Tambling lives up to the hype
Rohan Connolly | June 15, 2009
HAS there been an AFL player of recent times more maligned than Richard Tambling? It's doubtful.
The Richmond runner has paid a hefty price for failing to live up to the pre-draft hype that surrounded his selection in 2004, compounded by the legend that has grown about the man selected immediately below him — Lance Franklin.
But you are less likely to hear comparisons after another good performance on Saturday night in what is becoming easily the best spell of his now 85-game career.
Round six against Sydney might turn out to be the defining moment of Tambling's career. He had already carried the selection can for the Tigers' appalling start to the season when, reprieved again, he picked up 23 touches that afternoon.
He's averaged 24 disposals since, a superb game off half-back against Fremantle and Saturday night's effort against the Eagles the pick.
As Richmond built its third win of the year in the first quarter, Tambling was everything the Tigers thought they had drafted five years ago — quick, skilful, a game-breaking running machine and a pivotal part of the game plan.
He had 14 disposals in that first term, significant touches that almost always went to his side's advantage. Those who'd watched him as a kid in the Northern Territory would have been overwhelmed by the deja vu.
Confidence can play just as big, if not a bigger part in a player's development as physical preparation, and right now, Tambling has plenty. He's backing himself consistently to break the lines, and the hesitance and fumbling that has marred so many previous performances has disappeared.
It's still too early to say definitively Tambling has finally "made it". There's a long list of names who'll be cleaning out their Punt Road lockers come September. But Tambling's might have just come off it.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/tambling-lives-up-to-the-hype/2009/06/14/1244917932585.html
