Tigers set up northern base
01 December 2007 Herald Sun
Gareth Trickey
THE Tigers are moving north to Craigieburn.
Richmond yesterday announced a commitment to support a $10 million recreational facility at Craigieburn's Highlands community, 27km north of Melbourne's CBD.
The project includes a large ground with grandstand, a smaller secondary oval and a rectangular multi-purpose playing field.
Richmond will not fund the project, but has agreed to train at the proposed ground "regularly" during the pre-season and "periodically" during the competition season.
The main oval will also host Richmond intra-club practice matches, VFL games and community football clinics from November 2008.
The announcement comes just six weeks after Richmond unveiled plans for a multi-million-dollar redevelopment of Punt Rd Oval.
Tiger coach Terry Wallace said the club would maintain its player facilities at Punt Rd, despite the new commitment to Craigieburn.
He said the proposed oval at Craigieburn would provide his players with a suitable and safe playing surface during the summer months.
"We've always had the problem of cricket on Punt Rd and that goes right throughout the year," Wallace said.
"We had problems last year where, I think, certainly two or three players we lost in the pre-season period.
"Nathan Brown had a stress fracture and we had Troy Simmonds, who had a stress fracture, and Kent Kingsley, who was playing at the club at that stage, was injured as well.
"I think all those were stress-related injuries because we were on facilities that weren't up to standard."
Richmond's new home away from home is expected to strengthen the Tigers' support base in the expanding northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Wallace said the club's ties with Craigieburn would help protect it from suffering a similar fate to that of the Kangaroos. "You see St Kilda, who have announced they're moving down to Frankston. Hawthorn have got that area out in the eastern suburbs really to themselves," he said.
"I suppose the Kangaroos can't move west because the Bulldogs are there, they can't move north because Essendon are there, and we just can't afford to be in that situation ourselves."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,22850957%255E20322,00.html
