Best team ever at the top level of Richmond supporters especially as kids growing up!!!

[Mr Magic]

I have for a while formed the view, right or wrong, generally Richmond supporters make better footballers and/or have a very high strike rate at the absolute upper echelon level. I have reasons to induce this however I feel it might be more appropriate to deduce this with empirical backing.

Now I think it might not be a bad idea to put this to the test possibly drawing on all our posters/readers resourcefulness. I think it would not be a bad thing for us to celebrate the Richmond supporter as the arguably the greatest producer of elite footballers quite possibly ever.

Here is a starting point of players that supported RFC before they began their VFL/AFL careers I can think of off the top of my head but I know there are a lot more and I am missing some.

Full back line

Half Back Line N Lappin L Hodge

Centre Line Bartel N Fyfe Richo

Half Forward Line De Goey

Full Forward Line

Followers: Max Gawn Tim Watson

I will not worry about interchange for the purpose of this exercise but I will note I believe Noah Anderson in this years draft is a RFC supporter and also have a question, was Bontempelli a RFC supporter before he played for the bulldogs??

Heres a link to a herald sun article but I can read it because not subscribed to it. Hopefully a poster can put there version in the thread!!!

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscr...06842697ac3f30&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium

 

[69vintage]

Bob Murphy

On SM-A520F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Nostradumbass]

Richo

 

[Mr Magic]

Richo

got Richo in there. I assume Richo must have supported the Tigers given his fathers links etc...

 

[This Is Anfield]

Wayne Harmes, Wayne Campbell. Shane Crawford

 

[Mr Magic]

Bob Murphy

On SM-A520F using BigFooty.com mobile app

We have some good half backs don't we with Lappin,
Hodge and Murphy.

I suppose depending on our side we could put Bob Murphy in as a half forward with Jordan De Goey on the other if they are good enough to not get ousted by others

 

[peterbuch74]

Article from behind the H/Sun Paywall

Best 22 of AFL players who grew up barracking for Richmond

MARCUS Bontempelli, Nat Fyfe and Luke Hodge would all be at Richmond if players could join the club they barracked for as a kid. Who else makes this fantasy Tiger team?

NAT Fyfe had a plan going into the 2009 draft camp.

“I was actually a passionate Richmond supporter when I was younger and my least favourite team was the Dockers — I absolutely hated them,” he said in 2015, the year he won the Brownlow Medal for Fremantle.

“This was to the extent that at the AFL draft camp, two weeks before the AFL draft, I was trying desperately to get in front of the Richmond recruiters, but they weren’t interested in me at all.”

Sadly for Fyfe, and Tiger fans, players don’t usually end up playing for the team they grew up barracking for.
But what if they did?

There are some lucky ones, like Taylor Hunt who went to every Richmond game from the age of four, wearing Matthew Knights’ No.33 on his back.

What if everyone in the AFL was as lucky as Hunt and could play for the team they supported?

Team line-ups would look very different — for starters, Marcus Bontempelli, Bob Murphy and Luke Hodge would all be running around in black and yellow.

We’ve compiled a best 22 for as many clubs as we could based on the teams players supported as kids, starting with the all the Tiger fans. We’ll roll out a different club each Sunday — look out for the Magpies next week.

The selection criteria gives priority to current players but wasn’t especially strict. Shane Crawford retired in 2008 but as an AFL champ and former Tiger tragic (he was devastated when he had to line up in a Little League match against Richmond), we’ve given him a spot on the bench. Next to him is Kane Johnson, who grew up supporting Richmond before playing in a premiership for Adelaide then captaining the Tigers.

We turned the clock back even further for the emergencies. Tim Watson made his debut for Essendon against the Tigers and admitted later he was awe-struck by playing against his boyhood heroes Francis Bourke, Kevin Bartlett and Kevin Sheedy. Wayne Harmes, meanwhile, says he remained a Richmond supporter even during his 169-game career with Carlton, including three premierships — one of them against the Tigers.

