Jake Aarts has settled extremely well into his small-forward role in Richmond’s senior side.
After spending many seasons at VFL level, Aarts finally made his AFL debut with the Tigers in this year’s Round 5 win against Melbourne.
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The hard-working, 25-year-old certainly didn’t look out of place that day, picking up 15 disposals, and he’s made sound progress since then.
Aarts was the equal-leading goalkicker on the ground in Richmond’s 41-point victory over the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium last Wednesday night, with three goals, prompting Tigers coach Damien Hardwick to commend his efforts post-match.
“He was great. He’s been fantastic ever since he stepped in the side,” Hardwick said.
“He’s just hard, he’s tough, he wins contest, he nullifies contest.
“We love the way he goes about it.
“He’s another one of those guys like Kane Lambert you love to coach, because you don’t have to do much work with them. They just know the required work.
“They’ve worked their whole life to get a chance of AFL footy and the Club just gives them an environment that they succeed in . . .
“So really pleased with Jake . . .
“He’s been around for a little bit of time and, once again, our development team did a wonderful job of fulfilling his talent.”
