Cashed-up Tigers look to lure opposition playersNick Bowen
afl.com.au
June 9, 2014 2:11 PMRICHMOND is cashed up and will have "a big focus" on luring an opposition star to Punt Road over the coming months, Tigers football manager Dan Richardson says.
Richardson told SEN radio on Monday that Richmond had the salary cap room to be a major factor in this year's player exchange period.
Richardson was reluctant to name players the Tigers were interested in or the amount of free money they had to throw at them.
But the former player manager said that when he joined Richmond early last year part of his job description was to put the Tigers in a position where they could target opposition stars.
"Certainly a big responsibility of mine since coming to the club has been to ensure that we've got the salary cap space to be able to got to the free agency market, or go to the market (in general), and hopefully attract a player," Richardson said.
"I won't go into figures, but the bottom line is we've got room to recruit and we'll be active in that regard, whether it will be this year or whether it will be the end of next year, (which) was probably more the timing that we were planning for.
"You want [opposition players] to be able to choose Richmond as a club of destination, if in fact they actually want to leave where they're currently at.
"But certainly over the next few months that will be a big focus. Our list management strategy on the whole will be a real focus of myself and Blair Hartley, our list manager."
The biggest names left in this year's free agency market are Melbourne defender James Frawley and Fremantle midfielder David Mundy, with Carlton midfielder Bryce Gibbs understood to be close to re-signing with the Blues.
Of course, the Tigers could also try to trade for out-of-contract players such as Dockers star Nat Fyfe, Greater Western Sydney youngsters Jono O'Rourke, Kristian Jaksch and Lachie Plowman, or West Coast midfielder Andrew Gaff.
If they ultimately decide to hold off until next year, the Tigers will be able to target 2015 free agents such as Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield, St Kilda's Jack Steven, Geelong's Tom Hawkins and West Coast's Scott Selwood.
Richardson said the Tigers' list management strategy would not change dramatically on the back of their disappointing 3-8 start to 2014.
"There's been a strong strategy in place," he said.
"We've certainly taken a step backwards so far this year, there's no denying that, but it certainly doesn't mean the strategy we've had in place gets thrown out the window."
Richardson also suggested some Richmond players would be playing for their futures over the rest of the season.
"We need to keep one eye on the future no doubt, and find out about some of the players on our list," he said.
"Whether they're young players or whether they're even more experienced players, (we need to) find out whether they really want to be part of something successful at Richmond going forward.
"We'll find out a lot about the group over the coming months."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-06-09/tigers-go-to-market
