Richmond recruiting officer Luke Williams has provided an interesting insight into the first time the Club’s first pick in last week’s National Draft, Daniel Rioli, caught the eye of the Tigers.

“My first experience of seeing Daniel live was back in Feb., a practice game for North Ballarat he was playing, at Sebastopol,” Williams said on a special post-draft edition of Richmond’s official podcast ‘Talking Tigers’.

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“There weren’t a lot of AFL recruiters there that day, but those that were there, myself included, were going to watch some of the more higher-touted players that were in the AIS Academy. 

“I came back to our group of recruiters and spoke about these other touted players, but also mentioned that there was an Indigenous boy with the surname Rioli that I need to do a lot more work on. 

“He didn’t have a complete game by any means, but he certainly showed some traits that we felt we needed to find in this year’s draft. 

“So, we tracked him from there at school footy and TAC Cup.”

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Williams believes Rioli is exactly the type of player Richmond has been looking for . . .

“I think it’s no secret that the role we expect Daniel to play at AFL level is what the Club’s been missing a bit in the last couple of years,” Williams said.

“He’s a genuine small forward, who can make something out of nothing, he’s got blistering speed, and he’s got a real appetite to tackle. 

“They’re some elements of the small forward craft that are really important, and we need.”

 “The (draft) Combine just capped off his season, really.  We knew that he’s a very resilient character and very driven, even prior to the Combine . . .”

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