Richard Tambling

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Richard Tambling
Tambling playing for NT Thunder in June 2016
Personal information
Full name Richard Tambling
Nickname(s) Bling
Date of birth (1986-09-12) 12 September 1986 (age 37)
Place of birth Northern Territory
Original team(s) Southern Districts
Draft 4th overall, 2004
Richmond
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2005–2010 Richmond 108 (61)
2011–2013 Adelaide 016 0(1)
Total 124 (62)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2013.
Career highlights

Junior

SANFL

  • Sturt best & fairest: 2012
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Richard Tambling (born 12 September 1986) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club and the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life[edit]

Tambling is from the Northern Territory, he grew up in a remote aboriginal community until the age of 13 before moving to Jabiru in Kakadu where he spent most of his childhood, he played footy as a junior but not seriously. English was not his first language growing up.[1] As a teenager he moved to Darwin, Northern Territory to live with his grandmother where he got more serious about football joined the NT Thunder program and played in the underage national championships. It was there that he was identified by talent scouts. He had long been considered a dominant player up in the Northern Territory with his explosive speed and ability to read the play; he only confirmed that status throughout the 2004 pre-season. Terry Wallace was particularly impressed, saying he and Deledio were the "best young kids in the country".

In the 2004 AFL Draft Tambling was a first round selection, the number four pick overall, and drafted to the Richmond Football Club. Richmond had the opportunity to recruit Lance Franklin, some say this was bad judgement made by the Richmond recruitment personnel.[2] In comparison to Franklin, Tambling's tenure at Richmond has been enigmatic.

AFL career[edit]

Richmond (2005-2010)[edit]

He played in 12 games in the 2005 AFL season and a further 21 in the 2006 AFL season. In the latter stages of 2005, Tambling struggled with injury, including a broken toe and a consistent hamstring problem.

By 2009 the constant criticism of the underperforming midfielder reached new heights in the round 3 match between the Western Bulldogs and the Richmond Tigers. Tambling's game was viewed by many experts as one of the worst performances of faltering career due to the amount of costly turnovers from his small total of 12 possessions. He received a bronx cheer from the Richmond fans after getting his first kick which also happened to be a turnover. Coach Terry Wallace later explained that Tambling had become a father in the two days earlier, which had affected his sleep before the match.[3] Tambling was dropped from the Richmond team for the following match against the Demons. After a week at Coburg, he returned to the AFL in arguably the best form of his career. Very influential against Sydney, Fremantle, and the West Coast Eagles, he was finally showing the ability that was expected of him with his high draft pick.

Adelaide (2011-2013)[edit]

On 6 October 2010 Tambling was traded to the Adelaide Crows in exchange for a first and a third round draft selection.[4] He was delisted at the end of the 2013 season, following 16 AFL matches over three years at the club.

State league football[edit]

After playing for Sturt in the SANFL, he has since played for the NT Thunder in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 NEAFL competitions.

Statistics[edit]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2005 Richmond 30 12 9 4 73 38 111 41 28 0.8 0.3 6.1 3.2 9.2 3.4 2.1
2006 Richmond 30 21 14 19 176 76 252 92 48 0.7 0.9 8.4 3.6 12.0 4.4 2.3
2007 Richmond 30 20 17 9 160 112 272 93 49 0.8 0.4 8.0 5.6 13.6 4.6 2.4
2008 Richmond 30 22 10 9 202 182 384 113 72 0.4 0.4 9.2 8.3 17.4 5.1 3.3
2009 Richmond 30 20 8 11 241 189 430 128 63 0.4 0.6 12.0 9.4 21.5 6.4 3.2
2010 Richmond 30 13 3 3 79 84 163 38 57 0.2 0.2 6.1 6.5 12.5 2.9 4.4
2011 Adelaide 1 10 0 0 68 77 145 36 28 0.0 0.0 6.8 7.7 14.5 3.6 2.8
2012 Adelaide 1 1 0 0 4 2 6 2 2 0.0 0.0 4.0 2.0 6.0 2.0 2.0
2013 Adelaide 1 5 1 0 36 44 80 23 15 0.2 0.0 7.2 8.8 16.0 4.6 3.0
Career[5] 124 62 55 1039 804 1843 566 359 0.5 0.4 8.4 6.5 14.9 4.6 2.9

Personal life[edit]

Richard is an Indigenous Australian and his ancestry can be traced to the Woolna, a Northern Territory tribe.[6]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Richard Tambling: A remarkable journey by Jack Hudson for the Inner Sanctum 19 November 2020
  2. ^ Le Grand, Chip (8 February 2008) Richard Tambling's hard story told with grace; The Australian
  3. ^ Matt Burgan (13 April 2009) Wallace defends quiet Tambling[dead link]
  4. ^ Katrina Gill (6 October 2010) Tiger Tambling now a Crow Archived 29 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Richard Tambling statistics". AFL Tables. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  6. ^ AFL Record. Round 9,2009. Slattery Publishing. p. 74.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Tambling.
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