Richmond's Foley confident of progress in 2014By Aidan Fawkes
The Warrnambool Standard
Feb. 5, 2014.A NEAR-perfect pre-season has Richmond primed to improve on its elimination final finish from 2013, club stalwart Nathan Foley says.
And the Colac-born midfielder believes the 20-point defeat to Carlton, having led by 33 in the third term, will inject a new resolve into the playing group.
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Foley, 28, was among Richmond players in Warrnambool yesterday for day one of their annual AFL community camp.
They took part in an indigenous smoking ceremony, visited primary and secondary schools and ran a super clinic at Reid Oval.
The Tigers will spend today in the coastal city, training at Reid Oval in the morning before visiting hospitals and retirement villages.
Their final activity en route back to Melbourne is at the Framlingham mission, where they will join the indigenous community for an engagement session.
Foley emerged through the Geelong Falcons system as a teenager and called Warrnambool pair Brent Moloney and Jordan Lewis teammates.
The 178cm midfielder made his Richmond debut against Melbourne in round 10, 2005, the first of his 136 matches over nine injury-plagued seasons.
He missed eight matches to end 2009, played just four times in 2010 and was again sidelined for the second half of 2012.
But Foley, finally free of the Achilles problems that have dogged his career, featured 16 times last season before being dropped for the elimination final.
He averaged 18.3 disposals a match and is in the midst of a solid summer ahead of a heavily hyped 2014 campaign.
“The body is good,” he said.
‘‘All pre-seasons are difficult but the boys have been good over the summer.
“The blokes who have come out of rehab are training really well and we haven’t had too many hiccups.”
Foley said he was pleased to be part of the Tigers’ resurgence of late.
Their fifth-placed finish after the 2013 regular season was their best since 2001.
The rise has coincided with the appointment of former Essendon premiership player Damien (‘Dimma’) Hardwick as coach in late 2009.
The emergence of Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin, Alex Rance and Jack Riewoldt into frontline stars of the competition has also been a telling factor.
“It’s been a process that started when Dimma came on board and it’s been one of continual improvement and that’s across the whole club,” Foley said.
“From the off-field to the playing list to all our admin staff.
‘‘Brendan Gale has come in (as chief executive officer) and done a great job as well.
“And we’ve got some coaches come on board from other clubs. It’s been a process of continual improvement.
“It’s really good to see progress. In 2010 we battled and we’ve gone from strength to strength from there.”
But the defeat to Carlton, in front of a record elimination final crowd of 94,690 at the MCG, represented a lost opportunity.
For all the improvement and positive signs — and there were many — the Tigers let slip a major chance to make a statement about their future.
Foley, who was surprisingly dropped for that match and is yet to play in a final, is reluctant to delve into what went wrong on the September stage.
But he believes the loss will serve as a lesson for the players about what is required to win finals football.
“We were all gutted as a club to lose that game,” he said.
‘‘In the long term, I see it as a great learning experience.’’
http://www.standard.net.au/story/2066986/richmonds-foley-confident-of-progress-in-2014/?cs=74
