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Matthew Richardson (footballer)

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Matthew Richardson
Richardson in May 2008
Personal information
Full name Matthew Richardson
Nickname(s) Richo
Date of birth (1975-03-19) 19 March 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Devonport, Tasmania
Original team(s) Devonport (TFL)
Draft Father-Son Selection, 1992
Richmond
Height / weight 197 cm / 103 kg
Position(s) Forward/ Wing
Career highlights

AFL

Representative

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Matthew "Richo" Richardson (born 19 March 1975 in Devonport, Tasmania), is a retired Australian rules footballer and current media personality who represented Richmond in the Australian Football League (AFL).

On 4 March 2014, Richardson became a member of the AFL's All Australian selection committee.[1]

Background

Richardson is known for his marking prowess, speed and work rate. He was the club's key forward through the mid-1990s and the 2000s. He led the club's goalkicking for thirteen seasons, and was selected in the All-Australian Team three times - in 1996, 1999 and 2008.

Richardson's 800 career goals currently see him ranked second behind Jack Titus at Richmond, and eleventh on the all-time list of AFL/VFL goalkickers. He also holds the record for most goals kicked without winning a Coleman Medal. He currently holds the record for the most goals kicked at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[2] Richardson was one of the most popular players in the competition, this was shown when the crowd at the 2008 Brownlow Medal cheered every vote he got. Mark Robinson from the Herald Sun wrote "M. Richardson... I'm sure there wouldn't have been a more popular winner".[3]

Football career

Educated at St. Brendan-Shaw and Don Colleges in Devonport, Tasmania, Richardson was the fourth pick (a father-son selection) in the 1992 AFL Draft, and was recruited from Devonport, Tasmania. He is the son of former Richmond and South Melbourne player Alan "Bull" Richardson.[4]

Combining a 197 centimetre frame with speed and athletic capacity for a large man, on his day he has been a dominant presence for the Tigers. He suffered a torn left ACL in Round 9, 1995 against Sydney at the SCG after he hyper-extended his left knee while landing as he was running out of bounds and crashed hard into the fence and missed the rest of the season after reconstructive surgery on his knee, including the Tigers' finals series – the Sydney Cricket Ground was forced to increase the distance between the boundary line and the fence (which at the time was as short as 2.5m in places) in response to the injury.[5] In 1996 he came back strongly, playing all 22 games and finished with 91 goals (49 behinds), earning All Australian selection for the first time. He sustained another knee injury in the pre-season of 2001, but recovered to play 22 games and kick 59 goals.

In 2004, a decision to step down from the Tigers' leadership group (the small group of senior players who help lead the club on and off-field) and focus on additional strength training paid off, with good goal-kicking form in the early part of the season including a career best 10 against the Western Bulldogs. Richardson finished with a tally of 65 goals for the season. In 2005 he kicked 65 goals again, this time with much more consistency throughout the season.

In 2007, in a match against the Essendon Football Club, Richardson played the game with a fractured eye socket and broken nose sustained only a week before. He still managed to kick four goals. In the same year, he won his first ever club best-and-fairest, beating young team-mate Nathan Foley by a single vote.

Richardson spent a large part of the 2008 season playing on the wing, rather than in the forward line, which allowed him to have a much larger part in the play than previously. Although he did not win the club best-and-fairest, he was selected on the bench in the All-Australian team and finished third in the Brownlow Medal.

In Round 6, 2009 against Sydney at the SCG, Richardson kicked his 800th career goal, becoming the eleventh player to reach the milestone in VFL/AFL history. Later in the same match, he partially tore his hamstring off the bone; he missed the remainder of the season with the injury, and announced his retirement after the season.[6] He received a rousing send-off in Round 1, 2010, appearing before the match in Richmond's season opener against Carlton.

Richardson retired in 2009 after 282 senior games for Richmond; he became an Richmond Football Club life member after playing more than 150 games for the club and an Australian Football League life member after playing more than 300 games including representative and pre-season matches. His career tally of 800 goals was the eleventh-highest at the time of his retirement, and remains eleventh-highest as at the end of the 2012 season. Richardson took a total of 2,270 marks during his AFL career, which was the second-highest of any player at the time of his retirement (since the statistic was recorded, starting in 1974).

