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Player Watch #33 Patrick Retschko

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GoTigers2015 said:
Remember the last delisted Geelong player we picked up who also grew up a Richmond supporter.

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Killjoy, this is a feel good thread.
 
This is how it went down:

Lalor : “Blair, I reckon my body can hold up, just not sure if excessive high speed running will help my hammies”

Blair “Good chat”

(Blair analyses combine testing for the best runner the game has got who isn’t gonna get bullied at the contest or care about his role)

Bring bring… bring bring ….

Blair “Pat, you’re coming to Tigerland. Bring your running shoes”.

Blair. “Sammy … we’ve got you mate … you won’t need to venture into the defensive half of the ground”
 

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Hydatina Physis said:
Cheers mate. I don't pay much attention to contracts and free agency so excuse my ignorance but what does "Also, as a delisted FA, he will always be one when he comes out of contract. Not anymore." mean? He won't be a restricted free agent when his contract expires, he'll be a delisted FA even of we haven't delisted him? What is the benefit of a DFA as opposed to a RFA or the other free agent type? I've forgotten the name.
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Basically (and this is just my understanding BTW), once a player is delisted by a club, that if he is signed up elsewhere, every time he comes out of contract, he is a free agent, regardless of how long he has been in the system. Restricted Free Agents have to be contracted at one club for 6 years, Un-restricted FA's have to be contracted for 8 years at one club before they qualify.
 
Tigerandy63 said:
Basically (and this is just my understanding BTW), once a player is delisted by a club, that if he is signed up elsewhere, every time he comes out of contract, he is a free agent, regardless of how long he has been in the system. Restricted Free Agents have to be contracted at one club for 6 years, Un-restricted FA's have to be contracted for 8 years at one club before they qualify.
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8 and 10, not 6 and 8
 

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fargothegreat said:
Blair said they would have taken him in the rookie draft last year (would have been pick 1) if we had have had a list spot available.

Shows the lack of depth in this draft that a rookie pick from last year is rated higher.
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where would he go in this years draft then ?
 

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​


Richmond recruit Patrick Retschko on shock trade to the Tigers and his emotional rollercoaster since being delisted by Geelong​

Delisted by Geelong a fortnight ago, Patrick Retschko had five minutes warning he would be traded to Richmond for ‘a packet of chips’. The new Tiger reflects on how the move unfolded and his emotional rollercoaster.

AFL trade moves are generally in the works months and sometimes years in advance.
Patrick Retschko was given a five-minute heads up from Richmond list manager Blair Hartley before he was traded to Richmond for pick 99 – in Retschko’s words, a packet of chips.

Delisted by Geelong a fortnight ago, the 19-year-old had received confirmation from the Tigers on Tuesday that they would take him as a delisted free agent following an interview and a medical.

Instead, the Tigers decided to pounce on the childhood Richmond fan during the mayhem of deadline day rather than wait until the delisted free agency window opened in early November.

(Hartley) asked me how I was going, knowing that I’d get the DFA spot, and I said I was riding the wave and I was still buzzing,” Retscko told this masthead.

“And he asked if I wanted to ride another wave and I said, What do you mean?’ And he goes, ‘We’re going to trade for you, it’ll come up within the next five minutes, I’m about to flick it through’.

“‘Listen to Trade Radio, we’re going trade you for pick 99’, which is probably an average packet of chips.

“But it just kind of came through and I had a whole bunch of friends listening to trade dadio and I kind of just listened to it and it got announced and I couldn’t believe it,” Retschko added with a laugh.

“It happened so quickly that I didn’t really have time to process what was about to happen, so I was in the car and I’d gotten home and I had a Richmond jersey on before I knew it.”

Retschko’s phone went into meltdown as Cats players, his new Tigers teammates and loved ones reacted in real time to the news.

One friend even coined a term for his unique move.

“One of my mates called it a ‘reverse delisting’ for a trade, so I’m happy to rock with anything at the moment,” Retschko chuckled.

“It is a weird one, I didn’t actually know how it works either.

“It was mental. I reckon within the first three minutes, my phone had easily 100-plus notifications, they were coming from absolutely everywhere”

The trade deadline day surprise capped an emotional rollercoaster of shock, despair, hope, relief, more shock, and joy.

Taken with pick 23 in the 2024 rookie draft by Geelong, the hard-running wingman enjoyed an impressive debut season at VFL level, finishing fifth in Geelong’s best-and-fairest.

However, Retschko was an unlucky victim of Geelong’s list squeeze, informed at his exit meeting at the beginning of October that he wouldn’t receive another contract.

The Malvern East product entered 2025 fully aware that it could all come to an end after just one season, but the news took him by surprise.

“It was a whirlwind of emotions throughout that week from being told that I was going to be delisted to then hoping that I’d get a delisted free agency spot, then all of a sudden it coming so quickly through a trade,” Retscko said.

