Richmond's keen young talent helps turn things around
Rohan Connolly
The Age
June 11, 2006
RICHMOND had some reason to be confident better times lay ahead the summer before last when it acquired the services of Terry Wallace as coach and managed to secure five of the top 20 selections in the 2004 national draft.
But the question, when it comes to the inexact science of football recruiting, would have been just how far ahead. You have only to look at the belated emergence of Kayne Pettifer, taken all the way back in 2000, to know that different players develop at different rates.
And the Tigers, as has been well-chronicled over the years, have had their share of supposed coups turned recruiting disasters before.
But the jury might be coming in a little earlier this time, with a verdict very much in the affirmative.
So often pilloried for its lack of pure footballing skill, Richmond is a far slicker outfit these days than those Tigers of old. Certainly in comparison to its opposition yesterday, the once-feared Kangaroos, who managed to fumble, bungle and generally butcher what chances they managed to create.
There's no great mystery about why the Tigers have improved. That young talent is very quickly making its presence felt, not only easing the massive burden that fell upon a couple of genuine stars for too long, but allowing a few more seasoned Tigers to get under the guard.
Matthew Richardson wasn't there in the goal square against the Roos, and Nathan Brown, in his comeback game after seven weeks out, spent no more than 60 per cent of the game on the field. But where once that would have given Richmond little hope, yesterday it mattered little.
Brett Deledio, Richard Tambling, Danny Meyer, Adam Pattison and Dean Polo were those five top 20 picks in 2004. All made some sort of contribution to the cause, Deledio's the most obvious in his 25-possession haul.
But Polo's 2006 unveiling continues to be a revelation, Tambling is looking week by week more like the player upon whom such kudos was poured as a junior, and yesterday Meyer played easily the pick of his 10 senior games to date.
It was the still 19-year-old South Australian whose first goal of the second quarter put Richmond back in front after the Kangaroos had at one stage cleared out by a couple of straight kicks.
His second, the final goal of the game, was one of the highlights of the afternoon, Meyer collecting the ball from a tight spot hemmed in near the boundary line, and off one step calmly snapping what should remain a personal highlight.
"I don't know where I pulled that out of," he chuckled in the rooms after what he agreed had been the best day of his AFL career to date. "I had a reasonable game against Geelong a couple of weeks ago, but that was the best for sure."
And it's helped being part of a team within a team, that "class of '04" sticking tightly as a unit. "We haven't lost when we've all been playing together, and it's really good to have the enthusiasm of the young fellows and all the older blokes like 'Sugar' (Kane Johnson) and that leading the way.
"The enthusiasm around the club is great with the younger blokes starting to get some form and a few touches, and we've got some real momentum behind us at the moment."
Throw in the classy-looking Andrew Raines, not taken under the father-son rule but a bonus at No. 76 in the 2003 draft, and elevated rookie Nathan Foley who has impressed and you have a core of players who could make this team something to be feared.
It's been a blessing for the likes of Brown, too, who noted the rising surety with which this Richmond outfit is beginning to use the ball, and the resultant benefits to a couple of often maligned senior teammates.
"It's really stepping up," he said. "You can't make a quantum leap in skill level, but certainly it's up 10 to 15 per cent from last year. You throw in Deledio, Tambling, Meyer's a very good kid, Dean Polo makes the right decisions, and when you've got good users it helps, because the game's so much about keepings off these days.
"Everyone gets the benefit of it. Kayne Pettifer kicked four goals today, Chris Hyde has been very good for us, and it's guys like that who get out of the loop when there's not only two players you have to mind, but there's three or four or five dangerous forwards."
The Kangaroos certainly wouldn't have minded a few, having to stack all their goalkicking eggs in the basket of an admirable but overworked Nathan Thompson, a team seldom looking inspired until one of its own early draft picks in Daniel Wells got involved.
Richmond, in contrast, had youthful talent being delivered from seemingly every corner. Just how far can it take the Tigers in 2006?
"Terry's always said from day one we want to play finals footy, so that's our objective," said Meyer. "We won't be happy unless we make them." And buoyed by the efforts, and obvious resolve, of that class of 2004, it would seem Richmond has every chance.
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