Media career

Following his retirement at the end of the 2009 AFL Season and during parts of the 2009 AFL Season when he was injured, Matthew was an AFL expert commentator for telecast matches and a panellist on the review show 'One Week at a Time', both Network Ten shows.

As from 2010 Richardson became part of the Seven Network AFL telecast team,[7] initially as a boundary rider and then as a member of the Friday and Saturday night commentary teams, providing expert comments. He also appears on the Thursday night edition of Seven News Melbourne, to preview the weekend's AFL action, and as a panellist on Channel 7's AFL Game Day.

In 2010 Richardson joined the 3AW Football radio commentary team in a special comments role.[8]

Richardson can also works for the Richmond Football Club's media department; presenting their ‘Talking Tigers’ weekly podcast show and other videos on the club's website.

Statistics

[9]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Led the league for the season only
Led the league after finals only
Led the league after season and finals
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1993 Richmond 12 14 31 24 112 53 165 92 5 2.2 1.7 8.0 3.8 11.8 6.6 0.4
1994 Richmond 12 19 56 40 153 32 185 108 4 2.9 2.1 8.1 1.7 9.7 5.7 0.2
1995 Richmond 12 9 27 3 94 21 115 60 6 3.0 0.3 10.4 2.3 12.8 6.7 0.7
1996 Richmond 12 22 91 49 254 77 331 177 6 4.1 2.2 11.5 3.5 15.0 8.0 0.3
1997 Richmond 12 19 47 35 197 49 246 148 8 2.5 1.8 10.4 2.6 12.9 7.8 0.4
1998 Richmond 12 16 55 41 158 41 199 113 9 3.4 2.6 9.9 2.6 12.4 7.1 0.6
1999 Richmond 12 20 67 41 247 75 322 172 5 3.4 2.1 12.4 3.8 16.1 8.6 0.3
2000 Richmond 12 3 13 8 41 9 50 29 0 4.3 2.7 13.7 3.0 16.7 9.7 0.0
2001 Richmond 12 22 59 36 249 54 303 182 9 2.7 1.6 11.3 2.5 13.8 8.3 0.4
2002 Richmond 12 13 36 21 126 26 152 91 7 2.8 1.6 9.7 2.0 11.7 7.0 0.5
2003 Richmond 12 19 33 34 215 77 292 173 11 1.7 1.8 11.3 4.1 15.4 9.1 0.6
2004 Richmond 12 18 65 50 188 44 232 130 10 3.6 2.8 10.4 2.4 12.9 7.2 0.6
2005 Richmond 12 22 65 46 247 49 296 166 13 3.0 2.1 11.2 2.2 13.5 7.6 0.6
2006 Richmond 12 18 45 40 202 67 269 150 13 2.5 2.2 11.2 3.7 14.9 8.3 0.7
2007 Richmond 12 22 53 40 261 72 333 197 14 2.4 1.8 11.9 3.3 15.1 9.0 0.6
2008 Richmond 12 20 48 30 262 102 364 222 11 2.4 1.5 13.1 5.1 18.2 11.1 0.6
2009 Richmond 12 6 9 13 76 31 107 60 3 1.5 2.2 12.7 5.2 17.8 10.0 0.5
Career 282 800 551 3082 879 3961 2270 134 2.8 2.0 10.9 3.1 14.0 8.0 0.5

Achievements & Honours

AFL

Richmond

Other

Personal life

His sister, Samantha, is married to retired Hawthorn, Bulldogs and Kangaroos footballer Jade Rawlings.

References

  1. ^ Guthrie, Ben (4 March 2014). "Worsfold joins Laws of the Game committee". AFL. AFL. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  2. ^ AFL Tables - M.C.G
  3. ^ "Boss and Matthew Richardson steal Brownlow Medal show". 24 September 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Wilson, Caroline (1 May 2005). "Tiger of gold".
  5. ^ Anthony Mithen; Greg Denham (30 May 1995). "SCG acts on Tiger injury". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 48.
  6. ^ Gleeson, Michael (13 November 2009). "Richo decides to hang up boots".
  7. ^ Matthew Richardson joins Seven. TV Tonight | Retrieved 26 March 2013
  8. ^ 3AW Football team | Retrieved 25 March 2013
  9. ^ http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/M/Matthew_Richardson.html

Further reading

Richardson, Matthew; Flanagan, Martin (2010). Richo. Random House Australia. ISBN 978-1-74166-972-5

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