That’s the reason why the Tigers swooped on mature-age recruits Ricky Petterd (Melbourne), Sam Lonergan (Essendon) and Orren Stephenson (Geelong). They are bigger-bodied players, with valuable experience at the game’s highest level, capable of stepping straight into the senior side and playing a role, as required.
“We made the decision a few years ago, when we head-hunted Blair Hartley (the Club’s list and opposition analyst) that we needed to rebuild our list, and we decided we couldn’t do it purely through the National Draft because a number of drafts had obviously been compromised with the introduction of the two new clubs, but we needed to turn over our list quite heavily,” Richmond’s General Manager of Football, Craig Cameron, told SEN’s Mark Fine.
“So, we went to the National Draft, and we’ve selected young blokes along the journey, but we also realised we needed to make sure that we didn’t leave our list with too many holes in terms of depth and mid-20-type players.
“In the middle and towards the end of last year, we really fell away when we got injuries, and we were asking too much of some of our younger guys. So, it was important for us to build some depth.”
Cameron then went on to explain the reasoning behind each of the mature-age rookie’s recruitment to Richmond . . .
“With Sam Lonergan, there were times during last season where we’d go to a Coburg game - I know we’re not recruiting for Coburg - but I’d look at their midfielder, and there wouldn’t be a Richmond player in it. That was obviously a clear indication we had a lack of depth in the midfield area,” Cameron said.
“If we got injuries to any of our midfield, we were going to be pretty bare bones there. So, we just thought it was important to make sure that we had some depth through the midfield, so that our younger guys who are coming through can develop without being rushed and asked to play inside-midfield roles earlier than they should be.
“Ricky (Petterd) is a player who we think has always had some talent to play the game. He’s got a bit of X-factor.
“Our forward line last season was very Jack Riewoldt reliant and we’ve tried to take care of that by bringing both him and Aaron Edwards in.
“And, with Orren (Stephenson), last season we found with Tyrone Vickery going down injured, Ivan Maric carried a fairly big load, and it had an impact on him towards the end of the year in terms of his groins and general wear and tear.
“Losing Angus Graham to Adelaide in the trade period, we were probably one ruckman down. So, we were very keen to get an experienced ruckman in, just in case something happened to Ivan . . . We wanted to make sure that someone could come in straight away and play.
“We took a young ruckman in the National Draft, in Liam McBean, so we’ve looked after our future from a ruck viewpoint, but we just wanted to make sure we looked after the here and now in case we got injuries.”
Cameron added that the Club was extremely pleased with the one young player it secured in the rookie draft - versatile Murray Bushrangers teenager Cadeyn Williams.
“It’s interesting with all the headlines on the recycleds, I was talking to our recruiters today and in both drafts (national and rookie), we’ve now brought in five 18-year-olds . . . Only GWS have brought in a larger number of 18-year-olds. I know the recycled guys have got the headlines, but we’ve still brought in younger players,” he said.
“Cadeyn’s a boy who was injured for a lot of this year, so he played only six or seven games for Murray (Bushrangers).
“He’s a really good size, good build, very strong overhead and a good kick.
“He’ll be an inside-mid . . . we just need to get his fitness levels up. So, he’ll be given his time to become a midfielder.”
