In the aftermath of the AFL National Draft and Rookie Draft over the past week, Tony Greenberg takes a concise (sometimes quirky) look at the players picked up by Richmond.
Richmond’s first pick in the National Draft, Ben Lennon, and second choice in the Rookie Draft, Anthony Miles, have become part of an impressive, growing club within a club at Tigerland . . .
The two Tiger newcomers were All-Australian representatives at under-18 level, with Lennon earning selection this year and Miles back in 2010, before being drafted by GWS.
They join fellow Richmond under-18 All-Australians such as Nick Vlastuin (2012 Vic Metro captain), Brandon Ellis (2011 Vic Metro), Dustin Martin (2009 Vic Country), Ty Vickery (2008 Vic Metro), Alex Rance (2007 WA), Ricky Petterd (2006 Qld), Shaun Grigg (2006 Vic Country), Brett Deledio (2004 Vic Country) and Troy Chaplin (2003 Vic Country).
Ben Lennon has another pretty handy sporting string to his bow . . .
According to Michael Lovett, the former president at Lennon’s old Melbourne suburban football club, Macleod, he’s also a gun cricketer.
“Ben played A grade cricket for Macleod when he was 14. He went through all the pathways like Dowling Shield, etc. and I think Melbourne Cricket Club offered him the chance to play in their ‘ones’ or ‘twos’, but footy was starting to become a priority for him,” Lovett said.
There’s no shortage of sporting ability in the Lennon family, with Ben’s sister, Grace, a highly-promising golfer and dad, Steve, having been a top footballer in the old Diamond Valley League, before copping a serious knee injury.
Matt Thomas, who was Richmond’s third and final pick in the Pre-season Draft, becomes just the second Magarey Medallist to land at Punt Road.
The tough inside midfielder won this year’s Magarey Medal playing for SANFL club Norwood, just days after being delisted by his AFL club Port Adelaide.
He stormed home in the Magarey Medal count, recording 18 votes in Norwood’s final eight games of the 2013 home-and-away season, to win by five votes.
The previous Magarey Medallist on Richmond’s playing list was the talented Jim Deane, who won the SANFL’s Best and Fairest award twice – in 1953 and 1957. In between, he played 33 games for the Tigers, from 1954-55.
Interestingly, three other Magarey Medallists – Fred Phillis (1969), Michael Aish (1981) and Greg Whittlesea (1988) – were tied to Richmond, but never moved to Punt Road.
Phillis, a gun full-forward, and Aish, a star midfielder, had signed Form Four agreements (the only way you could secure players from interstate in those days) with the Tigers, while Whittlesea, also a talented on-baller, had been drafted by the Club, but later joined Hawthorn, where he ended up playing a handful of games.
The last time Matt Thomas and Nathan Gordon played a game of football, they were on opposite sides.
It happened to be the 2013 SANFL grand final, with Thomas part of the victorious Norwood team, and Gordon, who was Richmond’s second selection in last week’s National Draft, a member of the losing North Adelaide line-up.
While on the subject of Gordon, who spent three years at the Sydney Swans before joining North Adelaide . . .
He is using the recent success of mature-age SANFL recruits such as Steven Morris (West Adelaide to Richmond), Paul Puopolo (Norwood to Hawthorn), Lee Spur (Central District to Fremantle) and Nick Duigan (Norwood to Carlton), as inspiration for his own return to the AFL with Richmond, following one season with the SA Roosters.
“I look at them and say to myself, ‘if they can do it, I can’,” Gordon said.
“They got an opportunity and they’re taking it.
“It just gives guys like me a bit of hope.”
The number 22 guernsey at Richmond has long been associated with quick players and goalsneaks, so it’s no wonder the Tigers decided to hand it over to their first pick in this week’s Rookie Draft, ex-Lion Todd Banfield.
Former Richmond captain, Jack Dyer Medallist and 1980 premiership hero, Barry Rowlings, who wore the No. 22 with such distinction, had pace to burn. So, too, did Tiger wingman of the 1990s, Nathan Bower, another recipient of the No. 22.
And, back in the early 1970s, elusive, clever half-forward Robert Lamb, wearing the No. 22, kicked 120 goals in 58 games for the Tigers.
Banfield clearly has the speed and goalsense to make a decent fist of life in the No. 22 at Tigerland.
Carlton’s former No. 22, Shaun Hampson, had the option to take the same number at his new club Richmond, following the retirement of Sam Lonergan, but the athletic ruckmans decided to make a fresh start with the Tigers in the No. 16.
It’s been a fairly successful number over the journey at Tigerland, too, with star wingman Bryan Wood wearing it in three premierships for the Club (1973, 1974 and 1980) and rugged, reliable back pocket Colin Beard having it on his back in the 1969 flag triumph.
Sam Lloyd, who was Richmond’s third pick in last week’s National Draft, is the first player from NSW country club Deniliquin to make it on to an AFL club’s list since Leigh Marshall in 1996.
Marshall was signed as a NSW priority pick by the Sydney Swans, but never played a game with them.
A couple of years earlier, a fairly handy type of player, by the name of Leo Barry, also joined the Swans from Deniliquin, as a NSW priority pick.
Lloyd is highly regarded in ‘Deni’, having kicked 110 goals for the Rams in 2010, played in a premiership with them the following season, and won a couple of Best and Fairests there as well.
