Richmond’s recycled players have helped Tigers become flag contenders, says Matthew RichardsonHerald-Sun
September 4, 2015MATTHEW Richardson can almost see the funny side to it now.
When Richmond was struggling early last year, and even at stages earlier this season, the critics believed they had the answer to the club’s woes — too many recycled players.
Now, with the Tigers only a week away from embarking on a third successive finals series, it is those same players — with former Cat Taylor Hunt added — who are being lauded as being a significant factor in the club’s pathway towards that elusive 11th premiership.
“I just thought it was unwarranted at the time,” Richardson said this week ahead of Friday night’s game against North Melbourne.
“When you lose a few games people just start to look for reasons, and that (too many recycled players) reason was a pretty easy target.
“The club still has to win finals to have real success, but full credit to them for having a plan, for sticking to it, and not listening to the outside noise.”
That noise was deafening after Richmond won only three matches in the first 14 weeks last year.
The turnaround came swiftly with nine successive wins before the Tigers were ambushed by Port Adelaide in an elimination final.
But if last year’s turnaround came off the back of some enormous performances from its A-graders, Richardson believes this year’s efforts have had just as much to do with career-best seasons from some of those much maligned ‘second chance’ Tigers.
“There’s no doubt about that,” Richardson said.
“You can criticise the strategy all you like, but it has added depth to the list and it has also given the club the opportunity to develop younger players by having that depth.
“Shaun Grigg has had his best season in AFL football this year, and I reckon you could say the same thing about Bachar Houli.
“Ivan Maric is in the leadership group, so is Troy Chaplin, and Taylor Hunt has not missed a game.”
Richmond general manager of football Dan Richardson said the club was pleased with the current results of its list-management strategy over the past five seasons.
He conceded not everything has worked, but said the plan had been to add depth to the group, especially through the compromised drafts when Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast swallowed up most of the early picks.
“It came at a time when we were down the other end of the ladder and we needed to rebuild,” Richardson said.
“The first part of it, which came before my time here, was a strategy to keep our first-round picks, which we did, and to try and nail them.
“Then we needed to be a bit creative about how we increased the depth of our list, because if we just relied on the later picks through compromise drafts, it was going to be difficult being competitive within five years.
“So the (recycled) players were all recruited to play a role, rather than for being a name or high-profile.”
Richmond’s 10 recycled/traded/free agent players have played a total of 139 games this season — the third most of any AFL club (St Kilda leads with 157, Carlton is on 150).
Of the team that beat the Bombers last week, the Tigers had Shaun Grigg (Carlton) and Bachar Houli (Essendon) recruited in 2011; Ivan Maric (Adelaide) in 2012; Troy Chaplin (Port Adelaide) in 2013; Anthony Miles (GWS) and Matt Thomas in 2014; and Hunt (Geelong) last year.
TRANSPORTED TIGERSChampion Data rating for Richmond’s traded/recycled/free agent players (10 games min in 2015)Ivan Maric: Above Average
Troy Chaplin: Above Average
Bachar Houli: Elite
Taylor Hunt: Average
Anthony Miles: Above Average
Shaun Grigg: Average
http://www.news.com.au/national/richmonds-recycled-players-have-helped-tigers-become-flag-contenders-says-matthew-richardson/story-e6frfkp9-1227511476634
