Roach plans 'run-with' revival
3:43:02 PM Tue 10 January, 2006
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au
Having played just one senior match in 2005, Tom Roach admits his season fell well below expectations, but he's determined to recapture the form that saw him make eight senior appearances in his debut year.
A back-pocket experiment in round one against the Cats didn't work out so well for the 20-year-old more accustomed to a forward or wing role.
"I played round one last year and then didn't play another game which was pretty hard," Roach says.
"I think I lost a bit of confidence early. They tried me in the backline and it didn't quite work out - I got a few goals kicked on me and I lost a bit of confidence with that and it took a while to get it back.
"I was playing in the back pocket and I wasn't really used to it. They tried me as a run-with player on one of their small forwards and I just got cut up a bit early.
"I started to play good footy again by round 10 or 11 for Coburg. The start of my season was shocking which was a bit disappointing, but after that I started to play some good footy again and nearly broke through for a few games at the end."
Roach doesn't have any set goals in mind as to how many games he'd like to play, but he is certain of what he doesn't want to happen.
"NAB Cup, round one is my first goal and we'll take it from there - I just don't want to do what I did last year, which was play all of the pre-season cup, play round one and then not play again," he says.
Roach is enjoying a good pre-season with the carrot of a possible midfield role in 2006 to work towards.
"Pre-season's been pretty hard, but it's been good. It's been spread out really well and I'm enjoying it," he says.
"(Coach) Terry (Wallace) just wanted me to have a really good pre-season and to get stronger, fitter, quicker and all those sorts of things because he wants to play me as a run-with player (through the middle) this year, so I can go with the better onballers in the league like Buckley or Ricciuto - I've got to get a lot stronger to run with them."
Roach wears the number eight guernsey of his father, Tiger great Michael, but he is unfazed by the prospect of learning his craft in the shadow of the former goal-kicking legend.
"One of my goals is to get my name on the locker because there have been no number eights since my old man that have done that," he says of his ambition to play 100 games in the yellow and black.
"If I can do that, it would look pretty good with T. Roach right there under M. Roach."
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