“NIGHTMARE TO PLAY ON”: TIGERS RECRUIT HITS THE GROUND RUNNINGBy Alex Zaia
SEN
15 February 2022Richmond recruit Robbie Tarrant hasn’t missed a beat in his first pre-season at his new club.
The 32-year-old joined the Tigers as an unrestricted free agent on a two-year deal in a trade with North Melbourne last October.
After playing 174 games across 12 seasons at the Kangaroos, Tarrant gets a fresh start at Punt Road with the Tigers looking to reassert themselves as a premiership contender.
New Richmond co-captain Toby Nankervis concedes retired pair David Astbury and Bachar Houli have left “massive holes” down back, but is confident Tarrant’s arrival can go some way to filling the void.
“I don’t think he’s missed a session. He’s completed a whole pre-season,” Nankervis told SEN’s The Run Home.
“He’s super fit, super competitive and the backs absolutely love playing with him.
“He’s going to fit in really well. He’s a nightmare to play on at training.”
Tarrant spurned a two-year contract offer from North Melbourne to make the switch to Richmond.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick told Fox Footy last October that the veteran defender still has plenty of good football left in him.
“With Dave (Astbury) retiring we felt we had a need for a bigger-bodied defender. And I think that will allow Dylan Grimes and Noah Balta to be a little bit freer down there,” Hardwick said.
“Dylan’s done an incredible job ever since the retirement of Alex (Rance), maintaining that back six. But he’s capable of getting a little bit higher up the ground and playing some really damaging footy us.
“So, I’m really excited by bringing Robbie in that it will allow us to explore the avenue of others as well.
“And I think our forwards were pretty keen to get Robbie out of the North Melbourne team as well because he does a hell of a job.
“He’s 32, but he missed a lot of footy at the start of his career and we think he’s got some really, really good footy in front of him.”
Tarrant won a Syd Barker Medal as North Melbourne’s best and fairest in 2016 and was a rock down back for the Roos over several seasons.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/02/15/nightmare-to-play-on-tigers-recruit-hits-the-ground-running/