The big questions about Richo

They are two questions guaranteed to keep Richmond supporters awake at night. How would we have got through the last two decades without Matthew Richardson? And what happens when he’s gone?

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Since making his senior AFL debut in 1993, the Tigers have played in only two finals series in the Richardson era.

And he was forced to watch the first of those from the sidelines in 1995 after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in a mid-season clash with Sydney.

Throughout a period marked by regular on-field failure as a club, time and again it has been Richardson who has provided the ray of hope.

A haul of 778 goals and counting in 268 games tell only a fraction of the story.

As do a record 12 club goalkicking titles, two All Australian jumpers and five top-two finishes in the Richmond best and fairest.

Or a peerless capacity to take contested marks and an astonishing aerobic capacity for a man weighing more than 100kg.

More than anything, it’s his heart.

Every Tigers fan can see just how much Richardson wants to win every contest.

Because in the most meaningful sense, he too has always remained a fan of the club, having grown up in Tasmania listening to the tales of his father Alan “Bull” Richardson, a much-loved member of the 1967 premiership team.

The father-son rule brought Richardson to Punt Road in the early 1990s and he’s never really looked like leaving, no matter how dire things got on the field.

He’s played under five coaches and five captains and given his best for all of them.

And as Robert Walls – who had the top job at Punt Road for a couple of seasons in the mid 1990s – acknowledges, it’s only this year that he has been used to his optimum on the field.

By starting Richardson on the wing with the licence to push deep into the forward line or back into defence when needed, coach Terry Wallace has him playing career-best footy at the age of 33.

He’s currently fourth favourite for the Brownlow and is finally earning the plaudits from the wider football community, who are lauding him for his many strengths rather than castigating him for an occasional dummy-spit.

So how much longer can he keep going?

Tigers football director Greg Miller draws a parallel with the remarkable John Blakey, who sits seventh on the AFL alltime list with 359 games for Fitzroy and North Melbourne.

“I remember doing one-year contracts with John Blakey five or six years in a row, every year thinking it could be his last,” said Miller, a former Kangaroos chief executive.

“John just kept going for ever.

“We’re already well down the track with (Richardson’s next contract extension).

“That will happen on a year-by-year basis from now on, which everyone is happy with.”

Injuries permitting, the end is not necessarily in sight for Richardson.

As recently as last Sunday, he was the Tigers’ match-winner with an 18-mark, five-goal haul against Melbourne.

And no-one would begrudge him some long-overdue team success before he goes.

But a succession plan is starting to take shape.

Second-year player Jack Riewoldt – the cousin of St Kilda captain Nick – already looks the part, while Cleve Hughes seems ready to make an impact in his third year, with 11 goals in the last two weeks in the VFL.

Jay Schulz and Graham Polak have been in the system longer, but are both still in their early 20s and can be used at both ends of the ground.

“We’ve recruited some key forwards and key big men to aim for, they’re competing at the moment and it’s a very healthy environment,” said Miller.

“With Richo not being in the forward line as much, it’s opening up opportunities for these guys to show us what they’re worth.”

Further down the track, 2007 national draftees Dean Putt and David Gourdis are long-term key forward prospects.

It almost goes without saying that Richardson is a one-off, which is why fans of all ages can be heard loudly singing “Richoman” – to the tune of the Village People’s Macho Man – after all Richmond victories.

At least when the sad day comes, the club has some options to fill the void, even if they can not replace the irreplaceable one.

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