Guys this is so funny.
Fortune again favours Fiora15 October 2004 Herald Sun
Mark Stevens
AARON Fiora is the first to admit he is extremely lucky to be one full season away from the 100-game milestone. "I've played 78 games and I can't believe I've played that many the way I've played," is the 23-year-old's blunt assessment of his output at Richmond.
If there hadn't been cheap games on offer at Punt Rd in the past few years, Fiora knows he would have paid a much more painful price for his form.
"Anywhere else, I might not have got a gig," Fiora said.
"All I can say is I'm disappointed with where my footy's at." Fiora has tested the patience of coach Danny Frawley and almost every Tigers supporter since his debut in 2000.
As silky
as Fiora looked coming off half-back, critics were keen to attack his perceived lack of hardness, inconsistency and reliance on his left foot.
The blowtorch was far hotter because Fiora was the prized No. 3 draft pick in 1999 -- one ahead of Matthew Pavlich and behind only Josh Fraser and Paul Hasleby.
"I got drafted high and I haven't really done what a lot of high draft picks have done in recent years, so it is disappointing in that sense," Fiora said.
"I was always in the mix, but I've never really played how I want to play or how the Richmond footy club wanted me to play. I just know I can do better."
Fiora gets his chance to prove it at St Kilda after a three-way swap on the final day of trading.
Saints coach Grant Thomas has made it clear he wants his latest recruit to start winning more of his own footy and Fiora knows he has to change his ways to survive at Moorabbin.
"I suppose I've just got to go in and get the footy myself a bit more and prove that I can do it. St Kilda think I can do it and I know I can do it," Fiora said.
"I think I've always had to improve in that area.
"I'll just spend my whole pre-season doing drills and getting guys to help me."
Fiora also knows he needs to add beef to his 186cm, 80kg frame.
"Physically, I'm not that mature -- that's got to come along pretty quickly or else it will be all over soon," he said.
"I've just got to eat more and make sure I eat more. I think that's all it is, getting more stuff into my guts.
"It will be good for me to have a change. A whole new culture change."
The news came out of the blue last Friday as Fiora was visiting his mother in the South Australian town of Naracoorte.
"I was having something to eat and bang there's the phone call -- at around 11.30am," Fiora said.
The first contact was about Fremantle, which had shown interest.
"If it had've happened a bit earlier in the week and I had a bit more time to think about it, then I may've gone to Fremantle. I only had 20 minutes to think about it, so I said no to Freo."
Half an hour later, the phone rang again. This time, St Kilda had taken the bait.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,11076270%255E20322,00.html"Physically, I'm not that mature -- that's got to come along pretty quickly or else it will be all over soon,"
Really?"I'll just spend my whole pre-season doing drills and getting guys to help me."
Isn't that what he did at RFC?"Anywhere else, I might not have got a gig," You're correct there Aaron and you won't get a gig at the saints.
