Richmond veteran Chris Newman has strongly endorsed his tough, talented, young teammate Nick Vlastuin, who played a pivotal role across the backline in the Tigers’ stirring comeback victory over Sydney at the SCG last Friday night.
Vlastuin, in his 50th AFL game, had 20 disposals, including 11 contested possessions, an extremely impressive, equal game-high 11 interceptions, and took five marks.
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The 21-year-old is averaging just over 15 disposals per game this season and has added valuable steel, skill, and composure to Richmond’s back half.
“He’s a star,” Newman said.
“He goes under the radar a little bit.
“For his age, he’s quite mature, and he makes the right decisions.
“He’s really important for us. With our style of play, he quite often gets that going in the right direction.
“His ball use is really good, his run-and-carry’s great, and last (Friday) night you could see that he can really impact in the air and help out ‘Rancey’ (Alex Rance) in particular.
“So, hopefully he continues on with that form. It’s good to see.”
