Richo eyes Sept actionAdam Smith
The Mercury
June 05, 2012TWO decades of involvement in the AFL as a player and media commentator has taught Matthew Richardson one thing - keep a lid on things when it comes to his beloved Richmond.
The passionate Tasmanian copped his fair share of criticism during his 282-game career at the Tigers, despite his outstanding record which yielded 800 goals, a best and fairest win in 2007, three All-Australian jumpers and finishing as leading club goalkicker 13 times.
The club great played in just three finals in his 17 seasons at Punt Road, but he can't help but get excited seeing the new wave of Tigers starting to make headway under coach Damien Hardwick.
Richmond thrashed Hawthorn two weeks ago and backed up last Friday night to defeat St Kilda for the first time since 2003 to prove it is the real deal and a genuine finals threat.
However, despite his optimism for his former club, Richardson remains compelled to play down the emergence of the Tiger army.
"From experience in the past I would just leave it [the lid] on," he joked yesterday at a football clinic at North Hobart Oval.
"Richmond are on the improve, there is no doubt about that. They are 5-5 now but their draw does get better in the second half of the year.
"They would have to play poorly now to not be in finals contention so that is good for football. A healthy Richmond is a healthy competition."
Richardson also couldn't hide his joy at seeing two of the best key forwards in the game in former teammate Jack Riewoldt and Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin kick big bags of goals in round 10.
Riewoldt slotted eight against the Saints while Franklin exploded against North Melbourne in Launceston, booting a career-high haul of 13.4.
It was a welcome reward for Riewoldt, who had struggled at times this year after undergoing multiple off-season operations to get his body right.
"The highlight of the weekend was the goalkickers are back," Richardson said.
"People around Richmond knew he [Riewoldt] had had an interrupted start to the pre-season, obviously with all those operations.
"It takes time to get over them so I think it was always going to take him a few weeks to get going this year and it wasn't like he was playing poorly, he was still kicking a few goals.
"But the last few weeks he has started jumping at the footy again and he has his confidence back.
"If you are a key forward in a side that gets a lot of publicity like Richmond, you are always going to cop attention."
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/06/05/334641_afl.html
