Why Taranto and Richmond is a match made in heaven

Tim Taranto may be the most fortunate player in the AFL.

For a variety of reasons, mostly through no fault of his own, his career has stagnated after his 2019 best-and-fairest win at just 21 years of age.

Since that point, he never quite recaptured that form the hyped him all the way up to the second pick in the 2016 draft and had him high in the Giants’ estimations in the formative stages of his career.

There were always murmurings that Taranto may return to Victoria at some stage in his career but for all intents and purposes, he was happy at GWS and it was the club who felt he was most expendable as they enter a new chapter.

Certainly the way the 24-year-old has been used recently would indicate that they were happy to field offers.

Richmond answered the call and in doing so, have created the most beneficial scenario we’ll see in the 2022 trade period for all parties.

Taranto is exactly what the Tigers needed to solidify their return to relevance, with a sustained finals run targeted for the next number of seasons.

They’ve recruited a player who has been played out of position for two seasons, but one with a lot of potential.

We only need look at that best-and-fairest-winning season in a Grand Final team to see what he brings to the table – Taranto averaged 27.7 disposals, 6.3 tackles, 5.2 clearances and 4.6 marks per game.

Those basic numbers are nice, but it’s the pressure that the midfielder can bring to the table that really excites the Richmond fan base.

In 2019, he averaged 25.1 pressure acts per game, which included 12.7 in the defensive half. That ranked him seventh and third respectively out of all midfielders in the AFL and it’s that commitment to the team structure that really enticed the Tigers.

Even in 2022 in a different role, Taranto ranked 12th for defensive half pressure acts and was rated elite all-round in the overall metric.

Yet much of what Taranto is going to bring to Richmond is hypothetical for now, rather than a concrete reality.

Given we’ve mentioned recent seasons, it’s important to note that right now, Taranto is a solid midfielder who has limitations that never really meshed in GWS’ system, despite some individual success experienced.

How much credit you want to give the former Giants’ coach will depend on whether you believe that the 24-year-old’s position as a forward and outside midfielder over the last two seasons was for development or because he’d been written off as a player, but neither gave Taranto an opportunity to succeed strongly.

If you were to redraft the 2016 crop of players right now, it’s highly unlikely Taranto would be taken second and there’s a chance he’d even slide outside the top five.

Between 2018 and 2021, Taranto was rated as a below average kick. Just how bad was it? Well, in 2021 he spent more time in attack and his kicking efficiency was 50.5 per cent, clearly his highest over that period of time.

Absolutely, inside midfielders tend to be given a little more leeway given how congested stoppages tend to be and extraction is less of an art form and more a showing of brute force, but to consistently hit the target with less than half of his kicks was a big issue for Taranto at GWS.

It’s even worse if you consider that technically, the Giants weren’t really using him as an inside midfielder. In 2019, he had a kicking efficiency of 48.4 per cent, despite collecting 59.4 per cent of his possessions in an uncontested manner. It certainly passed the eye test.

Jacob Hopper, Richmond’s other target, is as pure as it gets for an inside midfielder and has always been GWS’ preferred option in that regard.

The other of Taranto’s limitations which came to light and was particularly restrictive is that his forward craft just hasn’t been developed enough by the Giants, and his use in that role felt more of a spontaneous move rather than anything planned.

Given his prolificity offensively as a junior, it seemed like Leon Cameron just hoped it would click.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )

It doesn’t quite work like that. His accuracy in front of goal in the last five seasons is below 40 per cent too, not fantastic.

All of this is to provide context behind the fact that really, Taranto isn’t the A-grade midfielder Richmond supporters are celebrating. Right now, that is.

The reality of the situation is that we haven’t really seen the best of what the seventh-year player has to offer.

It’s why for all three parties, this is such a perfect move overall.

GWS secured picks 12 and 19, before father/son selections and compensation picks are handed out. It’s seemingly a step backwards to be collecting a bunch of picks, but a refresh is clearly needed and with a new coach at the helm, it’s as good a package as they could’ve hoped for.

Let’s not forget that the Giants aren’t losing a key midfield mover from their perspective – where it was due to injury or simply falling out of love, Taranto had fallen behind the likes of Tom Green, Stephen Coniglio, Harry Perryman, Hopper and even Callan Ward for centre bounce attendances.

In a nice draft with great depth, these are significant assets to receive.

Of course on the flip side, there’ll be some division in the Richmond fan base about giving up two top-20 picks in a deal that hasn’t involved Hopper as well.

To receive a player taken so highly in the draft with a strong enough resume to suggest stagnation, rather than regression has occurred, assets had to have been given up.

Plus, as lucrative as draft picks can be, they’re speculative, which rings true the further down the draft board you go.

Also, to counter any criticism of Richmond trading away their future in this and any prospective deal for Hopper, let us not forget the Tigers’ intelligent trading that resulted in five top-30 selections in 2021, three of whom played senior footy already.

While the Giants don’t feel like they’ve lost a significant piece, Richmond has gained their big midfield piece of the future, which really ties into the third and most important party that has benefitted greatly, the player himself.

The Tigers have given Taranto a long-term contract on good money to be their main guy.

(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

For the first time in his career, we’ll see him playing 80 per cent midfield with only shorter spurts up forward, where as a rotational piece as the fourth or fifth target, there’s more opportunity for him to do damage.

Taranto’s kicking issues may have been detrimental to his career at GWS, but are entirely irrelevant in a Richmond team that only wants to take space. There’s no reliance on hitting up targets accurately. It’s a swarm mentality where the midfielders simply need to get the ball forward.

Damien Hardwick finally has a taller midfielder that can do some grunt work, while the small likes of Dion Prestia, Shai Bolton, Tyler Sonsie and Liam Baker can do as they please. Dustin Martin and Trent Cotchin are peripheral members of the midfield group now.

And finally, the defensive commitment Taranto has shown in his career only furthers the value he brings to a team that is built on pressure and suffocation of the opposition.

Targeting Hopper is to add cream on top of the Tigers’ midfield, a true contested beast that will protect the 24-year-old and his new teammates.

After a few years just floating around the Giants’ team, Taranto has landed at the most perfect destination for the type of player he is.

At draft time, there was speculation that he could become one of the game’s best midfielders.

At the end of the 2022 season at GWS, it looked like his potential had been capped against his own will.

He will now spend the majority of his career as a prime midfield mover at the Richmond Football Club, who will give him every chance to realise his full potential.

Expect big thing out of a player who hasn’t even entered his prime, at a club looking for more success going forward.

Tim Taranto at the Tigers is the perfect landing spot for both parties and the rewards will be enormous.