The Tiger owning more than a wing … and Dimma's threat over scooter delaysKamdyn McIntosh's mind is always pondering the next side hustle, but he'll be firmly focused on his day job on Thursday night
By Josh Gabelich
afl.com.au
1 September 2022IT ALL started in the hub on the Gold Coast back in 2020. Richmond was based inside the RACV Royal Pines Resort, just around the corner from Metricon Stadium. Often bored and looking for activities to fill the time, they spent countless hours playing board games. That's where Kamydn McIntosh formulated the idea for Build N Buy.
The Tigers would eventually emerge from more than 100 days on the road with a third premiership victory in four seasons to cement dynasty status. And McIntosh would depart Queensland with two medals – a second premiership medallion and the Kevin Bartlett Medal for finishing fifth in the best and fairest – plus a new business idea.
Now almost two years on since that season like no other ended at the Gabba, the Tigers head back to the sunshine state purring ahead of another finals series under Damien Hardwick.
And what started as something to do with his spare time in the hub has turned into a proper business for McIntosh. Build N Buy by KM Games launched last month and the first batch has already sold out. The plan is to keep building it into something bigger in the off-season. But for now, McIntosh must take care of his day job.
The plan is to keep building into something bigger and better in the off-season. Even a couple of real estate agencies are keen on using the board game as a sales tool. But for now, McIntosh is focused on the month ahead, starting with Richmond's elimination final against Brisbane at the Gabba on Thursday night.
"We all had a heap of time in the hub and we were playing Monopoly and I wanted a different card game that had principles about buying property in real life, one that kids could be playing and parents could start conversations about buying property," McIntosh told AFL.com.au this week.
"I started printing them out on bits of paper and cutting them out. The boys were all throwing paper cards around the table for a little bit there. I copped some poo for it; the boys were giving me a heap of feedback about it in the hub, but I took it away, got up Word documents and PowerPoints and printed it all off. Then finally it started working and the game flowed.
"I have all these ideas and I'm a bloke who if I put the time and effort into something, I try to finish it no matter what. I just thought, what's there to lose? I wanted to learn a bit more about business as well, so I've had a lot of conversations with people outside of the footy club that have given me a heap of lessons, which I'm very thankful for."
While Brisbane didn't spend a single round of the home and away season outside the eight and nestled themselves inside the top-four from round three until round 20 before drifting to sixth, Richmond is arguably under the least pressure heading into September.
The Tigers only cemented a finals berth in round 22 but loom as the sleeping giant with the runs on the board – they have 10 wins from 12 finals since 2017 – and the knowledge they have done it all before.
"I think there is (a belief Richmond can make a deep run), definitely. I mean the way we've been playing footy the last month as a group we've started to get that belief as well and a lot of evidence," McIntosh said.
"We do believe genuinely that we are a finals footy side and we've got some youth coming in learning our system but we're always growing as a club and learning. Every season is a different season; this season has been a different season. It's a new side in a way, but belief is what you need to be a good finals team and we've got that."
After winning that flag at the Gabba and only losing twice at the ground since 2004 – once in a qualifying final against Brisbane in 2020 – McIntosh says a knockout final in hostile territory doesn't hold any fears for the club, especially after the Tigers recovered from 42 points down to beat Brisbane a month ago.
"I think that we travel really well. We just love getting around each other as a group. Although it's a finals game, it is a time where we get to travel together and gel together, sit around a dinner table and tell stories and have a laugh, so it's moments like that that I look forward to," he said.
"We're focused on the game and done opposition meetings and line meetings, but I think we just enjoy each other's company and that's what is really highlighted on trips like this. It is exciting to go interstate for our first finals game."
In a team stacked full of seasoned stars – Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin and Tom Lynch – and emerging stars – Shai Bolton, Liam Baker and Daniel Rioli – McIntosh plays his role week in, week out, and has done across 145 games at the highest level.
But when it comes to the Pinjarra product, his influence can't be measured in metres gained or kicking efficiency. 'McIntosh Moments' are the stuff of legend inside the Richmond Football Club, once documented in hilarious detail via former star Shaun Grigg in his must-see 'Chronicles of Kamdyn' segment on the Talking Tigers podcast.
There is never a dull moment when McIntosh is involved; just ask Hardwick, who drew attention to the most recent story involving the procurement of electric scooters. The 28-year-old ordered 18 of them for players and staff directly from an overseas manufacturer early in the year, before the shipment was delayed. Not once, but twice.
McIntosh almost collected the wrong scooters from the warehouse in Clayton when they finally arrived, following weeks of pointed feedback from the senior coach and buyers who were fed up waiting. Luckily, Jayden Short met him at the warehouse with his ute to help transport them back to the club and realised the right ones were hidden up the back.
"The back story is, I go down the Peninsula a bit between a couple of projects I've got down there. I stay down there and take some of the boys or my family. I bought four scooters for myself and the running gag is why the hell do I need four scooters when I only need one? The boys were all giving me poo about them, but they were also asking me if I had any more," he said.
"Then I put an order in and said: whoever wants one, let me know. I ended up ordering 18 for the boys. Dimma wanted two. Grimesy wanted one, Noah Cumberland wanted two. I went straight to the manufacturer overseas and that's how I got my first lot. I ordered 18 scooters and it was going to take 40 to 50 days delivery. I had to pay the whole nine grand up front and it was slow to get the money back.
"They are all revving me up the whole time with when will my scooter get here? The deadline comes after 50 days and they weren't happy. It was a month delayed because it was held up in Singapore in the dock. Another month went by and it was delayed again because it was held up here in customs. So it is a two-month delay and it was nothing to do with me.
"I stitched Dimma up a ripper because he was the one hassling me the most. He got me up out the front and said: You've got 10 days for my scooter to be here or you're going to be dropped."
McIntosh isn't the only Tiger with entrepreneurial spirit inside Punt Road. Dylan Grimes owns Mount Macedon Winery in country Victoria and has built the business into a winner. Trent Cotchin runs Posisocks with his wife Brooke. Nick Vlastuin is training to become a helicopter pilot, while Jason Castagna is looking to become a tattoo artist.
None of them generate the hysterical stories that McIntosh does. Expect many more to come. But first, it is back to Queensland to start another September campaign.
https://www.afl.com.au/news/832570/the-tiger-owning-more-than-a-wing-and-dimma-s-threat-over-scooter-delays
