Gaspar looks long-term
3:28:25 PM Tue 7 February, 2006
Paul Gough in Ballarat
Sportal for afl.com.au
Having successfully negotiated the most difficult phase of his career, newly-promoted Richmond deputy vice-captain Darren Gaspar wants to prolong his time at Punt Road when his current contract expires at the end of this year.
Gaspar bounced back to his best form in 2005 - after a traumatic 2004 when his performances were widely criticised as the Tigers slumped to the bottom of the ladder - and the good news for Richmond fans is the 2001 All-Australian full-back has enjoyed an injury-free pre-season as he heads into this season.
After suffering a serious knee injury halfway through the 2003 season, it took until last year for Gaspar to regain his best form, even though he still managed to play 19 games in 2004.
And as a result he has won his place back in the Tigers' leadership group - after being dropped last year - and along with Joel Bowden and Matthew Richardson will be one of the Tigers' deputy vice-captains this year to skipper Kane Johnson and vice-captain Nathan Brown - himself on the comeback trail from that horrific broken leg.
Gaspar turns 30 in May but having finally got back to his best form is determined to be part of a new era of success at Punt Road.
"I have been asked a bit lately how long I can keep playing for and I guess it's a year to year proposition once you get past 30," he told Sportal on Tuesday during the Tigers' AFL community camp in Ballarat.
"But at the moment I feel really good and over the pre-season I have achieved my best ever times so I am feeling as good as I have ever felt."
"I am out of contract at the end of this year but hopefully I can play for another couple of years."
Gaspar said while he was thrilled to be back in the leadership group, he did not take last year's omission as a slight and indeed feels he provided leadership at the club anyway as he re-assumed his mantle of the Tigers' number one defender.
"Terry (Wallace) made it pretty clear the fact I had a disappointing year the year before with my knee, he wanted me focusing just on my footy last year," he said.
"But I still felt I provided leadership around the club anyway so while it's good to have the recognition again, I always felt like I was part of the leadership group anyway."
Having played in just one finals campaign (2001) since joining Richmond from Sydney in 1996, the 215 game veteran is desperate to see the Tigers again part of the September action and feels there is no reason that cannot be achieved after the Richmond last year improved from four wins to ten in Wallace's first year as coach.
"As a group basically we want to make the finals. We want to take the next step," he said.
"We have to continue to develop, last year was a stepping stone for us and we don't want to go backwards as a group."
"We have got a young list but our senior core of players are at an age now where we should performing and with the injection of some young guys and with our senior guys playing good footy I reckon we will be pretty competitive."
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=244749
