The Newman at Richmond
Emma Quayle | December 21, 2008
CHRIS Newman is quietly finding his feet as Richmond captain and working on making it an appointment to remember.
CHRIS Newman wasn't the reason more than 50 reporters crammed inside the Richmond Social Club last Wednesday morning.
In his seven-year career, he has fronted few press conferences, let alone stared down 16 television cameras and a dozen more photographers. But as he sat next to Ben Cousins, and heard his new teammate discuss his drug addiction, hamstring and desire to start over, Newman felt a little overwhelmed by the lights, the faces and the questions. His first few weeks as the club's new captain have not exactly been quiet ones.
"I've never actually seen a room filled with so many cameras and so many media," he said.
"To be sitting in there in front of everyone, I got a bit daunted by it at the start. I was looking around the room and I wasn't too sure what I was doing.
"The whole week had the potential to be overwhelming, but the club's really looked after me and, even on Wednesday all of the attention was on another guy and I was really just there as support, to be there with him. And it wasn't too bad in the end. I only had to answer a couple of questions, so there wasn't too much pressure. I wasn't too dazed by the whole thing."
Support is something Newman has a habit of providing, without too much contemplation. The 26-year-old grew up in Narre Warren, where his neighbour was Brendan Fevola. Their homes were being built at the same time, and the best mates met when Fevola tapped Newman on the shoulder and asked if he wanted to play tiggy.
Newman liked Fevola, and still does, because he was a generous, funny person able to lighten up sombre situations.
"He made sure I wasn't too serious all the time," he said.
"He got me in some trouble now and then, but he was a funny kid. He never used to clean his room up and he'd always be in his pyjamas and in trouble by 5pm because of it. He was always in trouble, but our families were really close and (his house) was basically like a second home for me."
For Fevola, Newman was an honest friend - in the sense that he could never tell a lie and that you always knew what he thought and where you stood with him.
"With Chris, everything he did was honest," Fevola said. "We'd be out on the street playing cricket and you'd think you'd heard a nick but wouldn't be sure about it. He'd just say 'Yeah it's out, I nicked it.' He never did anything wrong and he's just an awesome friend to have. He's a really loyal sort of person; if you need him, then he's right there for you."
While Fevola grew up a Richmond supporter, Newman preferred navy blue. Each weekend, he and his older brother Shane, their aunt Joan, uncle Neville and grandmother would go and see Carlton play. The boys would be picked up at 8am, leave the car at Murrumbeena station, catch the train to Flinders Street and head out to Princes Park.
A lot of the time, they'd get there before the reserves ran out, and snack on Joan's shortbread while they waited. Often, they'd sit behind the goals, and Newman wound up wearing Stephen Silvagni's No. 1 on his back.
"They're good times to look back on now, and in the end it was probably a catalyst for me wanting to play," he said.
"I watched so much football it really made me want to play it."
Newman played his junior football at Beaconsfield. He was in the same sides as Adam McPhee and Matthew Boyd and "won a couple of flags", but was never, he insisted, "any sort of standout player" before Richmond drafted him at No. 55 in the 2000 draft.
It's only in the past couple of years - Newman's 2006 ended early because of a broken leg - that he has felt comfortable in the team, and with what he should be doing for it.
"It's been a gradual thing, maybe it's taken me too long," he said. "This year was probably the first year that I had that kind of deep understanding of what I was doing, and felt confident to take on games more. I feel like I've got that now."
Fevola doesn't buy the modesty. "I reckon his junior team played in seven premierships, maybe eight, and he was the captain every single year," he said. "He's too humble. He talks himself down too much."
Newman has another talent he doesn't advertise - he's a movie buff, who donates much of his money to the JB Hi-Fi DVD department and has a healthy collection at home in Port Melbourne, where former teammate Cam Howat is a roommate. He loves horror movies. "I used to have nightmares about Freddy Kreuger, but now I'm really into it."
And he stores away what he sees. "He knows every word to every movie, and he can act them out," said Fevola. "He does Eddie Murphy and he can regurgitate whole movies. It makes me laugh so much."
Newman was pleasantly surprised when he was named one of Kane Johnson's deputies last year, took some confidence from the fact his teammates had voted him into the position, and began to notice how well Johnson was able to manipulate the mood of his team each week.
"He just has this way of setting the scene, of being able to get everyone thinking and feeling a certain way, whether it's after a big loss or whatever," he said.
"He's just able to do the things he normally does, and do them in a way that everyone wants to follow. I've learnt so much from him, just about how being captain isn't really a pressure, it's more of a responsibility to manage and handle."
Still, there have been some big early decisions to help make. Newman, Johnson, Troy Simmonds and Nathan Brown all spoke with Cousins before the club resolved to recruit him last week. That, in itself, was interesting, as was being squeezed closer to the club's decision-makers, getting a sense of how they reached their decision.
"I guess I was just speaking on the players' behalf, and getting across how they felt, but I'm kind of looking forward to doing more of that," Newman said.
"It's just interesting, to see the ins and outs of why things get done."
He is also sorting out what
doesn't need to happen. "It's been strange. For the first week after I got the job, I was kind of wandering around the changerooms not really knowing what to do with myself.
"I was thinking about it a ridiculous amount. I didn't even feel comfortable just sitting somewhere, sitting at the lockers. If I was sitting by myself, I'd think I should be getting up and doing some stuff, doing some captain stuff, but I've calmed down a bit now.
"Kane's been really good. He told me straight away not to panic, that nothing's really changed and that all I have to do is what I've done in the past. I lost my way there, but it was only for a few days.
"I'm really looking forward to next year, to the games coming around, and to feeling more comfortable with it all. It'll be a really proud time next year to run out in front of the boys with the No. 17 jumper on. I can't wait already."
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