1:00:16 PM Thu 6 May, 2004
Tony Greenberg
richmondfc.com.au
Nathan Brown’s excellent form during the early rounds of the 2004 season further enhances Richmond’s long-standing reputation as specialists in the area of recruiting left-foot talent from rival league clubs.
Throughout the past three decades, the Tigers have hardly put a foot wrong when it’s come to enticing left-foot talent to Punt Road.
It all started late in 1970 with the sensational Ian Stewart-Billy Barrot swap.
History shows that the left-foot champion centreman from St Kilda went on to win a third Brownlow Medal, in his first season at Tigerland. He also collected Richmond’s Best and Fairest in ‘71.
Two years later he was a key member of the Tiger side that took out the ’73 premiership by demolishing Carlton on that “one day in September”. The same year, he finished second in Richmond’s B & F.
Such was the influence of ‘Stewie’ in just five seasons at Richmond, that he ended up winning a place (on the interchange bench) in the Club’s Team of the Century.
His pin-point left-foot passes were a delight to behold – and a delight for the likes of key forwards Royce Hart, Neil Balme and Ricky McLean to receive.
‘Bugsy’, on the other hand, played just two senior games with the Saints before crossing to Carlton where he spent the rest of the ’71 season.
Given that Barrot’s career at St Kilda was so brief, and Stewart achieved so much during his stint at Punt Road, this would have to go down as the best swap deal Richmond has ever been involved with in its long, proud history.
The next left-footer to lob at Tigerland was just about the complete opposite to Ian Stewart in terms of how he went about his football business.
Roderick – better known as Ricky – McLean was the son of dual Carlton premiership player of the 1930s-40s, Rod McLean.
Ricky had been starved of senior action in his time with the Blues, having made just 19 appearances in seven seasons, mainly due to injuries and suspensions.
He was a strongly-built full-forward, who thrived on the physical aspects of the game. Unfortunately, that sometimes led to problems with the men-in-white (eons before they started wearing yellow, orange, red, puce, etc.) and, subsequently, the tribunal.
With the Carlton side of the early 1970s boasting forwards of the calibre of Alex Jesaulenko, Robert Walls, David McKay and Syd Jackson, McLean decided to try his luck elsewhere.
Working class Richmond and the rough’n’ready Ricky McLean were a perfect match.
McLean arrived at Punt Road in 1972 and quickly formed a fearsome, double-pronged Tiger attack with fellow strongman Neil Balme. They became known as ‘Biff’ and ‘Bam’ (can’t remember who was who, but I can assure you they had opposition backmen looking over their shoulders!).
Toughness aside, McLean could play a ‘little bit’, too. He was Richmond’s equal Leading Goalkicker, with 55, in his debut season at the Club, and was a member of the Tiger Grand Final team that year which lost to his old side Carlton in a goal frenzy. McLean, frustratingly, tore his hamstring during the first half of the ’72 GF and spent the entire second half on the pine.
He ended up playing 39 senior games with Richmond from 1972-76 (with one year in between spent at Tassie club Burnie) and booted 103 goals with his trusty left foot.
While rugged Ricky was supplying the muscle in attack for the Tigers (with more than a little help from his mate ‘Balmey’), up the other end of the ground another left-foot ‘reject’ was making life extremely unpleasant for rival forwards.
Via the ‘Scray, came rangy, ‘rat-tailed’ defender Robert McGhie.
‘Bones, as he was affectionately known, had received the DCM (Don’t Come Monday) from Footscray at the end of the 1972 season.
Richmond coach Tommy Hafey was looking to bolster a Tiger defence that had taken a battering in the ’72 Grand Final at the hands of the dreaded Navy Blues, and his search led him to the ex-Bulldog backman.
McGhie was a bargain-basement buy for the Tigers.
He became a springboard for the team’s attack from his position at centre half-back, with his rugged style of play and long, clearing dashes, accompanied by a penetrating left-foot kick.
Although, also occasionally falling foul of the football authorities – like his ‘kindred spirit’ Ricky McLean – Bones McGhie became something of a cult figure among the Yellow and Black faithful.
The tattooed Tiger tasted back-to-back premiership success in 1973-74, and clearly justified the faith shown in him by coach Hafey when he plucked him out of the ‘Lost Dogs’ home.
All-up, he played 80 games for Richmond from 1973-78 before returning to the Bulldogs and then finishing his league career at South Melbourne.
The next left-foot pick-up from another league club to have a major impact at Punt Road was Barry Rowlings.
In 1975, Rowlings had been so impressive on debut for Hawthorn that he’d won its Best First Year Player award. The following season, the little left-footer was part of the Hawk outfit that defeated North Melbourne in the ’76 Grand Final.
Two years on, however, and Rowlings’ career at Glenferrie came to an abrupt end when the Hawks decided that he was finished as a senior player due to nagging injury problems.
Enter the Tigers . . .
They swooped on ‘Bazza’, undeterred by Hawthorn’s concerns over his fitness.
It was to be another very smart move indeed by the Yellow and Blacks with Rowlings winning the Best and Fairest in his first season at the Club (1979). He finished second in the B & F in 1982 and was third in ’84. From 1983-84, Rowlings captained Richmond, and he had been a leading member of the Tigers’ all-conquering 1980 premiership side, as well as the 1982 Grand Final team.
