Tigers to select young ruckman
Stephen Rielly and Jake Niall | December 11, 2007
RICHMOND is expected to use its prime selections in today's pre-season and rookie drafts to recycle a surprise ruckman and claim West Australian David Gourdis, an athletic tall forward.
With other clubs interested in Gourdis, the Tigers are compelled to take him with the No. 1 pick in the pre-season draft. While they are planning on selecting a ruckman, Gourdis, who was considered unlucky to be overlooked in last month's national draft, would be taken before they could snare him in the rookie draft.
If this is not a surprise — Gourdis' height and speed have made him attractive to several clubs — the choice of a ruckman could be. The Tigers have been linked to former Magpie ruckman Guy Richards but it appeared yesterday he could be by-passed in favour of former Essendon player Tristan Cartledge.
Whereas other contenders for the ruck vacancy at Punt Road — Richards and another former Collingwood follower, David Fanning — cannot be rookie listed because of their age, 22-year-old Cartledge qualifies.
After a four-game career at Windy Hill, Cartledge was cut at the end of 2006 and spent this year with North Ballarat in the VFL.
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