FEATURE STORYBEN CASANELIA
Wish you were here! The men clubs would love to have backInside Football
Wednesday, April 18 2012Jay Schulz's transformation from immature tall to power forward took too long for Richmond, but his loss is Port Adelaide's gain, writes BEN CASANELIA.WHEN Richmond drafted Jay Schulz with the 12th pick at the 2002 draft, then player manager Liam Pickering declared the Tigers were getting the "next Wayne Carey".
Having carved up the Under 18 national championships playing for South Australia, the 18-year-old was one of the hottest properties on the draft market for clubs in search of a key forward.
Eight years and 71 largely disappointing games later, the Tigers traded Schulz to Port Adelaide in return for Mitch Farmer and pick 71, which it used to secure Ben Nason.
Neither player is on Richmond's current list while Schulz continues to go from strength to strength in a Power side that has won just 14 of its past 46 matches.
At the time of trade, few Tiger fans raised an eyebrow given Schulz had rarely lived up to his potential he did kick six goals against Brisbane in 2004 and cost the club a major sponsor when the TAC terminated its deal after Schulz was caught drink-driving and speeding in 2005 and was thought to be lazy and undisciplined.
Fast forward to 2012 and wouldn't Richmond fans love to have him back?
Having kicked 70.26 at an accuracy rate of 72 per cent since joining the Power, the 26-year-old ranks as the game's most accurate key forward and is now crucial to the Power's rebuild.
Former Richmond coach Terry Wallace, who coached Schulz for five seasons at Punt Road, says he would never have traded.
"I wouldn't have let him go," Wallace said.
"I just thought he had too much talent to let walk but the thinking was, and I'm only looking from the outside in, that the club wanted to go past a group of players who had been there in a losing environment for quite some time and they saw Jay as one of those.
"I get the feeling that if you are a high ranking player at Richmond and you're not delivering, there's a lot of pressure on you and it's more so than some clubs, I reckon.
"A few at Richmond categorised a lot of players in the 'we'll never go anywhere with these guys' basket and Schulz ended up in it.
"There was enormous pressure and I think Jay felt a bit of that."
Wallace had already saved Schulz's career at Richmond once having intervened to stop a trade to Port Adelaide at the end of 2007.
Asked why his career never took off at Punt Road, Wallace highlighted a number of factors.
"A young bloke who comes over (from South Australia) early and he's a bit of a lad, wet behind the ears, who took some maturing and also playing in a position where it takes time to mature. He's next to Matthew Richardson and copping some flak from some sections of the supporter base and makes some errors along the way
plus the losing environment
you put all those things together and it's clearer why he struggled to meet the expectations," Wallace said.
"If you throw in the drink-driving charge in which the club lost the TAC sponsorship it starts to add up."
Wallace says he is not surprised to see his former charge shine at Port Adelaide, adding he simply had too much talent for it not to click at some point.
Without a foil for Jack Riewoldt the Tigers were forced to rookie list Melbourne discard Brad Miller who, like Schulz, had been largely a disappointment in nine seasons at the Demons.
Miller kicked 17 goals and took 62 marks from 14 appearances last year while Schulz kicked 31 goals and dragged down 78 marks from 16 matches.
How the Tigers would love that sort of output alongside Riewoldt.
OTHER CLUBS THINKING WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEENHawthorn Josh Kennedy
Hawthorn Luke McPharlin
Geelong Shane Mumford
St Kilda Luke Ball
Melbourne Scott Thompson
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