Time to trade big name hunters for Tiger cubs
Patrick Smith
The Australian
July 07, 2004
TWO fine warriors for Richmond have called it quits. Duncan Kellaway will not play again and Matt Rogers will play against Essendon on Saturday and then snatch his time. Together they will have played 377 games for the Tigers.
It is a big slice of experience, but it will not be missed in 2005. Their time had come. Kellaway played just one game this year and now the 31-year-old has succumbed to leg and foot injuries and a serious kidney ailment. Rogers' appearance against Essendon will be his first and last for the season.
Richmond supporters will have fond memories of the pair. Rogers, 30, led the goal-kicking in 2000 and Kellaway was placed high in the best and fairest in 1994 and 1997.
But football is impatient and waits for nobody bar tragics who cannot see or feel that their bodies have run out of time and energy.
In terms of preparing Richmond for the tasks ahead in 2005 - and beyond trimming Rogers and Kellaway from the list - is like cutting the nature strip with tweezers.
Richmond will not improve until the football department - whoever that might be - brings out the V8 ride-on mower.
Here are the two fundamental problems facing the Tigers. They are paying 100 per cent of the salary cap when they are stone broke. It has produced four wins in 14 games so far this season. That win-loss ratio is due mostly to the mediocrity of a list that has already cost coach Danny Frawley his job.
In short, Richmond are a team of over-paid, poorly-led duffers.
The club has mismanaged and misjudged the playing list infamously already this decade. To do it again would send the club to the AFL asking for a large slice of the competitive balance fund because sponsors and members would walk away in disbelief. And rightly so.
After a preliminary final appearance in 2001 - the Tigers were trounced by Brisbane - it was decided that the Tigers had their paws on a grand final. So they topped up rather than developed. It was blind faith.
Their first choice in the draft came at 33. They collected Adam Houlihan from Geelong at pick 63 and traded for veteran Paul Hudson. Houlihan has played 29 games in three seasons and Hudson was at the club for just one year.
So the Tigers must now develop youth and cut its salary cap. President Clinton Casey told The Australian earlier this season that the club would push down to 97 per cent as quickly as sensible.
There is a hitch. It has three players on exorbitant salaries contracted out into the future. At least one and maybe all of Matthew Richardson, Brad Ottens and Darren Gaspar must be moved on at the end of the season.
Gaspar would appear the easiest to off-load. The Eagles are interested because they need a tall defender and they have Gaspar's brother Travis on their list.
Gaspar had a poor season in 2002. His performances last year went some way to justifying his huge salary but he damaged an anterior cruciate ligament in round 11.
He has played every game this season but rather than getting better he has got worse. The last four games he has collected a total of 28 possessions and against Brisbane last weekend he had one kick and one handball.
West Coast would pick up some of his salary tab and perhaps offer a relatively enticing draft pick.
Richardson was shopped about at trading time last year. He will be harder to move than Gaspar. The forward has continual problems with his hamstrings. Prospective suitors would want to know whether the issue was back related, tendonitis or poor preparation.
His attitude has been questioned but maybe a change of environment could stimulate him. And while he edges closer to veteran list eligibility the Tigers still have to fund his massive wage.
He certainly would appeal to a club looking for a short-term fix of the highest order but it would come at a cost. The club getting his services would have to pick up a slab of his salary and maybe hand over a first-round pick. Richardson is 29 and the Tigers appear to have a likely replacement for him in Jay Schulz, this month's Rising Star.
Schulz is a power forward -- he kicked six goals against Brisbane -- who looks best suited to playing close to goal. It might be a little cramped down in the square if Richardson stays. A word of warning. Last year Martin McGrath kicked five on debut for the Tigers and was later dropped off the list.
Brad Ottens would fetch the Tigers a first-round draft pick and a handy player at least. He has promised a lot and is rewarded accordingly at Richmond, but has rarely contributed consistently even given his All Australian selection in 2001.
Richmond have had Richardson, Gaspar and Ottens together since 1998. That has not delivered a premiership and will not deliver one. They should be used to enrich a tired list.
Used properly, the trio could help the Tigers set up a group of youngsters the envy of teams like St Kilda and Geelong who have rebuilt their clubs around youth.
It is possible that the Tigers will not win more than five games. That will allow them the early scoop into a national draft pool that is not considered deep with talent and a crack at the best uncontracted players.
Not a bad way for a new coach to start rebuilding a club. More importantly, when you are penniless and talentless, it is the only way.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10063092%255E12270,00.html
