Fringe players urged to ‘hang in’

RICHMOND wants its outof-contract depth players to focus on Jacob Townsend’s premiership success last year to help keep their spirits high.

Coach Damien Hardwick said Townsend was completing odd jobs for cash on Airtasker, before cracking the team in Round 22 and holding his place for the whirlwind ride to the grand final.

The Tigers have close to half their list coming out of contract with the futures of many players unclear.

Premiership veterans Shaun Grigg and Bachar Houli fall into a different category, where they remain in limbo due to other list management priorities.

Emerging best 22 players Jayden Short and Callum Moore are expected to stay, while an announcement that Nathan Broad has signed a two-year contract is imminent.

Short, 22, rejected a subpar contract offer earlier this year and has been the biggest revelation in 2018, playing every game.

Fringe players including Sam Lloyd, Anthony Miles, Shai Bolton, Liam Baker, Tyson Stengle, Connor Menadue and Oleg Markov have played some brilliant VFL football but have rarely been rewarded with senior games.

Menadue returned to the side on Friday night while Miles has played just one game since Round 20 last year.

The VFL Tigers led Sandringham 59-0 at quarter-time on Sunday and sit on top of the ladder with a monster percentage of 177.8.

Lloyd, 28, has attracted some interest from the Western Bulldogs, although he is not top of their priority list.

“We’ve got some players that are playing some really good footy at VFL level,” Hardwick said.

“The hard thing for me as a coach is I’ve got guys like Sam Lloyd, Anthony Miles and Tyson Stengle, who kicked six goals last week, that I can’t get a game into.

“We know that if we’ve got some injuries or some slight concerns, those guys will come in and play a role for me, which is a great place to be in.

“It’s hard on those guys, there’s no doubt. They all want to be playing senior footy. But Jacob Townsend’s a really good example last year. All of a sudden he becomes a premiership player. So you never know when it’s your turn.”

Hardwick said most clubs were in “a similar boat” with about a dozen players out of contract.