Crazy idea to boost the Tigers
20 May 2007 Sunday Herald Sun
Jon Ralph
NO point banging on again about how terrible Richmond's plight has become.
Any hope of turning around what is statistically its worst start to the season might have gone down the gurgler with a face injury to Matthew Richardson, the Tigers' only available matchwinner.
The Tigers were much improved on Friday night and their draw gets easier, but the fact remains they have equalled Sydney and Fremantle as the only 0-8 teams in the past 15 years.
The two options available to most clubs in such a predicament would seem closed off.
Richmond won't sack its coach and won't be able to trade off a host of its established players as Hawthorn did recently to bring together young talent in a cohesive group.
The coach has another two years left on his contract, and there simply aren't the Jon Hay/Nathan Thompson equivalents to garner interest elsewhere.
The answer lies in recruiting and it is here that a novel idea might be the solution.
Publicity craving John Ilhan (above), of Crazy John's fame, was at it again on The Footy Show on Thursday, forecasting his intention to move on to the Richmond board and eventually become president.
Here is another idea, John.
Why not put your money where your mouth is and cough up $500,000 a year to sponsor an expanded Richmond recruiting department and give the Tigers a legitimate chance to build through the kids?
Those juniors were on show on Friday - rookie elevations Nathan Foley, Jake King, Will Thursfield and a revelation in first-year midfielder Shane Edwards.
But there is no point in having emerging kids - you need more than your rivals or you just stagnate.
Collingwood, which is today unveiling its fifth first-gamer of the year, spent $787,000 on its recruiting last year compared with Richmond's $150,000.
That figure doesn't include Greg Miller's salary, but it is a woefully inadequate sum.
Call the kids Crazy John's Cubs, or Crazy John's Young Guns, but think of the goodwill engendered when another late pick or rookie begins to flourish.
You can bet Collingwood, which even has a sponsor for Eddie McGuire and boasts it will soon be a $100 million-a-year business, will only be expanding its recruiting budget.
The new frontier of recruiting is scouring international destinations, hiring a battery of recruiters, spending vast sums on developing interstate potential and honing rookie talent.
Desperate measures call for desperate solutions and Richmond needs something drastic to ensure it is not a middle-of-the-road side for another quarter of a century.
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