Richmond’s trend of recruiting sons of players from other AFL clubs continued in the recent national draft.
The Tigers also took two draftees whose grandfathers played at rival League clubs.
Taj Hotton, who was Richmond’s third draft pick (No. 12 overall), is the son of former Collingwood and Carlton player Trent Hotton (17 games with the Magpies, 61 with the Blues).
Josh Smillie, the Tigers’ second selection (No. 7 overall) is the son of Bevan Smillie, who played under 19s football at Essendon and later was drafted by Carlton, but didn’t play a senior game for the Blues.
Luke Trainor, Richmond’s fifth draft pick (No. 21 overall) is the grandson of former Geelong and North Melbourne champion full-forward Doug Wade, who kicked 1057 goals in his illustrious League football career at the two clubs.
Sam Lalor, the No. 1 selection in the 2024 national draft, is the grandson of former Essendon player of the 1950s, Ray Lalor (six games with the Bombers).
Throughout the past couple of decades, Richmond has secured the services of the sons of North Melbourne’s Jim Krakouer (Andrew Krakouer) and Keith Greig (Matt Greig, supplementary list), Essendon’s Dean Hartigan (Brent Hartigan), Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck (Shane Tuck), Carlton’s Wayne Deledio (Brett Deledio), Footscray’s and West Coast’s Murray Rance (Alex Rance), Fremantle’s Darren Bolton (Shai Bolton), Hawthorn’s and St Kilda’s Sean Ralphsmith (Hugh Ralphsmith), and Geelong’s Paul Brown (Tom Brown).