“I can’t say I was fully expecting to be delisted. I was pretty confident in the body of work that I put out throughout the year and in terms of just pure performance and let alone development from where I’d come from, almost being the last pick in the draft to finishing fifth in the VFL best-and-fairest.

“If you’d told me that at the start of the year, I would have super proud no matter what the result was going to be.

“It’s a business and Geelong are constantly pursuing the highest achievement, so they needed to flick over list decisions and they have a bottom-out policy, not a top-out. So it made sense in hindsight once I was able to have a rational view of it all.

“Decisions like that had to be made, but I definitely was a little bit shocked and a bit surprised, and that was probably reflected in the amount of emotion that teammates were able to express to me with it all.

“Obviously a bit disappointing to be departing them all, but I certainly felt the love from all my teammates and it certainly made it feel like it was it was an easy decision for them to make.”

Richmond reached out soon after Retschko’s delisting was made public and he took a call from the eager Tigers on the same day he farewelled his Cats teammates at the Carji Greeves Medal.

The Tigers were big fans of his dedication and team-first attitude and pitched a wing and halfback role to the running machine, who chose to pursue footy over athletics as a junior.

Tasmania recruiting manager Derek Hine had also been in touch, and Retschko was seriously considering playing VFL in the Apple Isle if no AFL opportunity came his way.

Then on the penultimate day of the trade period, a promising text from his manager at Connor Sports, Robbie D’Orazio, was followed by a confirmation call from Hartley.

“Found myself on Tuesday night with a text message from (my manager) Robbie D’Orazio saying “I think we’re on’,” Retshcko said.

“And then Blair gave me a call a couple of minutes later saying (the) spots yours for a DFA (delisted free agent).”

Retschko found himself a touch jealous of Richmond draft crop last year, and he will be reunited with plenty of familiar faces at Punt Road.

He is close mates with Jasper Alger from their time together at Caulfield Grammar and the Oakleigh Chargers, having also played junior footy with Luke Trainor, Harry Armstrong, Taj Hotton and Josh Smillie, first linking up with Smillie in the Victorian under-12 team.

“(Richmond’s) pitch was awesome in the fact that they really prioritised being part of a community that was super strong and committed to each other and committed to winning, but also wanting to get the most out of each other, which is something that I really respected and liked the idea of,” Retschko said.

“I honestly don’t think there’s much that can match being told that you’re going to play for your childhood club.”

On the outer at grand finalists Geelong, Retschko should push for AFL selection right away at the rebuilding Tigers with his ready-made frame and running capacity, which saw him clock around 14.5 kilometres each game this year on the GPS.

Striving to join the AFL ranks or the US College system with athletics as a teenager before narrowing his sights on footy, Retschko won three state and one national title in 800m and also had success in 400m and 1500m events.

But one running tradition more obscure than his Richmond move is a relic of the past.

In a sign of his running gifts, Retschko product was regularly sighted at junior and pathway games running two kilometres around the ground just to warm-up.

“It might have been halfway through my draft year I politely got told to cut it out, just because it is probably not as applicable to an AFL game when you’re running on the wing,” Retschko said with a laugh.

“I kind of used it as a way to get going and put myself in the moment. So I kind of had to find new avenues to do that over the past year, but hopefully it has worked out well enough with the footy I have played this year.”
 
GoTigers2015 said:

​


Richmond recruit Patrick Retschko on shock trade to the Tigers and his emotional rollercoaster since being delisted by Geelong​

Delisted by Geelong a fortnight ago, Patrick Retschko had five minutes warning he would be traded to Richmond for ‘a packet of chips’. The new Tiger reflects on how the move unfolded and his emotional rollercoaster.

AFL trade moves are generally in the works months and sometimes years in advance.
Patrick Retschko was given a five-minute heads up from Richmond list manager Blair Hartley before he was traded to Richmond for pick 99 – in Retschko’s words, a packet of chips.

Delisted by Geelong a fortnight ago, the 19-year-old had received confirmation from the Tigers on Tuesday that they would take him as a delisted free agent following an interview and a medical.

Instead, the Tigers decided to pounce on the childhood Richmond fan during the mayhem of deadline day rather than wait until the delisted free agency window opened in early November.

(Hartley) asked me how I was going, knowing that I’d get the DFA spot, and I said I was riding the wave and I was still buzzing,” Retscko told this masthead.

“And he asked if I wanted to ride another wave and I said, What do you mean?’ And he goes, ‘We’re going to trade for you, it’ll come up within the next five minutes, I’m about to flick it through’.

“‘Listen to Trade Radio, we’re going trade you for pick 99’, which is probably an average packet of chips.

“But it just kind of came through and I had a whole bunch of friends listening to trade dadio and I kind of just listened to it and it got announced and I couldn’t believe it,” Retschko added with a laugh.

