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Nathan Brown celebrates his new life as a Richmond player at the MCG last week and, below, shares a joke with Dermott Brereton.
Dermott Brereton talks to Richmond's gun recruit Nathan Brown on moving clubs and the scourge of taggers.
DB: I thought you loved the Bulldogs. What made you decide to leave?
NB: What made me decide to leave was the fact that I felt that I needed a change. I wasn't enjoying my football any more. I wasn't enjoying where I was. It's not to say I didn't like where I was, but I just wasn't enjoying it and I decided that if you're not enjoying something you may as well not be there and I thought the best thing for me was to move on.
Why Richmond?
The way they put forward the club to me, in to what they did, hands-on approach and what they could offer me on and off the field. At the end of the day I looked at their list and I thought with the players they had there to be sitting third on the ladder after eight rounds last year, I thought they had every talent in the team to make the finals.
Now, if Terry Wallace was still coaching at the Bulldogs, would you still be there?
Ummm. Gee, that's a tough question, Dermott. Er, well, I don't think he would have let me leave, put it that way.
Greg Miller, what part did he play in getting you over to Richmond?
He and Spud were the main two to get me across to Richmond. He was telling me basically what he could offer me, where he thought the club was heading and how Richmond could benefit from having a player with my ability at the club.
What do you see from the inside of the ground as the main difference between the Bulldogs and Richmond?
Actually playing-wise, I think Richmond have got so many better taller options than the Bulldogs had, and that's taking nothing away from Darcy and Grant who are champions in their own right, but they've got so many more taller options which allows me to play a different role and not have too much pressure on playing up forward. It allows me to go into the midfield, it allows me to play half-forward and half-back and probably the major reason why I went there was opportunity ... I mean, we had a hard year (at the Bulldogs in 2003) and I guess every player there felt like that. Darce was the only big man playing at the time. Westie was the only guy getting 30 possessions every week and Johnno was getting tagged every week. There was a lot of pressure to kick goals and try and kick a winning score and then when I was missing, I was getting more frustrated.
Now, for somebody with such good touch on their feet when you kick the ball, how come you miss so many goals?
Well, I put it down to - and Brian Taylor actually showed me this - where I was getting the ball compared to where I was the year before. I was getting the ball near the boundary line. Because of my size and having bigger guys playing on me, I wasn't strong enough to be leading up the middle and I found myself leading to the boundaries to get the ball, so less chance to kick a goal from the boundary than what you are directly in front. The year before that, when I was playing on guys my size, I was allowed to lead up the middle and it was a lot easier.
Not playing the role of Dr Pink on The Footy Show. Do you miss out on earning potential because of your withdrawal from that?
Yes, I probably miss out on a little bit but I just have to pick that up in other ways. At the end of the day, the club didn't want me to do it and it was my first year at the club and I can understand why that would be, so I had to honour their wishes.
But do you still want to do it?
If they did a backflip and said, "Look, you know, go for your life", I would still be Dr Pink.
One of the rumours circulating is that you were in healthy discussions with Richmond about compensating you for the loss of those earnings.
Those rumours are unfounded and totally untrue.
Are you annoyed that you can't do it right now, though?
The acting role? Well, it's something I would have enjoyed. I wouldn't say I'm annoyed at it. Probably the best thing, looking at Crawford's mid-season last year, he had a lot of pressure on him and I don't think playing Hank Bolger had anything to do with Shane and Hawthorn playing bad football at all. But, seeing the pressure he was under, I probably don't need that.
What about Danny Frawley? How has he struck you as a person and a coach?
As a person, first of all he's been terrific to me. Totally honest the whole way through. Told me where he thought the club can go and what he could offer me and what the club could offer me. He wears his heart on his sleeve, very emotional and he played his football that way and he gives it everything he can. And as a coach, he admitted to me when we were first talking that he had a downer perhaps last year, he didn't know what to do when the club was going bad and he learned from that and he's going to be a better coach from that. And from what I've seen so far, he gets his structures right, it's just the players sticking to those structures - that's going to be the key. And if a bloke with that much, I guess, emotion for the club and passion can stand in front of us and give speech after speech like he does, I think the players will respond to it.
