Star Richmond key forward Tom Lynch will reach the AFL 200-game milestone in Friday night’s Round 7 match against West Coast at Optus Stadium.
It will be Lynch’s 69th game for the Tigers following his 131-game career at Gold Coast.
Lynch was recruited by the Suns from NAB League team Dandenong Stingrays with pick 11 overall in the 2010 AFL national draft.
He went on to win Gold Coast’s leading goalkicker award four times (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), was a dual Suns Best and Fairest winner (2015, 2016), co-captained the club in 2017-18 and gained All-Australian selection in 2016.
At the end of the 2018 season, Lynch joined Richmond as a restricted free agent, and he had an impressive, instant impact at his new football home.
With the Tigers’ gun key forward Jack Riewoldt sidelined for a significant portion of the 2019 home-and-away season due to injury, Lynch stepped up to fill the void in superb style.
He won Richmond’s leading goalkicking award that year with 63 goals, including five in a pivotal preliminary final performance against Geelong that significantly helped the Tigers clinch a Grand Final berth.
Lynch then was a valuable contributor for Richmond in its 2019 Grand Final demolition of Greater Western Sydney, taking seven marks and booting two goals.
A second premiership medal was hanging around Lynch’s neck the following year, when the Tigers downed Geelong in an historic night Grand Final at Brisbane’s Gabba stadium.
Two premierships from two seasons, was the perfect start to Lynch’s time at Tigerland and, two years on, he continues to provide the team with a strong focal point up forward. Six rounds into the 2022 season, he has 14 goals on the board.
All-up, Lynch has kicked 398 goals (254 with Gold Coast, 144 for Richmond) from his 199 games of AFL football.
His best goal tally in a match is eight, which he scored for Gold Coast against Carlton at Marvel Stadium in Round 2 of the 2018 season.
At Richmond, his best goal return in a game is six against Port Adelaide, Round 4, 2019 at Adelaide Oval.
