Was mainly a CHF. Frawley beefed him up and tried to turn him into a FF but his kicking made that sort of pointless. Was much better when he was up and about. Kicked 91 goals as a 21 year old CHF/FF coming off a knee reconstruction. Think he has the record for the most contested marks in history. Wore his heart on his sleeve, which is why we loved him. Even laughed when he missed a sitter. Great character/player.
Matthew Richardson
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I seem to recall much of Richardson's early career being at full forward. Yet I continually see him getting rated against CHFs.
Am I remembering this incorrectly?
Am I remembering this incorrectly?
Wayne Campbell may have played soft (also very smart) footy for at the start of his career, but his back half was not soft at all. Became quite an in and under footballer and deserve his 4 best and fairest and 2 All Australian honours. Misunderstood and under-rated player.
Luv_our_club
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Dont disagree that we love him. He was the first player I ever saw that stood out on the ground for his ridiculous body shape... like a race horse... and i was watching in the 80s. The second was Kouta.
But, even though not being a Richmond supporter, i watched him normally playing from the goal square much more than CHF. I don't rate Brown as a CHF either. Or Kernahan. The true CHF's are few, and Richo wasn't one.
Can't you remember him yelling at him team from the forward 20?
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Richardson would be top 10 for Richmond IMO. In saying that I do feel he is slightly overrated on bigfooty when I see some names people rate him above in other threads.
Full marks for being entertaining, but labeling such a loose cannon needs to work against you a bit in ranking against others.
Exaggeration. If he'd had e.g. Josh Kennedy's conversion rate he'd have kicked ~860 instead of 800.
As are the examples of him cracking the shits. He did it a few times, it was a poor look and he was once dropped for it. But mostly he just tried his guts out.
Went out on top with 31 Brownlow votes from his last 28 games. No other retiring player is even in the same ballpark.
He was named on a HFF in a lot of his early games. Certainly to the point when he was named in the Richmond TOTC in 1998 (also at HF).
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I noticed that. Also looked at his all Australian selections. Out of his three all Australian selections one was in the forward pocket and the other two were on the interchange bench. One of those interchange spots included his 2008 season on the wing though.
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I saw Richo eat chicken after his career.
Power Raid
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Definitely one of the AFLs best ever and definitely in the tigers top 10.
To think he achieved what he did, after injuries and within a side that wasn’t always firing on all cylinders.
To think he achieved what he did, after injuries and within a side that wasn’t always firing on all cylinders.
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I have seen people put him above Tredrea on this site before. What is your opinion on one vs the other?
AcuteWhistle
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Hahaha...I like Richo but he was a serial offender when it came to losing the plot at teammates for many seasons, not that I'm saying he didn't have cause, the delivery he was getting much of the time would drive any forward spare. But it was hardly 'a few times'.
LMAO. You are picking up a few isolated incidents in a career that spanned 18 years. You sound like a s**t bloke yourself with the vitriol against him and with only 182 posts you are just in your first season of BigFooty.
Nah.
"The great thing about Matthew Richardson was that when you went out there with him, you knew what you were going to get. He was a work machine, his effort and attitude was always sensational on-ground. The highs were magnificent with the big marks and the goals around the corner and even the mercurial things that went wrong, but then you saw Richo reflecting for the next three or four seconds on-field - that was even as entertaining.
He'd give you everything and eight out of 10 times things went really well for him. The odd one that didn't, everyone in the stadium knew about it and Richo knew about it and I think that's why he's so dear to all fans across Australia. He's an entertainer and he's a great footballer.
He was a very team-oriented player. On the training track he would urge people along and encourage people and he was a brilliant athlete himself... Even though at times he looked like he was in despair and the world was going to cave in, you always knew he was there for the team.
He wore his heart on his sleeve and represented the Richmond Football Club with magnificent energy, grace and determination."
- Matthew Knights
https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/richardson-one-of-the-best-knights-ng-ya-230525
Why does richo get such a free pass on the ‘being in a crap team with crap delivery’ stuff? He’s not the first forward in history to have to deal with crap delivery.
I think his visible frustration has people thinking he hard a much harder time than he actually did. His ability to deal with frustration, compared to others, was really poor.
But I always loved watching him and I’m glad he brought some character to the game - I just don’t want that to be confused with him overcoming more hardship than others.
I think his visible frustration has people thinking he hard a much harder time than he actually did. His ability to deal with frustration, compared to others, was really poor.
But I always loved watching him and I’m glad he brought some character to the game - I just don’t want that to be confused with him overcoming more hardship than others.
Power Raid
We Exist To Win Premierships
Both greats of the game but the stats speak for themselves.....and Richo wins.
Richo was more mobile for longer, both great leading marks but Richo was better overhead and both great down low for big men.
Richo’s goal tally is super impressive and the calls re his temper and goal kicking yips are real. But put into perspective, compare Richo’s goal kicking accuracy to Carey’s and without looking myself, I dare say Richo fares well.
So yes Richo for me!
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If comparing as CHF it is not close and Tredrea would be ahead. Richardson was never an All Australian FF or CHF. Tredrea was a 4 time AA CHF.
He was the most selfish player I ever saw, even though he was a good player it always revolved around him. It’s no surprise he didn’t have much team success in his time.
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He did miss a couple of years from memory through injury so who knows about the 1000 mark
I don't think it's a free pass but I think some players definitely do it a bit harder at times in a bad side. Daisy Thomas is a classic example. He was great at Collingwood but he was surrounded by an A class midfield. He goes to Carlton where he then has to carry the load and be the top dog in the middle and it just doesn't work. Some players will only be at the top of their game in a good side where as other will play well anywhere.
Yep Richo did have a knee reconstruction.
Also a Lisfranc injury which wiped out his 2000 season. He said recovery from that was tougher than from the knee. Had a lot of hamstring problems afterwards as a result. Couple of broken arms, broken face... there was an article in the HS about his injuries with a diagram and arrows pointing all over the place.
The inference was that would've had 1000+ but for shitty kicking.
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