IN THE ultimate early Christmas present for Richmond Tigers fans in Bass Coast and South Gippsland, the whole playing group turned out at a full-contact training camp at Wonthaggi on Wednesday this week.
And didn’t the fans, young and old love it.
More about the “full contact” in a moment.
CEO of the Richmond Football Club Brendan Gale was full of praise for the way the Wonthaggi Football Netball Club and the local shire, the Bass Coast Shire Council had presented the ground.
“The oval is outstanding. As good as you’d find anywhere. You could putt on this surface,” said Brendan Gale.
“It’s the ideal place to have a training camp. You’ve got the beach right here and a fantastic oval to train on. We’re just delighted to be here and it’s great yeah.
“And great to see such a big crowd of supporters and all the kids. Aren’t they supposed to be in school today,” he said with a laugh.
“The club and the community have been very welcoming and it’s great to be able to get out here into the country and meet some of our regional fans,” he said.
New General Manager of the Wonthaggi FNC Brendan Knight was just as pleased, especially as Wonthaggi was hosting his own AFL club.
“Of course I’m a bit biased but it’s great to be hosting one of the big Melbourne clubs, Richmond, Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon,” said Brendan.
“We heard that they were coming a couple of weeks ago and I’m not surprised such a big crowd has come out.
“The ground is probably as good as it can be right now, with that bit of rain we had last week and the weather perfect today.
“We’ve had some terrific feedback from the Richmond officials. They couldn’t be happier with the ground, the gym and the other facilities.
Of course, our facilities do need to be upgraded, especially for women’s football. There’s are things that we’ll be working on in the coming year.
“But as disappointed as we were losing the grand final, we also see it as another step forward and that’s the way we have been approaching it with Jarryd over the past three years.
“As long as we keep improving and keep presenting we’ll get there,” he said.
A group of students from the Bass Coast Specialist School enjoyed a nice moment with the players during the session. Premiership hero Nick Vlastuin and some of his teammates noticed the group with their bus, parked on the scoreboard side of the oval and went across and chatted with them for 10 minutes, taking selfies and signing autographs.
And as for some Richmond training notes:
* Dustin Martin was the victim of a mild training accident when he split his lip and came from the ground, much to the disappointment of the young fans, many of them there to see the triple Norm Smith Medallist. It has also been reported that Dustin was taken to hospital as a precaution with bruised or suspected broken ribs.
* Josh Gibcus was on the sidelines still recovering from his bad hamstring injury but is expected to be part of Richmond’s transition under new coach Adem Yze.
* Daniel Rioli and Maurice Junior Rioli were among the stars who turned out on the day, with big Toby Nankervis, Ben Miller, Jacob Hopper, Noah Balter, Dion Prestia, Shai Bolton… they were all there.
* Tom Lynch looked to be on light duties as he returns from injury but took part in most drills.
The playing group were put through sessions of game play and group ball-handling sessions, stopping for regular drinks on what was sunny, occasionally cloudy day but with a nice breeze blowing across the ground.
The players regularly stopped for selfies and autographs with fans but it was a fully-fledged training day as part of a weeklong camp at Inverloch, Wonthaggi and Bass Coast.
Picture top, the Richmond players enjoy a goal-kicking competition late in the session and below interact with fans later.
