Second-hand players often shine first
12 May 2007 Herald-Sun
ONE of the many criticisms levelled at Richmond in the wake of the 157-point humiliation by Geelong is that it recycles too many players.
This may well have been true in the early years of this decade - think Billy Nicholls, Simon Fletcher, Ben Marsh and Justin Blumfield, just to name a few.
But a club-by-club comparison shows that the Tigers only sit roughly mid-table in 2007 for recruiting recycled players.
Richmond has eight players on its current list - including recent retiree and two-time All-Australian Darren Gaspar - who made their AFL debut with other clubs.
That group includes top-liners Nathan Brown and skipper Kane Johnson, plus first-choice ruckman Troy Simmonds and highly rated key defender Graham Polak, who is still only 22.
Five other clubs have more recycled players on their 2007 lists than the Tigers - led by St Kilda and Fremantle with 10 apiece and Carlton, Collingwood and the Kangaroos, all with nine.
At the other end of the table is Brisbane, where former Swans midfielder Ben Fixter is the only player to have started his senior career at another club. (Not including Chris Johnson, the last survivor of the Fitzroy merger). West Coast has 5 - all native West Australians who returned home. Essendon, Geelong and Hawthorn (are) the other three clubs with only five recycled players.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21715877%255E19742,00.html
