Tigers seek defender amongst cubs
Lyall Johnson | July 4, 2007 | The Age
AS RICHMOND yesterday launched an initiative to identify potential father-son talent, coach Terry Wallace said the club was in the market for a tall defender to shore up its undersized back line.
Last week, the Tigers had Andrew Raines standing St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt and Will Thursfield on Fraser Gehrig — as much because they wanted Raines to run with Riewoldt and keep Graham Polak free because of the lack of a mobile defender.
"I think certainly we have said we've had a little bit of deficiency in that area, that's why we went and got Graham Polak last year," Wallace said. "We would love to think we could find another key-position player. We've got Lukey McGuane developing, but still not a giant of a man developing at the next level down. They're not easy to find. Melbourne's been looking for them for about 10 years, they just don't drop out of trees."
Wallace said he ultimately would prefer the club to develop a player such as McGuane but sources within the club have confirmed the Tigers have made finding a tall defender one of their priorities and will be keen to deal during trade week.
"I wouldn't be putting that in the public forum. They're not easy to get and if you've got them, no one's going to give them away, either. We saw the situation last year with (Bret) Thornton at Carlton and Carlton fought tooth and nail to keep him there because they're so difficult to get hold of," he said.
http://realfooty.com.au/news/news/tigers-seek-defender-amongst-cubs/2007/07/03/1183351210540.html
