New Richmond mature-age, midfield recruit Josh Caddy provides ‘Roar Vision’ with an interesting insight into his sudden departure from Geelong and arrival at Punt Road during the AFL’s 2016 trade period.
Yellow and Black out of the blue
“When the season finished at Geelong, nothing was on the cards . . . Then, all of a sudden, with the (Brett) Deledio situation . . . he was keen to get to Geelong and my name was mentioned in possibly helping that happen. I hadn’t actually thought about leaving, but it got me thinking. That fell through and, to be honest, I thought, oh well, that’s not going to happen now. I’m happy to go and play for Geelong, and that’s fine. Then it sort of evolved a little bit. Richmond was still really keen, and I think Geelong could see that it could maybe help both parties a little bit, and there was possibly more opportunity for me to come here and play a bit more of a role in the midfield . . . I’m now really excited to be here at Richmond.”
From Land of the Rising Sun to Tigerland
“I was actually at Tokyo airport, waiting to board, and had a bit of an idea that it might happen . . . I jumped on a plane about two o’clock Melbourne time and obviously (had) no service (phone or internet), landed at 12, not knowing if I was still a Cat, or a Tiger. It hadn’t gone through at that stage. I was a bit tired, didn’t get home until about 1.30-2, and woke up this morning to a call from my manager to let me know that I was officially a Tiger.”
Lure of the Tigers’ lair
“To come to Punt Road every day is really appealing . . . (I’m a) Melbourne boy, and have driven down Punt Road, past here, many times in my life, and always thought it would be pretty special to play for Richmond as a kid. Next to the ‘G’, this is the heart of footy, and that’s something that appeals to me . . . Such a big supporter base, playing at the G most games during the year . . . There are no secrets that Richmond had a disappointing year this year. But I believe the list that we’ve got, and the future of the Club, is in good shape. The boys, from all reports, love the coach (Damien Hardwick), and the direction of the Club’s looking really strong. So I’m excited to jump on board.”
Mateship with Dion Prestia
“We’ve been good mates since we were kids. He was at the Cannons and I was at the (Northern) Knights, but we played Vic Metro together and also played in the Diamond Valley together as juniors, and played in the rep teams there. So we’ve known each other for years. And we got drafted together to the Gold Coast and lived together there for a while. So we’re really close mates . . . Never envisaged this happening, but it’s definitely a positive that we’ve reunited . . . We’re back playing footy together again, and it’s going to be great. As soon as he got wind early days in the trade period that I was possibly on the cards to come to Richmond, in terms of the (Brett) Deledio situation, he was straight away into me, because he was obviously confident he was going to be here . . . And, straight away, he was into me, for me to jump on board as well.”
Boosting the Tigers’ midfield depth
“I believe my best footy is in the midfield. Nothing miraculous, or anything like that, I just want to get in there and be a contested-ball-type midfielder . . . I’ve got a bigger frame and I believe being that type of midfielder is my biggest asset . . . These days in footy, you’ve got to have real good depth in the midfield area. And Richmond have some great players in that area – obviously Dustin (Martin), Anthony Miles, and Trent . . . But to have more players in there, I think, is very important and, hopefully, I can bring that, as well as Dion.”