RICHMOND FANS BEST 22
B: Taylor Hunt, Kristian Jaksch, Jarman Impey
HB: Bob Murphy, Lachie Hansen, Luke Hodge
C: Tom Scully, Dom Tyson, Matt White
HF: Liam Sumner, Jimmy Bartel, Billy Hartung
F: Kayne Turner, Matthew Richardson, Ben Ainsworth
Ruck: Matthew Lobbe, Nat Fyfe, Marcus Bontempelli
Inter: Jono O’Rourke, Sam Weideman, Shane Crawford, Kane Johnson
Emg: Joel Bowden, Patrick Bowden, Wayne Harmes, Tim Watson

Surely they're taking the pi55 with Taylor Hunt on the field and the Bowden boys, Harmes and Watson as emergencies lol

 

[Tygrys]

Also off the top of my head, Collingwood Hall of Famer and team of the century Thorold Merrett, David Rhys-Jones, the Rocca Brothers, Hawthorn premiership player Andrew Gowers.

 

[Mr Magic]

Article from behind the H/Sun Paywall



Surely they're taking the pi55 with Taylor Hunt on the field and the Bowden boys, Harmes and Watson as emergencies lol

They must not have a lot of info either. Pretty sure Nigel Lappin followed the tigers as a kid( I read/seen somewhere), the Lions premiership player so he is an automatic in as a mid or backman. Having Watson as an emergency is ridiculous.

Thats the first time I saw that article I think. Bartlett may have been a RFC fan as a kid given how he came to the club but I am not sure. They might be talking about AFL players and not VFL players but then why include Wayne Harmes? I think Blumfield and at least one of the Wellers were tiger fans but I doubt they would make the all time list.

There is bound to be others. Matt Campbell I think was a Tigers fan as well as Campbell Brown(pretty sure seen on TV), son of Mal.

Obviously AFL HQ must not keep a record of this!!

 

[SavDog23]

Fyfe and De Goey to Tiges 2020 confirmed.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

The golden haired wonder kid from Essendrugs!

 

[thedreamisreal]

This’ a great thread

Can confirm re. the Lappins as I know a couple of the brothers; mad Richmond supporters from Chiltern.

Very interesting re. De Goey too, I can use that tidbit around the office…

 

[Mr Magic]

The golden haired wonder kid from Essendrugs!

who Hird??

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

who Hird??

That's the drug cheats name!

 

[Mr Magic]

This’ a great thread

Can confirm re. the Lappins as I know a couple of the brothers; mad Richmond supporters from Chiltern.

Very interesting re. De Goey too, I can use that tidbit around the office…

Well I heard Nigel was, I think Mathew Lappin(played for the blues) was his cousin and if he supported RFC to he would also be very handy

 

[Nuffers]

Bartlett may have been a RFC fan as a kid given how he came to the club but I am not sure.

Was a dogs supporter, I think he was within walking distance to Punt Road when he walked into the club and asked to train.

 

[Mr Magic]

That's the drug cheats name!

Well if Hird was a Tigers supporter as a kid he would probably be an automatic in as a player. When you said golden haired I thought you might have mean't the current Guelfi player in terms of the hair

 

[Mr Magic]

Was a dogs supporter, I think he was within walking distance to Punt Road when he walked into the club and asked to train.

Yeah, thats fair enough, just thought when he walked in might have been because he followed us

 

[SunshineBoy]

Tom Scully?

 

[Mr Magic]

Tom Scully?

he is in the Herald Sun list.

I thought the Herald Sun would have players from way back in its article

 

[Mr Magic]

I think the Richmond footy club, or associated group, should send memo's out to all AFL players and VFL players past and current and see if they supported RFC as a proper fan, meaning a loyal fan, not necessarily a member but not a johnny come lately either, and see the response they get. If the response is significant I think the fns would be interested to see what their fellow RFC fans achieved in their footy journey.

As part of the next main club function or a side function they should host a team of the century for richmond fans of past richmond fans that where VFL/AFL players not necessarily for the RFC club and depending on numbers, could even have a annual best 22 of the year!! Have a dinner, get pissed, reminisce over past glory like certain RFC premierships visuals/replays. Life RFC club members can be invited along if where not initial fans(eg. premiership players of RFC etc). The club could do it beginning of the season to boost membership if it wanted!! Effectively being a RFC fan celebration. I am sure they would not be short of speakers

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

 

[Listclogger]

Can confirm Noah Anderson (son of Dean - ex Hawks/Saints) is a Tiges fan.

 

[Phar Ace]

Joel Bowden surely was a staunch Richmond Supporter

 

[Nobby]

Was told Fevola was a Tigers fan growing up, same story said his mate was Chris Newman who was a Blues supporter??