Hunt is on as free agency nears Mark Stevens
Herald Sun
May 06, 2010 RICHMOND has employed a "poacher" to scour rival lists for recruiting opportunities.
Well aware that the next two national drafts will be compromised, former Port Adelaide recruiter Blair Hartley has been given the task of hunting mature-age players.
The Tigers, paying close to the minimum 92.5 per cent of the salary cap, have plenty of room to move in future seasons, with free agency arriving in 2012.
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale yesterday confirmed Hartley's full-time "opposition analyst" role was more focused on rival lists than tactics.
"He (Hartley) is building up his knowledge and intelligence around the composition of lists and all the players with a view to making some informed choices as the labour market becomes a little more flexible," Gale said.
"One of the key advantages of having worked with the AFL Players' Association when I came here was I knew free agency was coming in, apart from being formalised.
"Your recruiting staff basically look at the under-age pathways. Sometimes it's those other pathways that get overlooked.
"So Blair will be looking at existing club lists. He will be dedicated to looking at these opportunities 100 per cent of the time."
Richmond is faced with a massive challenge to rebuild in the next two years, with the new Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney teams taking the bulk of the prized draft picks.
Even the AFL's chief executive Andrew Demetriou has taken to commenting on the tough road ahead.
"They'll have to be aggressive in their recruitment, in their trading," Demetriou told a business lunch yesterday.
Gale is adamant Richmond is still an appealing destination for players, with new "cutting edge" training facilities at Punt Rd due to open in November.
"It's about creating an environment where players don't want to leave, but moreover they want to come," Gale said.
"I'd assert that, despite where we are on the ladder, we're an attractive proposition now. Regardless of what people say, we're a great club.
"We have a great history of success and we play in the greatest stadium and we average 41,000 people.
"We're having a tough time on the field, but we expected that. Already, we're starting to see some really green shoots."
Richmond has 40,771 members (36,000 fully ticketed) and is pleased to be so close to its target of 42,000 despite a horror 0-6 start to the season.
"The greatest thing about our footy club is our members," Gale said.
"You have a new coach trying to coach a new game plan and it doesn't happen overnight. We had 14 new players and 16 capable of debuting this year.
"I think any informed Richmond supporter wouldn't have expected us to be belting the lights out of the opposition.
"They've endorsed the action we're taking."
Gale defended the club's decision to have an extensive clean-out at the end of last season.
"We lost nearly 1400 games of experience in (Matthew) Richardson, (Joel) Bowden, (Kane) Johnson, (Mark) Coughlan and (Nathan) Brown," Gale said.
"The first question we needed to ask was, 'Were those players going to be part of the next premiership?' and the answer was probably not.
"We had to go to the last uncompromised draft and get as many picks as we could, and we did that.
"Dustin Martin and David Astbury have really impressed.
"Ben Nason was last pick in national draft ... that's the way you make up ground. Nason's been really impressive - good balance; great user of the footy."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/hunt-is-on-as-free-agency-nears/story-e6frf9ix-1225862763723
