RICHMOND LIST BOSS EXPLAINS HOW MARKOV, HIGGINS DEPARTURES WENT DOWNBy Andrew Slevison
SEN
14 November 2020Richmond’s football talent manager Blair Hartley insists both Oleg Markov and Jack Higgins departed Tigerland with the blessing of the club.
Markov left the reigning premiers for the Gold Coast Suns while Higgins joined St Kilda in the trade period.
Hartley explained how both deals came about and says while the Tigers are sad to see them go, they respect the wishes of the two players to chase stronger playing opportunities elsewhere.
“It’s not just something that happens over two weeks, a player moving clubs,” Hartley said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“It’s difficult given how connected our group is to let some of our players go.
“In particular, someone like Oleg Markov who’s been with us for five years and pours his heart and soul in but found himself out of the team.
“We can’t deny him those opportunities to go so it’s just about working with his manager Marty Pask to facilitate a trade to the Gold Coast. We wish him all the best.”
The Higgins move was not as expected as Markov’s exit given that he was a contracted player.
However, Hartley says once the wheels were set in motion, it was a deal that could easily be facilitated.
“Jack was probably a little bit different,” he added.
“He’s been through a rough 18 months. To be honest he did remarkably well to come back and play this year. Unfortunately Jack found himself out of the side in the back-half of the year.
“Through his management, Paul Connors and Robbie D’Orazio, we discussed the option of looking for some opportunity elsewhere which resulted in him requesting a trade to St Kilda.
“It’s always difficult when a player is contracted but we feel we worked the one to a point where a mutually beneficial trade was struck. We wish Jack all the best.”
Hartley admits that the Tigers could have pushed hard to hold Higgins to his contract, but the human side of things was more important.
“Jack found himself out of the side and he was looking at his opportunities at Richmond and weighed them up,” he said further.
“It’s easier to just put the club hat on and fight hard for what we want. We could have forced Jack to stay against his will in the end.
“We got to a point where we were able to facilitate a trade with St Kilda that we felt like was fair for both parties.
“It allows Jack to move on with his career.”
In exchange for Higgins, Richmond received pick 17 and a future second-round selection while the Saints landed the 43-game small forward, pick 21 and a future fourth.
The Markov deal was more straightforward with the Tigers receiving a future third-round selection from the Suns for the 24-year-old defender who played 24 games in the yellow and black.
AUDIO: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=757752https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/11/14/richmond-list-boss-explains-how-markov-higgins-departures-went-down/
