Richmond’s mature-age recruit, Kane Lambert, has earned high praise from the two VFL clubs he played with before arriving at Tigerland via the recent AFL Rookie Draft.

Lambert won the VFL’s rising star award, the Fothergill Medal, and was runner-up in the competition’s best and fairest award, the Liston Trophy, during his time at the Northern Blues from 2011-13.

He joined rival club Williamstown this year and a pivotal role in the Seagulls winning the Foxtel Cup premiership and reaching the VFL preliminary final, in their first season back as a stand-alone club, following their alignment with the Western Bulldogs.

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Williamstown’s football manager Chris Dixon admitted that the Seagulls realised when they secured Lambert’s valuable services from the Northern Blues, they would probably have only a short-term relationship with him.

“We’re absolutely over the moon for him,” Dixon said.

“When we recruited him 12 months ago, we told him we only wanted him to be at Williamstown for one year, and now that’s a reality.

“It was a project for us to help him get a chance at AFL level, and we’ve got there.

“It’s great for him, after all he has been through and great for us as a football club, showing what we can achieve as a stand-alone club.”

The Northern Blues president, Stephen Papal, said his club remained extremely proud of Lambert, despite his move to Williamstown in 2014 . . .

“On behalf of everyone involved at the Northern Blues Football Club, we are thrilled to hear the news of our ex-champ,” Papal said.

“Kane cut his teeth through the Northern Knights program, before graduating to the Northern Blues, where he was such a consistent performer.

“It is so great to see Kane’s hard work pay off and we wish the very best of success at the Richmond Football Club.
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"He’s a hard worker and he ticks all the boxes in terms of professionalism.

“We reckon Richmond’s done very well with this young man.”