Tigers scent glory
ELEVEN seasons since being drafted to Punt Rd, Shane Edwards can’t help but daydream of grand final glory for Richmond.
“I’m running around the oval celebrating,” he said yesterday. “I can’t control it.”
Grounding himself, Edwards maintains he and his Tiger teammates are taking it one game at a time.
Tomorrow afternoon, the 28-yearold will run out for the first preliminary final of his 205-game career. Alongside him will be at least three others from Richmond’s bountiful draft class of 2006.
Jack Riewoldt was taken with pick 13 by the Tigers, while Edwards was snapped up with the club’s second selection at 26.
Three other 2006 draftees have since made their way to Punt Rd and remain important figures at the club.
Bachar Houli, Essendon’s No.42 pick, joined the Tigers seven seasons ago. Carlton’s top two selections after first choice Bryce Gibbs – Shaun Hampson and Shaun Grigg – are also now Tigers.
Back-up ruckman Hampson has had an injury-cruelled campaign and is unlikely to earn a senior recall, but the other four are only one win away from maiden AFL grand final appearances.
Edwards said he wanted to see if the reality matched the dream.
“You can’t really control what you dream about. It happens every now and then, and you wake up and you say ‘no, it’s the process’,” he said. “At the club we say ‘why not us?’ ... We saw last year with the Bulldogs (the premiers) can come from anywhere. “(Our message) is not necessarily ‘this is our time’ but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be.”