“It happened so quickly that I didn’t really have time to process what was about to happen, so I was in the car and I’d gotten home and I had a Richmond jersey on before I knew it.”

Retschko’s phone went into meltdown as Cats players, his new Tigers teammates and loved ones reacted in real time to the news.

One friend even coined a term for his unique move.

“One of my mates called it a ‘reverse delisting’ for a trade, so I’m happy to rock with anything at the moment,” Retschko chuckled.

“It is a weird one, I didn’t actually know how it works either.

“It was mental. I reckon within the first three minutes, my phone had easily 100-plus notifications, they were coming from absolutely everywhere”

The trade deadline day surprise capped an emotional rollercoaster of shock, despair, hope, relief, more shock, and joy.

Taken with pick 23 in the 2024 rookie draft by Geelong, the hard-running wingman enjoyed an impressive debut season at VFL level, finishing fifth in Geelong’s best-and-fairest.

However, Retschko was an unlucky victim of Geelong’s list squeeze, informed at his exit meeting at the beginning of October that he wouldn’t receive another contract.

The Malvern East product entered 2025 fully aware that it could all come to an end after just one season, but the news took him by surprise.

“It was a whirlwind of emotions throughout that week from being told that I was going to be delisted to then hoping that I’d get a delisted free agency spot, then all of a sudden it coming so quickly through a trade,” Retscko said.

“I can’t say I was fully expecting to be delisted. I was pretty confident in the body of work that I put out throughout the year and in terms of just pure performance and let alone development from where I’d come from, almost being the last pick in the draft to finishing fifth in the VFL best-and-fairest.

“If you’d told me that at the start of the year, I would have super proud no matter what the result was going to be.

“It’s a business and Geelong are constantly pursuing the highest achievement, so they needed to flick over list decisions and they have a bottom-out policy, not a top-out. So it made sense in hindsight once I was able to have a rational view of it all.

“Decisions like that had to be made, but I definitely was a little bit shocked and a bit surprised, and that was probably reflected in the amount of emotion that teammates were able to express to me with it all.

“Obviously a bit disappointing to be departing them all, but I certainly felt the love from all my teammates and it certainly made it feel like it was it was an easy decision for them to make.”

Richmond reached out soon after Retschko’s delisting was made public and he took a call from the eager Tigers on the same day he farewelled his Cats teammates at the Carji Greeves Medal.

The Tigers were big fans of his dedication and team-first attitude and pitched a wing and halfback role to the running machine, who chose to pursue footy over athletics as a junior.

Tasmania recruiting manager Derek Hine had also been in touch, and Retschko was seriously considering playing VFL in the Apple Isle if no AFL opportunity came his way.

Then on the penultimate day of the trade period, a promising text from his manager at Connor Sports, Robbie D’Orazio, was followed by a confirmation call from Hartley.

“Found myself on Tuesday night with a text message from (my manager) Robbie D’Orazio saying “I think we’re on’,” Retshcko said.

“And then Blair gave me a call a couple of minutes later saying (the) spots yours for a DFA (delisted free agent).”

Retschko found himself a touch jealous of Richmond draft crop last year, and he will be reunited with plenty of familiar faces at Punt Road.

He is close mates with Jasper Alger from their time together at Caulfield Grammar and the Oakleigh Chargers, having also played junior footy with Luke Trainor, Harry Armstrong, Taj Hotton and Josh Smillie, first linking up with Smillie in the Victorian under-12 team.

“(Richmond’s) pitch was awesome in the fact that they really prioritised being part of a community that was super strong and committed to each other and committed to winning, but also wanting to get the most out of each other, which is something that I really respected and liked the idea of,” Retschko said.

“I honestly don’t think there’s much that can match being told that you’re going to play for your childhood club.”

On the outer at grand finalists Geelong, Retschko should push for AFL selection right away at the rebuilding Tigers with his ready-made frame and running capacity, which saw him clock around 14.5 kilometres each game this year on the GPS.

Striving to join the AFL ranks or the US College system with athletics as a teenager before narrowing his sights on footy, Retschko won three state and one national title in 800m and also had success in 400m and 1500m events.

But one running tradition more obscure than his Richmond move is a relic of the past.

In a sign of his running gifts, Retschko product was regularly sighted at junior and pathway games running two kilometres around the ground just to warm-up.

“It might have been halfway through my draft year I politely got told to cut it out, just because it is probably not as applicable to an AFL game when you’re running on the wing,” Retschko said with a laugh.

“I kind of used it as a way to get going and put myself in the moment. So I kind of had to find new avenues to do that over the past year, but hopefully it has worked out well enough with the footy I have played this year.”
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He presents as a very mature kid.
No doubt he will get the best out of himself.
 

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Player Watch #33 Patrick Retschko

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