Pat Richards has returned to the NRL after an eight-year absence and it’s like he never left.
The winger joined Wests Tigers for the 2014 season after a long stint in the Super League with Wigan.
In just three games this campaign, he is already making his mark.
Richards scored his first try this season with his first touch back in the NRL, four minutes into the Round 1 fixture against the Dragons.
He added four from four conversions in that game, although the Tigers went down to St George-Illawarra.
Next weekend he was a standout in the club’s thrashing of the Gold Coast Titans.
He scored a try again in the fourth minute, then grabbed his second 27 minutes later, and kicked seven from eight goals.
On Friday night, when the Tigers upset Souths, he recovered from a head knock to score just after half-time and kick two from four attempts.
So that’s four tries, 13 from 16 with the kicking tee and a points total of 42 from three games.
Wow.
Older footy fans will remember Richards back when he broke into the NRL with Parramatta in 2000.
He went on to make 37 appearances for the Eels, scoring 14 tries, over four seasons.
He was an important part of Parramatta’s great team of 2001 that included Jamie Lyon, Nathan Hindmarsh, Brett Hodgson, Jason Taylor, Luke Burt, Nathan Cayless, Michael Vella, PJ Marsh and Andrew Ryan.
That season the Eels slayed everyone – winning 20 of their regular season games and finishing as minor premiers with the best attack and defence in the comp.
Unfortunately, they were ambushed in the first half of the 2001 decider by the Knights and couldn’t recover, but Richards missed that game with a broken leg.
Like a lot of the talented Parra youngsters in those days he soon left the club. Another one that got away for the blue and gold.
He joined Wests Tigers and, in just his second year, won the comp with Benji Marshall, Robbie Farah and co.
It was his famous try, courtesy of that sublime Marshall flick pass, that sealed the game for the joint venture.
At that point Richards was becoming one of the best wingers in the NRL.
Tall, strong and fast, with a great fend (Rod Jensen is still probably feeling it), he was a weapon on the wing.
He recorded 26 tries in just 39 games for Wests.
And then, in an instant, with that shock grand final success at the Tigers, he was gone.
Two years at Wigan would turn into eight, and the western Sydney product would cement a legacy as one of the best players in the Super League.
In the UK he won everything on offer – grand finals, Challenge Cup finals, the Man of Steel award, and the Albert Goldthorpe medal.
Oh, and he did this:
That is not your everyday field goal.
He broke record after record in Wigan, played for the Exiles and for Ireland in two World Cups, and ended with a try-scoring rate of 167 four-pointers in 224 appearances.
He simply became one of the best imports to ever play at the famous British club, and one of the most prolific Aussies to have graced the UK’s shores.
Good under the high ball, a dead-eye kicker of penalties and field goals, tough and versatile, Richards is the complete package as a winger.
Now at 32 years of age he is back where it all started, back in the NRL.
But it makes we wonder, what would have been had he stayed in Australia?
How many NSW jerseys, and possibly Australian jumpers, would he have worn?
Would he have featured in more grand finals and broken Australian point-scoring records?
Yes, he was/is that good.
An Australian jersey might have been a little bit of a stretch but he is certainly good enough to have been a Blue over the past eight years.
In that period NSW have selected David Williams, Nathan Merritt, Michael Gordon, Akuila Uate, Matt King, Eric Grothe Jr, Anthony Quinn, Steve Turner, Jarryd Hayne, Brett Morris, James McManus and Blake Ferguson.
Richards sits comfortably in that company.
The winger has found success wherever he has gone and has enjoyed himself.
In fact, we should rejoice that we finally have Pat Richards back in the NRL. Wests Tigers fans certainly are.
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
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