Tim Taranto became just the third Richmond recruit from a rival AFL club to rack up more than 30 disposals on debut for the Tigers in last night’s 2023 season-opener, blockbuster drawn encounter with Carlton at the MCG.
The star midfielder, who joined Richmond from Greater Western Sydney during last year’s trade period, finished the match with a game-high 32 disposals, a team-high 12 contested possessions, five clearances, a team-high three centre clearances, four inside-50s, four score involvements, eight tackles and 542 metres gained.
It was a continuation of the fine form he displayed across the Tigers’ two pre-season practice matches, and highlighted why the Club was so keen to secure his talented services.
Taranto told Richmond Media post-game what it was like making his Yellow and Black debut in front of a huge crowd of 88,084.
“It was unreal to think there was almost 90,000 there . . . it was good fun,” he said.
“I played in a couple of finals in my career, and it was the same type of energy. So, can’t wait for more of that.”
Taranto was pragmatic in his assessment of Richmond’s drawn Round 1 result.
“It’s better than no points, so I’ll take that,” he said.
“I think we played pretty well as a group today, we just probably didn’t capitalise.
“It was a good Richmond game, but we’ve got some things to work on, I think.”
The two other players recruited from rival league clubs to have more than 30 disposals on debut for the Tigers, were Ian Herman and Terry Wallace.
Herman, from Carlton, had 32 disposals on debut for Richmond against Collingwood in Round 16, 1992 at Victoria Park.
Wallace, a three-time Hawthorn premiership player, had 34 disposals and kicked three goals in his first game with the Tigers, which was against Essendon in Round 3 of the 1987 season at the MCG.
‘Plough’ later coached Richmond from 2005-09.
