Richmond have had plenty of recruiting mistakes but they are the butt of all jokes no more Mark Robinson
From: Herald Sun
May 21, 2013 9:11PMRICHMOND'S recruiting was the butt of all jokes.
Picking Aaron Fiora before Matthew Pavlich and Richard Tambling before Lance Franklin is the case for the prosecution.
The Tigers had no defence.
Now, the mocking has stopped.
It is the Tigers who are laughing after the performances of Brandon Ellis and Nick Vlastuin in recent weeks, and the improved consistency of Dustin Martin this season.
They are three of Richmond's bevy of first-round draft selections.
It hasn't always been so.
Season 2004 delivered Brett Deledio and a set of kitchen knives and season 2005 landed Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls off a video viewing, Nathan Foley off the rookie list and a set of forks to complement the knives.
If only utensils could play midfield.
Clearly, the Tigers' recruiting has been exemplary since those dark days.
Their first-round selections from 2006 to 2012 - Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Tyrone Vickery, Martin, Reece Conca, Ellis and Vlastuin - are all starting 22 players. There are some busts below those selections, but their trading has delivered big time.
The two major junctures in Richmond's recent history were the appointment of Francis Jackson as full-time recruiting manager for the 2006 season, and a savage injection of funds into the football department at the end of 2009.
Can you believe Jackson was in charge of recruiting in 2005, while still working full-time at Brighton Grammar?
Former head of football Craig Cameron shakes his head in disbelief.
"He has been outstanding, Francis, with what he has done," Cameron says.
"Just read his first-round picks. He hasn't missed a first-round pick since 2006."
Equally as important was the saving of $1 million-plus at the end of 2009, of which most was injected into recruiting and development.
The million bucks was banked when Matthew Richardson, Kane Johnson, Joel Bowden, Nathan Brown, Kayne Pettifer and Graham Polak retired, and Jay Schulz and Andrew Raines were traded.
The Tigers went from paying 99 per cent of the salary cap to just 92.5 per cent.
Then came the Fighting Tiger Fund, a debt reduction of $4 million and even more money dedicated to improvement.
The funds were ploughed into footy.
The recruiters chose kids in the draft, and management brought in brains for the footy department.
Blair Hartley was appointed list analyst and David Newett and Tim Clarke development coaches.
Greg Mellor and Tim Livingstone followed them and Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams joined the club this season.
Cameron was head of football from 2008 to the start of this year and says the club clearly is heading in the right direction.
When he started, Richmond was ranked in the bottom four for footy department expenditure.
"When that happens you make mistakes because you can't get the coverage - not because the people there were doing a bad job, it's just that you don't have the coverage of a Collingwood, or West Coast or even Geelong," Cameron says.
"But when you're getting a kid (Ellis) who's a second-year player getting 39 touches in a game, the club's going in the right direction.
"And Vlastuin comes in for his second or third game and looks like a natural.
"Francis deserves a lot of credit."
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