Houli earns his stripes
After playing every game this season, Bachar Houli is ecstatic about his move to Richmond
HAVING reached the end of his first season at Richmond, Bachar Houli could hardly be happier with how his switch from Essendon to the Tigers has panned out.
Houli played only 26 games in his four years with the Bombers, but he lined up in all of Richmond's 22 matches in 2011.
And he proved to be an ultra-consistent performer for the Tigers, averaging almost 22 possessions a game and impressing the coaches with his poise and precise kicking from half-back.
"It's always tough to be accepted by a new playing group," Houli said after Richmond rounded out its campaign with a 13-point loss to North Melbourne.
"But I got respect from everyone around the club from the moment I walked into the club because I offered that respect to them.
"I'm so excited to have played 22 games and to have had an injury-free season, and I'm hoping to build on that next year.
"It takes a few games to get your confidence up, so I started the season a bit slow.
"But the coaches had a lot of trust in me, and they said my form would turn around, and after the first few rounds I really think I played consistent footy.
"I've really enjoyed this season and I just can't wait for next year."
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick was full of praise for Houli's role in helping the Tigers improve their win-loss ratio (they won six games in 2010 and won eight and a half in 2011).
"He's only 22, so that's an added bonus," Hardwick said.
"He's undoubtedly had his best season in his career thus far, and it's a credit to [football manager] Craig Cameron and [list analyst] Blair Hartley.
"They target these types of players and try to get them in. Hopefully we can land a couple more over the course of trade week this year."
Houli says Richmond supporters should be confident about the direction that their team is heading.
"We're such a young group and we're just developing," Houli said.
"We've got a lot of players who have played less than 50 games, and I'm one of them.
"But the exciting bit is that we're going to come back next year real fit and real strong, and everyone should keep supporting us because we're going to give it a red-hot crack in 2012."
