From phys ed teacher to taggerRonny Lerner
The Age
February 19, 2016Less than three months after his AFL dream hung in the balance, mature-aged Richmond rookie Adam Marcon is preparing for the biggest challenge of his footy life – containing Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe and Fremantle skipper David Mundy.
Tigers assistant coach Brendon Lade, who will take over the senior reins from Damien Hardwick for Friday night's practice match against Fremantle in Mandurah, confirmed on Thursday that Marcon would be given the daunting assignment.
It's a far cry from the Penleigh and Essendon Grammar schoolyard, where Marcon was teaching physical education late last year.
The 23-year-old was selected by Richmond at pick No.47 in November's rookie draft after five years in the VFL.
"I think he'd rather be with us flying to Perth than be at PEGS college teaching," Lade joked about Marcon at Melbourne Airport.
"It's good for Adam, great story. We've found out he's a very, very good runner and can find the ball a lot so we look forward to seeing what he can do.
"He'll probably play on Fyfe and Mundy and people like that through their midfield."
Another fresh face who the Tiger faithful are looking forward to getting their first glimpse of is young Daniel Rioli – the great nephew of Richmond and Indigenous legend Maurice Rioli.
Adding to the hype is the fact that Daniel will also be wearing the No.17 which Maurice made famous in 85 of his 118 games for Richmond.
But Lade stressed the external expectations on Daniel far outweighed those of the club's and he just wanted the 18-year-old to concentrate on playing his role in the team.
"The club has been talking to him a lot about that stuff, it probably all started when he got No.17, obviously the last name as well, but he understands all that, he's a very level-headed kid," Lade said.
"He's fit in really well and he's a really good person and hopefully it translates to his footy.
"Daniel will play in the forward line [on Friday)], he'll probably go into the midfield for a little bit as well. But, look, if he gets a couple of touches, a couple of tackles, a couple of shots at goal, we'll be happy."
Richmond are taking a very inexperienced team over to WA to face a Fremantle side brimming with A-graders, but Lade saw it as an opportunity for the young Tigers to get a decent footy education.
"It's a good test for some of our kids," Lade said.
"Nearly most of the kids we wanted to play, the ones we want to improve, are playing this game so for us it's them going against a very good side. So they get to learn, they get to play against them and hopefully compete very well."
New recruits Oleg Markov and Mabior Chol as well as former GWS hard nut Jacob Townsend are also set to feature against Fremantle.
Lade said he was looking forward to his first game as a senior coach and appreciated the chance that Hardwick had given him.
It continues a league-wide trend of senior coaches handing over their responsibility in the pre-season, with the likes of Melbourne, Sydney and Hawthorn also doing so this year.
"It'll be a bit of fun hopefully, a good experience for me," the former Port Adelaide premiership ruckman said.
"Not much changes the way we play ... it's just about getting our structures right, but for me it's probably the experience of the whole week – going through people's presentations, deciding what we show the players, what we don't show them, just the other side that I haven't done before."
Lade said his goal was to become a senior coach one day.
He also confirmed Hardwick would spend Friday's practice game on the boundary line.
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