Brendon Lade back on the ball * Jesper Fjeldstad
* From: Sunday Herald Sun
* May 09, 2010 IT TAKES a bit to rattle Brendon Lade, the laid-back cabinet maker from Kangaroo Island who became a key in Port Adelaide's landmark 2004 premiership and was named All-Australian twice in a glittering career that spanned more than a decade and 234 games.
Spend some time with him at Richmond, where he works as an assistant coach under former teammate Damien Hardwick, and you will see Lade as comfortable as a man in his slippers in front of the fireplace.
He will have a quiet piece of advice for Troy Simmonds, the Tigers' No.1 ruckman, shuffle some magnets on the board ahead of the club's game against Adelaide today and give fellow assistant Justin Leppitsch a bit of grief, because that's what you do around football clubs.
He rocks up to the club, essentially a building site with a new facility being built, in a ute.
But Lade, who shifted to Melbourne after finishing at Port Adelaide last year, is first to admit the move - in career and location - has been an eye-opener. He wouldn't have it any other way, but as he sits down for his first interview since lobbing at Tigerland, he speaks of a challenge only Richmond can serve up.
"It's a bit busier than I thought Melbourne was," Lade said. "Trying to get to work before the traffic and leave before the traffic really starts."
There has also been the issue with shifting his family: wife Sarah and children Oscar, 7, and Jack, 4.
The days of tinkering around in his shed in a sleepy Adelaide suburb before football with his sons have been replaced by a testing job and adjusting to a new city.
"It's all right for me: I get 50 to 60 new mates straight away through the footy club, which you always do, but my wife's found it a bit harder," he said.
"At first, it was every four or five days she wanted to go back home but now it's once every 12 days or two weeks. So we're starting to adjust.
"I get Wednesdays off, but it's good that Damien's a big family man and emphasises having time with the family. Ours are close and we obviously spend a bit of time together.
"The kids, one's in school, one's in kindy. It took them a little while but they're getting better. It's still a bit different to Adelaide schools, the way they go about it."
For that, the rewards have outweighed the sacrifices.
Lade knew by the time his career was coming to a close that he wanted to stay in the game. Power coach Mark Williams helped him along, handed him more responsibility, but the pair agreed it would be better if he sought experience elsewhere.
"I always thought it would nice to stay in it while I was going through my career," Lade said. "It's a good lifestyle. But it probably wasn't until my last couple of years I sat down with the Port coaches, went to meetings and found it interesting.
"I enjoyed that side of it and trying to get the young guys to improve as much as they can is always a challenge - and we've got a lot of young guys here."
To boot, Lade still has a kick. When he has the odd Saturday off, he has played with Justin Peckett's team, Karingal, and he still loves kicking a goal.
More than one Richmond supporter would have thought about having him strip for the Tigers, but Lade laughs it off.
"We've talked a bit about that, playing me and 'Leppa' in the forward line," he said with a laugh.
How does Richmond compare with the Power, the only club he had known?
It does, and it doesn't.
"It's a little bit different," Lade said. "We're a long way behind where Port Adelaide were.
"In saying that, Damien has brought in a lot of new technology, trying to get Richmond up to the new age and fast track as many players as we can. But in saying fast tracking, we're not going to skip any steps along the way. They'll be taught properly and the right way.
"It's funny, we're nought and six and we've got 40,000 members. Port Adelaide never had 40,000 members. And we're in a lot more competitive market, as well. We're all just really looking forward to the day that we're winning a lot of games."
For all of Richmond's woes - and the Tigers have been woeful - Lade has not sensed any of the fan frustration for which the club is known. And with the members the Tigers have, it is put to him that if and when they become successful, they will again become a giant club.
He loves that debate.
"Not if, mate, it's when," Lade said. "It's scary. I think we're the missing link in the AFL's big picture. There are that many supporters and members it's scary and it's going to happen sooner or later. But it's going to be a long road to get to where we want to get to.
"The day Damien came in here, he said: 'It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be a one or two-week thing; it's going to be a one or two-year thing.'
"Like Damien said, it could take you 12 weeks, it could take you two years to do what we want to do, but eventually we'll get it right and when we do it will work.
"He gets a bit uptight and I suppose that's where I come in. I go around to his place or he comes around to mine and we have a couple of beers and talk about it.
"He's been good, has managed to keep the players pretty upbeat, which is hard to do when you're 0-6.
"We've got 14 new kids in the system but everyone's upbeat. They can see where we want to go. We've got a plan in place and now we're waiting for the talent to catch up to it."
Lade has enjoyed his time in Melbourne, even though it hasn't been what he expected.
The traffic aside, he had expected to go under the radar. But because of his height it is still hard to hide. Not that it worries him.
"I thought I'd be completely anonymous over here, but a couple of people come over for a chat," Lade said. "While it's nice, it would also be nice not to be noticed at all.
"But it's more of a normal life. The odd Richmond supporter comes up and asks why you're not putting the boots on, what you're doing with the rucks or the midfield. It's a long process but we get there eventually."
What does Lade make of former West Coast champion Ben Cousins? Brushing aside the headlines, he compares him with Gavin Wanganeen at Port Adelaide, who brought experience and knowledge to a young side.
"Not many people get to play with a Brownlow medallist," Lade said. "We had the opportunity to play with Gavin and it was a huge honour.
"It made you walk a bit taller and it's the same for the guys here at Richmond.
"To have 'Cuz' around the club, doing what he does for the guys ... he talks as much as anyone and can pass a lot of stuff on to guys like Dusty Martin and Ben Nason, and the other young guys going through the midfield."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/brendon-lade-back-on-the-ball/story-e6frf9jf-1225864001167
