Richmond great Matthew Richardson believes veteran star Shane Edwards is well placed to keep playing with the Tigers until his mid-late 30s.
Edwards, who turns 32 in October, has played 260 games for Richmond, with his last appearance being in the Round 5 clash with Melbourne this season.
UNITED Add-on or become a United Tiger member to help ensure our Club's Strong & Bold future
He didn’t go into the Queensland hub after that game with the Tigers, remaining in Melbourne with his pregnant partner Samantha.
‘Richo’ reckons the fact Edwards has played little football this season, along with a key physical factor, will enable him to continue playing at the game’s highest level for several more seasons.
“Shane hasn’t missed a lot of footy over the last five, six, seven years. He’s been pretty durable after having a few issues with injuries early on in his career,” Richardson said on the latest episode of Richmond’s official podcast ‘Talking Tigers’.
“If you have a look around the comp. over the last 10 years at players that probably have similar sort of body types to Shane, Kade Simpson (36 years of age) is the one that comes to mind for me straight away. You know, always had that lean frame, not a lot of muscle mass . . .
“He’s playing as well as ever, and he’s up into his 333rd or 334th game, I think, this week . . .
“Shane’s got that sort of body. He’s never carried any weight, he’s never had a lot of muscle mass.
“Another one is Bob Murphy (played until 35), similar build. He played 300-odd games as well.
“(Brent) ‘Boomer’ Harvey (AFL record 432 games and played until 38), he had muscle mass, but he was never really injured throughout his career.
“And if you want to look at a taller player, Dustin Fletcher (400 games and played until 40). They always joked at Essendon that he never entered the gym. He was always so lean.
“I think because they never have all that weight on their body, it looks after their joints. And I see Shane being similar to those guys.
“And he’s been well rested now. I’m sure he’s put in the work and been training.
“No doubt it could prolong his career.”
