Richmond’s targeted response to critics over ‘risky’ seven-year deals for Tim Taranto and Jacob HopperJames Brien
24ssports.com/7news
28 September 2022Richmond boss Brendon Gale has hit back at questions about the reported seven-year deals to GWS Giants midfielders Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper, telling 7NEWS: “If you don’t take risks, you can’t advance.”
The teammates will join the Tigers in the AFL trade period, although their status as unsigned but not a free agent (Taranto) and scheduled for 2023 at GWS (Hopper) will complicate matters.
Richmond holds the No. 12, No. 19 and No. 30 picks in this year’s draft and will likely need to cough up next year’s first-round pick — and possibly a player — to close the deals.
However, with negotiations yet to officially begin, the reported lengthy contract offers – rumored to have combined annual wages of up to $1.5 million – have become the main subject of speculation.
Hopper will turn 26 in February and would leave the next few months of his contract before his 33rd birthday, while Taranto will turn 25 in January and would be close to 32 when his contract ends.
Premiership player Kane Cornes said the bids were “not the most responsible move by Richmond” and argued they prioritized Damien Hardwick’s quest for a fourth flag over anything else.
He likened it to Alastair Clarkson leaving a Hawthorn side out of the Premiership window when their top-up recruits Jaeger O’Meara, Tom Mitchell and Chad Wingard were still on the books.
Midfield pair O’Meara and Mitchell joined the Hawks a year after their last flag, 12 months ahead of Richmond’s schedule for Hopper and Taranto.
“That won’t be Damien Hardwick’s problem. It is very unlikely that he will coach Richmond for 20 years,” Cornes said on SEN this month.
Speaking to 7NEWS Melbourne at the Tigers’ awards night on Tuesday, Chief Executive Brendon Gale backed the club’s “due diligence” – and its history – on long-term offers for recruits.
“We looked at Dion Prestia a few years ago, these players in the 24, 25 age group, we all have expectations that they will play for many years to come,” he said.
“So there is a risk with all players, but if you don’t take a risk you don’t progress. We think these are reasonable risks as things stand.”
Prestia joined Richmond on a five-year contract from Gold Coast in 2016, aged 24, when players other than Lance Franklin were far less likely to receive such long-term offers.
Injuries have limited Prestia at times, but he became a triple-premiership player with a year on his original contract and was rewarded with a three-year extension in early 2021, running until he was 32.
Gale, meanwhile, did not offer an expected time frame to secure Hopper and Taranto during the eight-day trading period, but expressed confidence in their ability to close the deals.
“Like any team, after seeing Geelong (win the grand finals) we have work to do, they’ve been very impressive so we’re working very hard to find areas to improve our list,” he told 7NEWS.
“There was speculation, but we still have a lot to do. They are players that we believe can make us better as a football team. I’ll leave that and we’ll just be patient.
“I think we have a proven track record of making deals that are fair to everyone and we just keep going, so I’m confident that will get resolved.”
https://24ssports.com/afl-business-news-richmonds-targeted-response-to-critics-over-risky-seven-year-deals-for-tim-taranto-and-jacob-hopper/
