By Daryl Timms
15feb06
RICHMOND midfielder Shane Tuck and former Tigers tough man Andy Goodwin could have been seen as an unusual pairing when the club introduced a mentor program last year.
Each player on the list was paired with an ex-Tiger who acted as mentor to offer advice on football and life outside of the game.
Introvert Tuck and extrovert Goodwin have been described as the program's raging success.
Former rover Dale Weightman, the club's player development manager who organised the program, said Tuck and Goodwin had hit it off unbelievably well.
"I suppose the fact Shane plays footy the same way Andy did - hard at it, tough, fearless - has helped in that regard," Weightman said.
"They developed a terrific rapport over the course of the season. Andy would ring him up at least once a week and they got together for several chats as well.
"Clearly, they've got a good deal of respect for one another."
The players and mentors have been left to make contact as often as they like.
Weightman said some minor changes had been made to the program but overall the club was delighted with the way it had operated in its first season.
"We got the players and the mentors to assess how it went," he said.
"We collated all that feedback ... which things worked, which things didn't work, and who was best suited to whom.
"It was trial and error last year. Some pairings really hit it off well, while others didn't quite have enough in common. But we've got a pretty good mix and match now."
Phil Egan, who mentored Richard Tambling in the youngster's debut season at Tigerland, now has the club's two other indigenous players, Andrew Krakouer and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, as well.
The original "Kyabram Kid", Dick Clay, will mentor two modern-day Kyabram kids, Brett Deledio and Kayne Pettifer.
http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18152208%255E23211,00.html
