Richmond’s General Manager of Football, Dan Richardson, believes the re-signing of four key players will have a domino effect at Tigerland.
The Club announced today that valuable veterans Chris Newman and Jake King, along with talented teenagers Brandon Ellis and Nick Vlastuin, had agreed to contract extensions, with the Tigers now turning their attention to securing the signatures of several other players over the coming months, including big guns Jack Riewoldt and Dustin Martin.
“I can’t put a time line on it . . . we’re working through it with their management. But I’m really confident both of those players – they’re really important players to us – want to be Tigers long-term,” Richardson said on SEN’s “Hungry for Sport” program this morning.
“I’m sure we’ll work through that in a meaningful way.
“Sometimes these things take a little bit of time. It’s important you get to a position where both parties are comfortable. We’re not there yet, but we’re certainly, hopefully, getting closer to it . . .
“We’d like to think that what we’re doing at Richmond at the moment means that all those players are keen to stay and keen to, hopefully, have some success.
“We think those guys are really loyal, and I’m sure that they want to stay at Richmond.
“It’s a business these days, and we’re under no illusions that money is a factor and players need to be paid what they’re worth.
“In saying that, we think we’ve got a fair bit to offer at Richmond at the moment – the inner-city location, the facilities that we now have, and what we’re building as a club. We’d like to think that’s more important to our players.
“From my experience (as a long-time player agent), that’s what really drives players – the desire for success, the desire to be in a good, strong culture, in a place where they’re enjoying their footy.
“Money is no doubt a factor – I’m not denying that – but hopefully it’s not the be-all and end-all for them.”
Despite strong, successive wins against West Coast and Adelaide, that have lifted Richmond into the top eight, Richardson said the Club needed to remain very measured in its approach . . .
“We’ve got to be a bit cautious that we don’t get too excited, but certainly there’s a feeling of a bit of confidence that we’re heading in the right direction,” he said.
“I know that Damien (Hardwick), and the coaching staff and players are really big on just getting some consistency into our footy, and getting some confidence that if we retain that sort of consistency, then we can perform well.
“We’ve done that the last two weeks, but you’ve got to remember, it wasn’t so long ago, against Essendon, we had a pretty poor game.
“So, as we know in footy, things can change quickly. But, at the moment, we’re confident that we’re going in the right direction.”
