There is a common theme among the eight young players Richmond recruited in the 2024 AFL national draft . . . competitiveness.
Every one of them, from the draft’s No. 1 pick overall Sam Lalor, through to the Tigers’ eighth and final selection (No. 58 overall) Jasper Alger, possesses that key football attribute.
“The biggest games, that’s where the whips are cracking. You can’t be taking backward steps,” Richmond’s General Manager of Football Talent Blair Hartley told the Talking Tigers podcast
“The fierce desire to want to improve and be a good teammate was a big focus for us, and all those guys have shown that throughout the course of their junior careers.
“So, we’re excited to have them with us.”
Another common feature of the newest batch of Tigers is their connection with each other.
Several of them were teammates in the Coates Talent League and at school football level, as well as in the under 18 national championships with Vic Metro or Vic Country.
“It’s huge (the bond between the draftees). I’d love to say it was planned . . . it certainly wasn’t,” Hartley said when asked if it was a deliberate strategy to draft players who had been teammates at junior level.
“We knew they were obviously close through interviews and background and everything else. But it was great to see how excited they were when they got amongst one another.”
