Tiger's last gasp
Caroline Wilson
The Age
June 3, 2006
DARREN Gaspar turned 30 last month. When the Richmond Football Club last week presented Matthew Richardson and Joel Bowden with shiny new contracts, Gaspar, the $2.5 million man, was conspicuous in his absence.
His contract, the famous five-year deal which prevented the All-Australian full-back from taking up a Fremantle offer that reportedly exceeded $3 million over the same period, ends this season. But while Richardson and Bowden were facing the media, Gaspar was preparing to line up for the Coburg reserves.
His manager, Ron Joseph, said yesterday that the Tigers had not come close to opening contract negotiations with Gaspar, who believes he has at least two full seasons of elite football remaining. The Richmond line is that it will watch Gaspar's form over the next month or two but is in no hurry to do a deal.
Gaspar's relative fall from grace at Tigerland can only be described as a cautionary tale — a tale about money and football and how the two can prove a destructive combination.
He headed west with the Tigers yesterday, returning to the senior line-up after his brief, but no doubt reality-checking, demotion last Sunday morning to a VFL reserves game against the Northern Bullants at Preston. By all reports Gaspar, who had been out since round three because of a hamstring injury, took it well when told he would be returning to the seniors via a stint in the VFL, which proved to be, due to the draw, a Coburg seconds match. Gaspar, who lined up with Mark Chaffey, prepared for the game as if it was any other and finished up among Coburg's best.
The official line is that he needed to get his hamstring right and that the return of Kane Johnson and Ray Hall from injury for the Geelong game was more than enough. Another theory is that the message had to be delivered that Gaspar needed to earn his spot.
It is timely that Gaspar's return from injury via the VFL has come for the Fremantle game given he was so close to signing with the Dockers at the end of 2001.
It was a dreadful time for Richmond and then coach Danny Frawley, and when asking the parties now how it came to such disastrously expensive terms for the Tigers, you are pointed in the direction of Joseph and Richmond's former chief executive Mark Brayshaw.
At the start of 2001, Brayshaw attempted to close a three-year deal with Gaspar but negotiations halted around late April when Gaspar and his management chose to back themselves rather than re-sign. Gaspar would have been aware that players such as Richardson, Wayne Campbell, Matthew Knights and Nick Daffy were all on big money.
So Gaspar completed 2001 as the best and fairest, and with an All-Australian guernsey at full-back. Richmond reached the preliminary final that year, and Gaspar was never truly beaten throughout the home-and-away season. What ended the stalemate for Richmond was that Fremantle finished 16th, and the Tigers could have lost him for nothing.
Lost he almost was, with Joseph and Fremantle virtually striking a deal before a visit from Frawley pleading with Joseph to keep Gaspar at Richmond, along with a rich five-year deal, changed things. The story goes that Frawley shook hands with Gaspar in October and jokingly told him that the beers were on him. The defender did not take it well.
Gaspar's deal, coupled with a relatively poor 2002, did not go down well among the Richmond supporters. His introverted demeanour occasionally sees him appear almost laconic. In 2003 his season was destroyed by a knee injury and in 2004 he struggled to return to form. The Tigers' hierarchy now says he tried to come back too soon, mindful of his place in the financial pecking order, and that the club should have nursed him for longer.
By mutual agreement, Gaspar slashed $100,000 from his annual contract last year, in part to mend his relationship with the Richmond faithful. He performed well, returned to his scheduled contract in 2006 but, after a promising pre-season, struggled again before the hamstring injury.
The club says supporters are tough on the former vice-captain but players on big money hold big expectations.
The only conclusion to be drawn is that Richmond is waiting for Gaspar, who plays in a tough position and has shown he can adapt to the changing style of football, to prove he is worthy of a new contract.
Football has made him a wealthy man but whether it has made him a happy one is less certain.
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/06/02/1148956545929.html
