With Richmond having the No. 1 pick in the upcoming AFL national draft, we are taking a look at the three players previously taken by the Tigers as the competition’s top draft selection. We start this three-part series today by delving into the archives of The Age newspaper for an interview Tim Lane conducted with Richmond’s inaugural No. 1 draft pick, giant South Australian ruckman/forward Richard Lounder.
TL: Could you describe the experience you had those years ago? Was the draft as big an event back then?
RL: Well, I wouldn't have thought so, being some 10 years ago or more. Today, it's televised, it's high-pressure stuff really, you know, all the family, everyone's involved. It was a big thing back then but certainly nothing as to what it is today.
What was your reaction when your name came up as No.1 draft pick?
Well, I more or less knew. Richmond had told me they were going to draft me as No.1, so it wasn't really a surprise. It was probably more of a formality than anything.
You moved to Melbourne. Did you enjoy your time there?
Oh yes, I did enjoy my time, albeit just 18 months that I was there. It was a struggle, the support structures and all that sort of thing weren't, I'd assume, as they are today. I was only young, 20 or 21, it took a fair bit of getting used to.
Did being the No.1 pick carry a pressure with it?
I think it certainly does. Being No.1, you're certainly expected to jump out of the box and hit the ground running, but being six foot eight, I wasn't gifted with speed or any of the real attributes I think they look for now, with all their testing and that sort of thing. Basically, today they know what they're getting before they get it.
Could you have been a better player than you showed in your brief time with the Tigers?
I would have thought so. It was just, as I say, more with the support structures, the individual training and obviously the quality of facilities that are around these days, the tapes and videos, that sort of thing. I think it would have made things perhaps a bit easier.
You were seen as something of a phenomenon back then because there weren't too many around as large as you were. What were your dimensions?
The height hasn't changed. I was 204 centimetres or six-foot-seven-and-a half in the old money, and between 113 and 118 kilos.
Were you the biggest in the game then?
Ah, there were some big ones around. Obviously, Simon Madden was playing, Mark Lee was still at the club and Justin Madden was there, John Ironmonger - I think he would have been all of that.
I seem to recall working with Crackers Keenan one day and he referred to you as "the human tree". That wasn't about your speed across the ground, was it?
No. I don't think "Crackers" was ever that quick, was he?
I think that day you might have kicked four (goals) on the MCG. Is that right?
Yeah, the first game against North Melbourne at the MCG.
So you got a bit of a flying start?
Yes, I did get off to a flyer. Well, you like to try and get better but it's a lot of things to take in at the very start of your career.
But you were never quite able to reproduce that?
No, no, for one reason or another. Homesickness had a fair bit to do with it. I'm very close to my family here in Adelaide and I was living on my own in Melbourne. I did board with a few people and towards the end I had my own house. But the pressures that brings on as well and also working, I was working 40 hours a week as well, so it was making for a very long day.
What were you working at?
A motor trimmer. I run my own business here in Adelaide, so I've been doing it for a while. Then, you were training at six in the morning, then going to work, then obviously you had training after work as well. So, I wasn't getting home till about nine o'clock at night. You had to prepare your meal or buy your meal on the way home which was more often the case, and without a support structure or family, it actually became quite difficult.
Is it fair to say clubs, at least in your experience, the club you were at, left a little to be desired in the way it provided orientation and guidance for young blokes moving state?
Well, I don't want to cast aspersions on the Richmond Football Club, but perhaps it could have been discussed. It didn't really even get to that point. You just sort of make your own way more or less and I think that might have been what caused my demise in the end.
What became of your career after that?
I came back here and played at Central Districts, the club I came from. I think I came back with an injury, an Achilles heel or something like that, then I think I played the rest of the year in the reserves, then I played another year in the league then I drifted out and played country football.
That seems like a surprising demise at the top level for someone who had been chosen No.1 in the land. Did you have a real appetite for it?
Yeah, it wasn't, I'd say, a burning desire because I wasn't naturally gifted as such. I had to work very hard just to keep my weight down, all that sort of thing. I used to enjoy a beer as well, and that makes it very hard. If you want to be an elite footballer, you certainly don't drink and don't smoke and you're in bed by eight o'clock, and they are actually the things I quite like to do.
So, how's your weight now compared to in your playing days?
I'd say it's probably ballooned a touch, Tim.
Can we put a figure on it?
Oh, I haven't got any scales, and I don't think I've got any that could weigh me.
It sounds as though you're enjoying life.
Oh well, it's all about here for a good time not a long time.
Will you take notice of the draft this year and spare a thought for the young blokes who face the pressure of being picked early?
It would be more so for them now. I'll know what they're going to have to go through and now it would be intensified beyond what it was in my day. I think the players now are more accustomed to it and, basically, they know what they're in for once they get in that position.
And you still follow the Tigers?
I have a look at the way they're going. But I don't take a huge interest in the results. I run a business here and do a lot of fishing, but if the radio's on . . . that's about the extent of it.
Richard Lounder’s Richmond playing profile
Draft history: No. 1 pick in the 1987 national draft
Recruited from: Central District (SANFL)
Height: 203cm
Weight: 116kg
Guernsey number: No. 37
Senior debut: Round 5, 1989 v North Melbourne, MCG
Games: 4
Goals: 5