The best player in the league. Who is it and, if you were running a football club, what would you pay him?
I'd probably pay the best player in the league around $600,000 a year ... the best player in the league at the moment is Nathan Buckley, just because week after week he's tagged, he's sent the best tagger, he gets 30 positions each week, he does his job, he tries to bring his other players into it - he leads well, which is something that he probably struggled with four or five years ago but he's turned that right around to be probably the most dominant player in the competition.
What about taggers: do they need to be umpired out of the game or are they part of it?
I think they're a part of the game. I think taggers who do their job and then get the ball, I think they've got every place in the game and Brett Kirk does that beautifully. But players who scrag and kick and don't even look at the ball, don't get a possession for the day, I'm not going to say they don't get a place in the game but I think the umpire's got to look at that sort of thing a bit closer. But I'd never want to bag a tagger to give him any extra incentive to beat me on the day.
Well, don't you think he's trying his best anyway?
Yeah, he's going to be trying his best anyway but I admire Jason Akermanis's courage to come out and bag taggers. You can do that when you've won three premierships and a Brownlow Medal. I haven't won any premierships and I haven't won a Brownlow Medal or a best and fairest so I might just stick to what I'm doing at the moment.
If you had to sum up your character, personality, how would you describe yourself?
I think it's not for me ... Loves a good time and up for anything new.
You took a while to answer that. Does that mean you don't understand yourself?
No, it's very hard to describe yourself on tape. You don't want to sound like a ****er or big-headed or anything. Other footballers will be reading this and they'll think: 'Oh, he's a f--kwit, isn't he?'
Tell us about Richo. I watched you two work off each other the other night. If I'd have turned up at the ground and seen you guys, I would've thought you'd played 100 games together.
Yeah, we've been working very hard over the process and I knew Richo before I went over to Richmond and one of the main reasons I went there was because he decided he was going to stay.
We've been working down in the forward line all summer on a few things. I think he likes me kicking it to him and I like him handballing it to me in the goal square.
I think the better you get along with players the better you're going to team up on the ground ... you look at Carlton and Hawthorn in the '80s; I think from what you hear they were very good mates and if you're mates on and off the field, you're a lot better on the field.
Do you guys get together and form strategies before a game during the week?
Yeah, well, we talk fairly regularly at training, when we're actually training and talk about a few things, a few moves. We have forward-line meetings and me and Richo sometimes have individual meetings with our forward coach, Darren Crocker, and we talk about a few strategies that maybe he can use down there which worked after one week, but there's still 21 games to go.
Last Friday against Collingwood in the forward pocket, city end, you walked up and you looked like you were steering Richo where to kick the ball. Was that a ruse so he could handball off to you or did it just unfold that way?
Yeah, I actually went over to settle him down and I noticed that my man, Jimmy Clement, was on the mark and I thought, 'There's a helluva lot of space there.' So I said to Richo, 'You handball this to me, I can snap it on the left' and he goes, 'Good plan. Can you guarantee me?' I missed. But it was a good plan ...
When you get the ball in the midfield, what is the first thing you think - Richo?
Yeah, naturally it is because he's such a presence down there. When you get it, you look for him. A lot of the times he's two-on-one and when we can have someone like Ty Zantuck floating down there, I guess that's where we're going to be a better club, when blokes can get the ball in the midfield and, if Richo's there, hit him but if he's not, you've got to go elsewhere, not just bang it into a guy and ... that's never going to work.
How good could Richo be as a player?
Richo, if he keeps - his pre-season's been fantastic - if he could keep (his) concentration up for a whole season and remain injury-free and kick straight, I think he could kick over 100 goals. I think he could mark the ball 200 times for the year and go close to winning the Brownlow. There's a lot of pressure on him but ...
So you don't think we've seen the best of him yet?
No I don't he's peaked. He's had a lot of injuries as everyone knows and he's had a few up-and-down seasons, but I think just the way his mind has been switched on and talking to a few guys who've been there for a few years, like Wayne Campbell, they say it's the best they've ever seen his mental preparation. He's an amazing talent and I couldn't see why he couldn't lead us into a finals series and, hopefully, a premiership.
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/04/01/1080544626859.html
