Bleeding for the cause: Richmond captain Chris Newman Scott Gullan
Herald Sun
May 29, 2010 IT was an instinctive act, but one which sent a clear statement to the football world about Richmond captain Chris Newman.
When Newman grabbed his jumper and kissed it after kicking a crucial goal in the dying minutes of the Tigers' heart-wrenching loss to Hawthorn in Round 8, it gave an insight into the passion of the man who has the hardest job in football.
"Our jumper is what we are about," Newman said this week.
"It is what we play for and it stands for so much more than people realise. For us we hold the jumper up on a pedestal every opportunity we can because we realise it's important.
"To put that jumper on, we put them on all together before games, and it's just a special feeling the Richmond jumper. I sort of displayed that by grabbing it but that's the feeling of all the boys out there, we realise how special and privileged we are to be out there."
It would be understandable if Newman was frustrated. In nine years at Punt Rd he hasn't played in a final and in just his second year of captaincy he's already had to deal with more scandals than most clubs encounter in a decade.
"Challenging is probably the word," he says when asked to describe his time in charge.
"Despite everything not really going our way, it has been really enjoyable.
"I have really enjoyed the role and I think when you can see a future and you can see the development and progression that we are making it makes it a lot easier, even if we don't have the short-term success.
"I am 100 per cent confident that we are going to get there, the frustrating part is now."
Spend half an hour with Newman and it's hard not to come away a believer. Not that he's a salesman full of cliches. In fact, he's anything but.
The 28-year-old is quietly spoken but measured and deliberate about the Tigers. There's a hint of excitement there but the most obvious thing is the sense of pride and belief he has about the future.
It shows when he talks about the pain he feels every time they lose.
"After every game I really feel it," he said. "I'm pretty bad like that. I'm just not one of those guys who can let it go and sort of get in the showers and forget about it.
"I dwell on it, probably a little bit too much at times. I have to be careful how I take losses, as I take them hard no matter what the margin is.
"I get home and I'm up all night thinking about different scenarios. I guess being captain you sort of think, 'What could I be doing better, or what I could improve, what could I have done on game day or where do we go from here?' "
Those doubts are nothing like the ones he felt last year after replacing Kane Johnson as skipper and then being implicated in the sacking of coach Terry Wallace.
"There were doubts early on when I first got the job," he admits.
"It is sort of going into the unknown, so I didn't know how I was going to handle it and what I would be up for.
"I think that is natural, and I have spoken to a few of the other guys around the club who have been in my position; they said it's natural to feel like that so it was comforting to find out that's the initial reaction of blokes when they get in that situation.
"I am 100 per cent confident in my role now."
The biggest lesson he learned was not to try and be Jonathan Brown or Chris Judd, just continue to be the solid half-back flanker who has played 150-plus games without a lot of fanfare.
"Probably the biggest thing I have learnt, and it is fairly cliched and a lot of captains say it but it really is true, is you've got to be yourself," he said.
"You've got to realise what strengths you bring and what you already possess. When I initially got the job all I wanted to do was more, just do more, which isn't a bad thing but it wasn't me.
"So the more you can be yourself and the quicker you realise you are in that position for a reason, I think the better off you are."
The arrival of Damien Hardwick has helped Newman, given the new coach often went about his own career in a similarly understated way . He has urged his captain to help the players take a lot more ownership at Punt Rd.
"He made it pretty clear early on that he's 100 per cent supportive of me and that he wants the players to take ownership of the direction that we head," he said.
"He made that really clear from day one, while he is the coach and is the boss, in terms of training, game day and around the club he really wants the players to own that.
"He feels that is where our improvement is going to come from as at the end of the day it is the boys out there that are running the show."
Newman has seen previous attempts at resurrecting Richmond spectacularly crash and burn but already there is enough evidence, despite still being winless after nine rounds, for him to have no doubts this one is for real.
"I think we have a developing group that are all coming through together and playing together and the more we can do that, keep the same group the better it is," he said.
"You just get that feeling when you are around the same people for a period of time, you can see the improvement that is being made.
"I guess it is probably faith in the game plan and also our plan as a whole club.
"You can see little parts of it, I mean we worked really hard over the pre-season, we've only had one pre-season on it, but you see little parts of it coming into games and when we can do that over four quarters that is when we will become a better side.
"People are going to talk about (a winless season) and people are going to joke about where we are at this stage, but what can you do?
"You can't do anything, you just block all that stuff out because if you are in the place and around the playing group and everyone involved, we have got 100 per cent belief of where we are going."
The Tigers skipper points at Melbourne's rapid development this season as an example of how quickly things can turn.
"The key, though, is being able to keep young guns like Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin away from the clutches of the the new clubs circling them with fat cheque books.
"The blueprint is there," Newman said. "We can see it, there are obviously still going to be guys coming in and out of the side, but we have got a really good core group that can fill all spots on the ground.
"See Melbourne now, they have really flourished from the development they've had, a lot of guys have really come through, developed quickly and surprised a few people.
"They stuck to their guns, worked hard, kept the same group coming through and then added a couple of guys into the mix that are really polished and they are having success straight away.
"I am really confident we can keep the same group together. I think you have to make sacrifices at times to keep the playing group together. Geelong and St Kilda have done the same thing and look what has happened to them.
"I think it is a matter of playing with each other and we think one day it will click and it will come pretty quick. The wheel will turn and it will turn pretty quick as long as we stick to what we are trying to implement."
Newman still draws on his own experience in his first year at the club in 2001 when talking about the hunger and drive he has to succeed.
"We had a squad that trained throughout the finals and I didn't make that," he says about the Danny Frawley-coached team which made that season's preliminary final.
"I didn't play at all that year, so I didn't expect to play in the finals, but I still remember being really disappointed that I wasn't around, I wasn't a part of it.
"The highest I have finished is ninth and it is frustrating. I guess that is the hunger that I try to draw on during games. I really want to play finals footy, I want a taste of it. But I not only want to play finals, I want to be in a successful team."
Of the current AFL footballers, he has played the most matches without a final. But his short-term aim is a simple one. He wants to sing the Richmond theme song alongside Hardwick after a win.
"We go in every week confident," Newman says about the Tigers' chances of upsetting Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium today.
"Even though we haven't won a game, the competition is a lot closer than people realise from team to team.
"There is obviously a huge gap between the top teams at the moment but we're confident about winning games, and because we haven't won a game you could imagine how hungry we are to win and sing the song.
"That is something I can't wait to do. One of the best things about playing footy is that 10 minutes after you win and you sit down and reflect, you don't have to worry about anything really.
"You can have a laugh and you sing the song. I haven't sung the song with Damien yet and that is what I'm really keen to do."
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