Rowlings was a ‘ball-magnet’, who rarely wasted a possession, consistently hitting targets – and hurting opposition sides – with his spearing left foot. He was a fierce competitor and gave himself the best possible chance of succeeding at the game’s elite level by maintaining peak physical condition during his Punt Road stint.
Ironically, it was his fitness, which had cut short his career with the Hawks, that subsequently gave him an edge over rivals throughout a distinguished career at Richmond.
He played 152 games and kicked 118 goals for the Tigers from 1979-86.
Another left-footer to enhance his league football reputation, after arriving at Tigerland at the same time as Barry Rowlings, was Graeme Landy, who had spent four seasons with Geelong from 1975-78.
Landy became a most reliable performer for Richmond, mainly as a half-back flanker. Although only just on six foot tall (under the old measurement scale), he was an excellent one-grab mark, who consistently nullified the effectiveness of bigger opponents. He was a strong tackler and, as is the case with the vast majority of left-footers, a fine kick.
Sadly, fate frowned on Landy in early September 1980 when he was suspended by the tribunal following an incident during the qualifying final against Carlton at Waverley Park. As a result, Landy missed the Tigers’ record-breaking Grand Final triumph over Collingwood that year.
Two years later, he was a member of the Richmond team which went down to Carlton in the Grand Final. The following year (1983), he finished third in the Club’s Best and Fairest.
Landy spent eight years at Tigerland, for 120 games and 28 goals, before returning to Geelong to see out his league career in 1987-88.
Andy Preston was another left-footer who followed in Graeme Landy’s footsteps, crossing from Geelong to the Tigers after 58 senior games at the ‘Cattery’ (1977-81).
Hamstring problems hampered the solidly-built Preston throughout his stint with Richmond and prevented him from a much longer career in the Yellow and Black. He was restricted to just 18 senior appearances in his two seasons with the Tigers (1982-83) and missed the ’82 Grand Final due to his hamstring trouble. Two weeks earlier, he had been a significant contributor in Richmond's convincing second semi-final win against Carlton.
Although Preston’s time at Tigerland was short, he impressed everyone at the Club with his determined, dedicated approach to the game, and was a popular figure at Punt Road.
The next left-footer to leave an indelible mark in the Tigers' Den, after transferring there from another league club, was Paul Broderick.
‘Brodders’ was one of the three players (along with Michael Gale and Matthew Dundas) the now defunct Fitzroy traded to Richmond in exchange for Tiger captain Jeff Hogg this time 10 years ago.
From the moment he arrived at Punt Road late in ’93, until his retirement at the end of the 2001 season, P. Broderick was the consummate team-orientated professional – both on and off the field.
He set a superb example for all his Tiger teammates to follow with the way he prepared himself to consistently produce his best.
But as determined, committed and focused as Brodders was to succeed out on the 'field of battle', he always displayed the utmost integrity in his dealings with people at the Club. Suffice to say, he was held in the highest esteem at Tigerland.
In terms of sheer football ability, he also was a standout. For most of his eight-year playing stint with Richmond, he was a prolific ball-winning midfielder who provided the team with considerable drive.
Not only did Brodders win plenty of leather, he rarely wasted a possession either. He was a beautiful left-foot kick, repeatedly delivering the ball 'lace-side up' to his lucky teammates.
Then, in the twilight of his league career, Brodders developed into a more than handy goalkicking option for the Tigers. He spent most of his game time inside the forward 50m area, where he punished opposition sides with that 'radar-like' left foot of his, steering through quite a few team-lifting six-pointers.
Indeed, if you had to nominate a player to kick a goal from a set shot after the siren, to win a match for Richmond, you simply couldn't go past P. Broderick . . .
Brodders played 169 games with the Tigers from 1994-01 and kicked 90 goals. He won the Jack Dyer Medal in 1996, and must be rated one of Richmond's greatest pick-ups from a rival league club -- left or right-foot.
Finally, we come to a player who, technically speaking, wasn't a left-footer, but kicked so frequently -- and flawlessly -- on that side of his body, that he deserves due recognition in this story.
So adept was Leon Cameron at kicking with either foot throughout a long, distinguished career at the Western Bulldogs and then Richmond, that he was actually asked at the media conference to announce his retirement a couple of months ago, which was his natural side.
Even after 14 years of playing at the game's highest level, seasoned footy watchers couldn't tell if he was a left or right-footer!
What's indisputable, however, was the value L. Cameron gave to the Tigers in just four seasons with the Club (2000-03).
He played 84 games, kicked 40 goals, finished third in the Club's B & F in 2001, and twice took out Richmond's Best Clubman award (2001 and 2003).
The Tigers made the finals in 2001, for just the second time since the 1982 Grand Final, "aided and abetted" by Cameron's silky skills, in a sweeping role across half-back.
It was that exemplary skill level which separated Leon from most of the players in the competition and enabled him to still be a force to be reckoned with, even when his body was feeling the ravages of time.
And, that bring us to Nathan Brown, who was snared by Richmond from the Western Bulldogs in last year’s trade period.
As you can tell from reading this yarn, ‘Browny’ is following in some pretty big (left) footsteps, but the early signs are strong that he'll add another exciting chapter to the Tigers' tale of left-foot success stories . . .
