In the lead-up to the 2022 AFL national draft to be held on November 28-29, and Richmond currently holding picks 53 and 63, Tony Greenberg has compiled a list of the Tigers’ all-time top 10 draft selections over pick 50. We are counting them down from 10 to one. Today, at No. 3, is Shane Tuck.
Richmond recruited Shane Tuck with its sixth pick, No. 73 overall, in the 2003 national draft.
The son of seven-time Hawthorn premiership hero and 426-game great Michael Tuck had tried his luck with the Hawks, but it hadn’t worked out there for him.
He subsequently took up an offer from SANFL club West Adelaide and proceeded to produce some top-class football at that level throughout the 2003 season.
Tiger talent scouts had been tracking Tuck’s progress at West Adelaide and liked what they saw of the tall, robust, inside midfielder.
The Tigers decided to provide Tuck with another opportunity at AFL football, and it turned out to be a very shrewd move.
Tuck had to wait until Round 14 of the 2004 season for his AFL debut, against Brisbane at the Gabba, and he made just two more senior appearances that year.
In 2005, however, Tuck’s AFL career really took off. He played all 22 games for the Tigers that season, averaging 23.6 disposals per match.
With his ball-winning ability, toughness, consistency of performance, durability and resilience, Tuck provided the Richmond side with enormous value over the next decade.
He earned a glowing reputation as a midfield warrior and one of the competition’s best inside ‘mids’.
Tuck had seven top-10 finishes in the Jack Dyer Medal over the course of nine full seasons, with five of those top-five placings (best result of runner-up in 2008), and a career disposals average of 23.4 in his 173 games.
Every time Shane Tuck entered the field of battle with Richmond he extracted the maximum out of himself, in a fiercely determined attempt to secure success for the team.
As a result, he endeared himself to the Tiger Army, who greatly admired the way he went about his football business.
