (laughs).
* On the injury front:
+ Thursty - return is a little slow as his knee was worse than Cogs but both on par to where we expected them to be. Both doing about 80% of the work. While we are hoping they will be ready by round 1 it's going to be problematic whether they be at 100%.
+ Hartigan - doing 90% of the work. Had a ankle op as did Knobel. Both not far away and after Christmas will be doing all the work.
+ Newy - going really well and far advanced on the training track compared to where Browny was. When he runs and competes he isn't favouring a leg. Running very smoothly so we're very pleased. A round 1 prospect.
