WHY RICHMOND ALLOWED STARRING SAINTS FORWARD TO DEPART
BY ANDREW SLEVISON
One of the recruits of the year to date is Dan Butler who is in brilliant form for St Kilda.
The small forward fell down the pecking order at Richmond over the past two years playing just 22 games across 2018 and 2019 despite having kicked 30 goals in the 2017 premiership season.
In seven games for the Saints in 2020, the 24-year-old has kicked 13 goals to sit just two behind the leaders in the Coleman Medal race and his form would undoubtedly have him in All-Australian contention to this point.
The Saints gave up only pick 56 in last year’s draft for the quick and classy crumbing forward with the departure from Punt Road coming as a case of bad timing more than anything else from a Tigers viewpoint.
Asked on SEN Breakfast what goes through his mind when he sees Butler playing so well for the Saints, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick replied with an audible groan accompanied with a laugh, before adding: “Well we sort of knew he was a good player.
“But we really had a great depth of small forwards.
“It wasn’t as if we didn’t want him, he just ran out of contract at the wrong time. We had a great deal of small forwards that were contracted and unfortunately Dan was the guy that wasn’t contracted.
“We’ve got Daniel (Rioli), we’ve got Jason Castagna, we’ve got Shai Bolton, Sydney Stack, all those types. He was the one that was out of contract.
“He’s a wonderful player. He’s got AFL traits that are off the chart. He’d be winning the Saints best and fairest at the moment. Wonderful kid, wonderful family and I still send him a text, ‘Well done’.
“He’s just smashing it which is great for him.”
Butler was held goalless in his first game for his second club all the way back in Round 1 but has kicked two or more in five of the next six games, including three against the Tigers in a big win in Round 4 and another three in Monday night’s win over Adelaide.
The sixth-placed Saints next take on ladder leader Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/07/22/why-richmond-allowed-starring-saints-forward-to-depart/