Richmond veteran Dion Prestia made a compelling case to earn a new playing contract with the Club through his late-season form – and he was duly rewarded.
Prestia, who turns 32 in October, signed a one-year deal last week after finishing the 2024 season strongly.
The triple Tiger premiership star midfielder had a significant stint on the sidelines early in the season because of a hamstring injury and subsequently suffered a calf strain that forced him to miss several games.
He returned for the Round 18 clash with Greater Western Sydney at the MCG and had an instant impact, picking up 27 disposals.
Injury-free for the last seven games of the season, Prestia averaged 24.9 disposals, 9.4 contested possessions, 3.9 marks, 3.4 inside-50s, 4.9 clearances, 5.1 score involvements and 337.2 metres gained.
That clinched a new deal at Tigerland for Prestia, much to his delight.
“It’s been good to get the deal done after this year. I want to stay on and help us get back to the top and be playing finals,” Prestia told Richmond Media.
“I signed for one more year and hopefully there’s a few more to come after that. But excited to get it done and go again next year.
“The body’s feeling really good, even though I missed a few games this year. I feel at the back-end of the season I was able to get some good games together.
Prestia is keen to tap into his vast playing experience to help the new breed of Tigers at Punt Road.
“I’m going into my 15th year next year and we’re going to have a lot of draft picks. And we’ve got some awesome guys who are at the start of their career here, like Kane McAuliffe. So, excited to see what he’s going to look like once he gets a full AFL pre-season in,” he said.
Despite Richmond’s disappointing season, Prestia is convinced the future is bright at Punt Road.
“Obviously we wanted to win more games this year, but I feel like the vibe of the group and everyone at the Club is pretty awesome,” Prestia said.
“I feel like it sums up our club.
“We’ve got a lot of good people, and I truly believe we’ll be back very soon playing finals.”
