Cashed-up Tigers learn tricks of the trade Jon Ralph
From: Herald Sun
October 12, 2012 EVERYONE has their favourite on the list of Trades that Sank Richmond.
When you haven't played finals since 2001, failure doesn't come exclusively from draft blunders like overlooking Matthew Pavlich and Lance Franklin.
How about recruiting Greg Stafford with the pick 17 that became James Kelly, trading Brad Ottens for picks 12 and 16 (Danny Meyer and Adam Pattison), or giving up pick 19 (Callan Ward) for Jordan McMahon?
Yet underfunded Richmond never stood a chance, admitting that if it had kept pick 19 Ward was never on its radar in the 2007 national draft.
The job is only half-done, but a cashed-up recruiting department boosted by key additions has turned miracle worker compared to the previous decade's efforts.
Consider what Richmond has been able to recruit by giving away just pick 37 and bit-parts forward Andrew Collins (to Carlton), and dropping from pick 14 to 15 in last year's trade order.
Ivan Magic (Adelaide), Shaun Dirge (Carlton), Bachar Houli (Essendon), Steven Morris (SANFL), Troy Chaplin (Port Adelaide) and Chris Knights (Adelaide).
It's not Bourke-Barrott-Clay, but given pick 37 became St Kilda's Jack Newnes and Collins rarely played at Carlton, it is an unqualified success.
Grigg, traded for Collins, finished 10th in the Jack Dyer medal in his first year then fifth this season with 18.10 and 561 touches.
Houli, taken for nothing in the pre-season draft, was fourth in the B&F last year and 10th this year.
Maric, who the Tigers extracted for just pick 37, became the recruit of the year given his ruck dominance and third-placed finish behind Trent Cotchin.
Morris (seventh in the Jack Dyer this year) ain't Glenn Archer, but he is rough and desperate and fills a key defensive hole. The former SANFL defender was pre-listed at GWS, but again the Tigers got him for next to nothing after moving down the draft order just one spot.
Chaplin has his critics but he finished third in the club's best-and-fairest in 2009, won it in 2010, and was leading again this year before missing three of the last four games.
Through its added investment in football, a stable recruiting platform that includes former Port Adelaide pro-scout Blair Hartley and recruiter Francis Jackson, Richmond just gets the job done.
It gets its blue-chip picks right, too.
Since Jarrod Oakley-Nicholls was taken at pick 8 in the 2008 national draft, its first selections have been Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Tyrone Vickery, Dustin Martin, Reece Conca and Brandon Ellis.
The challenge is obvious - translate it into a drought-breaking finals appearance - but at least that tilt will come off a platform of recruiting successes.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/cashed-up-tigers-learn-tricks-of-the-trade/story-fn7shx05-1226493978104
