Ellis soaks up the pressure in his 100th AFL.com.au
13 June 2016RICHMOND midfielder Brandon Ellis missed just three of his first 99 games, but he entered his 100th against Gold Coast on Sunday evening under pressure.
The hard-working midfielder needed to rebound after being completely shut out of last week's loss to North Melbourne, winning just seven possessions under a fierce tag from nemesis Sam Gibson.
A repeat of that effort in his milestone game would have been disastrous and his place in the team would have come under scrutiny, but the 22-year-old responded and played his role in a 17-point win.
"It was very important for me to bounce back and for the team to bounce back. The boys looked after me, so I really appreciated that," Ellis told AFL.com.au.
"Gibson sat on me pretty closely last week and he's beaten me comfortably the last two times, so it's something I've got to work through.
"I'm probably going to cop a bit more attention for the rest of the year."
Ellis has raced to his first 100 games, missing just one match in his debut season in 2012 and two games in 2013.
He has played every game since returning from a hamstring injury – his only injury in season since joining the Tigers – in round 12, 2013.
"To play one game I would have been pumped, but to play 100 … ever since under-10s all I've wanted to do was play AFL," he said.
"It's come around really quick and it's been an exciting week and a pretty emotional week."
Ellis finished with 24 possessions on Sunday night, and coach Damien Hardwick said the young midfielder had achieved plenty in his first 100 games despite a quiet week in round 11.
"He was disappointing last week. He had a pretty good player in Gibson sit on him for the whole game," the coach said.
"We just had to get him back to his best. He's a work-rate type of guy and when he works incredibly hard good things happen.
"He's got a long career ahead of him, that kid. I love what he does and he's only going to get better as we work on a couple of areas of his game."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-06-13/brandon-ellis-soaks-up-the-pressure-in-his-100th-match
