Comment From Simon
What did you like about Troy Chaplin?
We are constantly assessing where we are ranked in all areas across the competition. One of the areas that needed improvement was our defence. Based on our numbers, we had the youngest defence in the competition, with an average age of 23, and the second-least games experience per player in our back half.
Troy, at 26 and with 140 games of experience, will add significantly to our back half. He will complement the likes of Alex Rance, Dylan Grimes and Ben Griffiths. He has the ability to play on both talls and medium sized players, and will add leadership and experience in defence. He badly wants to succeed and feel he will thrive in our environment.
He has the ability to read the ball while also defend and was AFL #2 in 2011 for possession gains. We feel that this can become a real area of strength for the Richmond backline with Rance and Grimes also proficient in this area. He is really looking forward to working with our coaches in particular Justin Leppitsch – hopefully to take his game to a new level.
Comment From TT
With the massive attention Trade Month now gets with SEN, TWR, Twitter, Facebook, and forums, has this changed how you manage discussions? Do you have to work harder to keep things on the QT, or do you just concede its impossible to keep everything in house now?
No doubt it's becoming bigger and bigger, and while I understand the interest there are a lot of information that is important we keep in-house.
Comment From 10 Flags
Troy Chaplin has supposedly got a bone on bone issue in his knee. Are you concerned by it?
We obviously did a full medical on Troy’s knee and our doctors are very confident he will be able to play out his career in a strong manner. He was again checked on the other day and we are really happy with his progress. He will have a slow start to the preseason and the hardest thing will be holding him back.
He has shown good durability throughout his career, playing an average of 20 games per year over the past 5 years.
Comment From Elgreedo
Was Knights recruited to add some midfield depth, which many believe we lack, or was it mainly as a forward. If not, where do you see our midfield improvement coming from?
We have been interested in Chris for a long time, making initial contact with his management in 2010. While having an injury-interrupted 2010 season, he has played a lot of football over the last two years.
We tracked him very closely at SANFL level this year, where he averaged 26 disposals and a goal per game. He has some attributes that are attractive to us. He is a long, powerful left foot kick, and he naturally finds the ball in the midfield and coming from half forward, and importantly, he is a goalkicker.
At 187cms and 86kgs, he also offers a bigger body across half forward, which we identified as an area of need. It also allows the likes of Cotchin, Martin and Deledio that extra rotation through the midfield, giving them a little bit more time to rest forward where we feel that can have an impact on the scoreboard.
We have a full understanding of his medical history, and are very confident with his level of dedication and his ability to play within our structure.
Comment From Gary
What has happened to our compensation pick for R Tanbling
We made a trade with Gold Coast last year
Richard Tambling end of 1st round compensation -> Gold Coast
Pick 26 2011 Draft (Todd Elton) + 2nd round comp (Bock) this year is now pick 31.
