Jack Graham will reach the AFL 100-game milestone in Richmond’s blockbuster clash with Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night.
The talented, tough, hard-working midfielder was the Tigers’ second selection, pick 53 overall, in the 2016 national draft.
He had played a senior game with his SANFL club North Adelaide in 2015 at just 17 years of age.
A year later, Graham captained the South Australian side at the national under-18 championships, and he won the Larke Medal as the carnival’s best player.
Following a string of impressive performances at VFL level with Richmond in his 2017 debut season, Graham was given a senior opportunity in Round 22 against Fremantle at Perth’s Domain Stadium.
He really made his presence felt on debut with 13 disposals, four inside-50s, a goal, and an equal first-game AFL record of 11 tackles in the Tigers’ huge 104-point victory.
Just over a month from then, in only his fifth AFL game, Graham had a major impact on the game’s biggest stage.
In the 2017 Grand Final against Adelaide, the then 19-year-old kicked a game-high three goals and also performed an important run-with role on Rory Sloane after being moved onto the Crows star.
Graham’s impressive display on that one day in September 2017 was a key factor in Richmond breaking its 37-year premiership drought.
Two years later, when the Tigers made the Grand Final against Greater Western Sydney, Graham, unfortunately, was sidelined with a dislocated shoulder.
He sustained the injury in the first quarter of the preliminary final clash with Geelong the previous week, but bravely played out the match, even laying five tackles, despite being severely hampered.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick acclaimed Graham’s great courage in his press conference after the 2019 preliminary final victory over the Cats.
“Jack Graham, if I’m going to be honest, we packed him up at half-time,” Hardwick said.
“We saw him walking off the ground, I spoke to him on the phone and asked him whether he could go on and he said, ‘Yep, I can do it’.
“Where it ends up with Jack, we’re not too sure, but what I know is it will be a chapter in our history that has a massive positive thing for Jack Graham, because that effort was simply incredible.”
A few days later, after Graham was officially ruled out of the Grand Final because of his shoulder injury, Hardwick declared: “He is a terrific, combative player, Jack. What he did last week was simply outstanding for our football club to stay on the field when he was obviously quite distressed.”
When Richmond made it back-to-back premierships with victory over the Cats in the historic 2020 Grand Final at the Gabba in Brisbane, Graham again was a valuable contributor with 17 disposals, 10 contested possessions, six score involvements and five tackles.
The following year, Graham achieved his best result in the Jack Dyer Medal, finishing equal second.
Graham, with his hard, two-way-running, fierce competitive spirit, courage, and capacity to create opportunities for teammates, is an integral member of the Tigers team.
Another Richmond multi-premiership hero will play his 100th game for the Club on Friday night.
Star midfielder Dion Prestia has played in three premierships with the Tigers since being traded by Gold Coast at the end of the 2016 season.
Prestia is approaching his 200-game milestone at AFL level, so Richmond Media will pay a special tribute to him then.
