Richmond great Matthew Richardson has paid a glowing tribute to Bachar Houli in the lead-up to the triple premiership Tiger star reaching his 200-game milestone with the Club against Greater Western Sydney at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.

The rebounding defender, who spent four seasons at Essendon before being recruited by Richmond with its first pick (No. 3 overall) in the 2011 pre-season draft, has provided the Tigers with excellent value over the course of the past decade.

He played a pivotal role in Richmond’s recent three premiership triumphs, gained All-Australian selection for the first time in 2019, and is averaging 22.6 disposals per game throughout his time at Tigerland.

“Bachar’s been an unbelievable pick-up with the consistency that he has brought to the Club over that period of time, his leadership, and the person that he is around the footy club,” Richardson said on this week’s edition of ‘Talking Tigers’.

“Out on the ground, what you need, and you always have needed from half-back, is some creativity and some hard, offensive run. He’s provided that now for 200 games.

“And the way he’s performed in big games has just been incredible. In two of the Grand Finals (2017 and 2019), he may well have been a Norm Smith Medallist.

“So, just his ability to turn up each week and provide that smart run . . . He knows the pockets of space to run into, and he’s that link between the defensive 50 and forward 50 that every team needs.

“He’s also a pretty good decision-maker with his left leg when he’s got time and space to deliver.

“There’s a lot of talk about courage in the game . . . you’ve got to put your head in the hole, and you’ve got to go back with the flight of the ball. You’ve got to do all of those hard, tough things.

“You know what takes just as much courage? To run as hard as Bachar Houli has run for 200 games off the half-back flank.

“It takes courage to gut run, not just courage to put your head in the hole. Bachar’s done that as well as anyone in his time at Richmond.”