New tigers built to sneak into the midfield

Riley Collier-Dawkins was the Tigers' top pick in last week's draft

THE ARRIVALS of Riley Collier-Dawkins and Jack Ross at Punt Road could announce a possible overhaul of the Richmond midfielder with the big pair of players targeted specifically for their decisive feats.

Collier-Dawkins, a 190-cm / 91-kg circuit breaker, and Ross, a well-prepared midfielder, were the Tigers' top two picks in last week's NAB AFL draft, with the club wanting increase the depth of their engine after a runway excursion. season starts.

Although both have admitted they still have some work to do, Collier-Dawkins is already higher than Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin and Kane Lambert, while Ross has a similar size and weight with a margin of growth.

They may not be playing right away in 2019, but Ross said this week that they were both encouraged to retain their character traits in contested situations, which could allow the Tigers midfielder to become stronger in the years to come.

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"Riley and I, being a little bigger, really wanted to bring in that bigger midfielder, who could fall," Ross said.

"They just want us to follow our example as we played our 18 years and throughout our juniors, which is just to have a crack and a burrow."

Ross is already excited to learn from Martin, who will resume training on Monday with the other senior Tigers players.

Both players arrived at Punt Road after spending time with former ex-Oakleigh Charger Jack Higgins.

Ross had a better overview of Higgins' project preparation when both attended Caulfield's grammar grammar – Ross in grade 10 and Higgins in grade 11 – in 2016 and were part of the school's first team.

"When he got older when he was older, he was in great shape," recalls Ross.

"As soon as he got into the AFL, he just became aware of his addictive nature and as soon as he started training, one could realize that". he was going to kiss everything and put it on the ground, which he did.

"It's pretty awesome, I've always known that he had it in him."

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Higgins played 20 games in his first year as a Tiger, which was not easy as the team had just moved from being prime minister to enjoying a blessed run with injuries all along. of the season.

And that's what midfielder / midfielder was able to do in his first season that was most excited for Ross as to what he could achieve in 2019.

"For me, I'm watching VFL and I'm progressing slowly to improve my fitness level, which is probably a little behind for now, before moving slowly to the AFL senior games," he said.

"But looking at him and the way he acted gives me hope."

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Ross has already had to overcome setbacks in his playing career after being cut off from the Vic Metro team this year after being captain under 16 in 2016.

Rather than dropping his head and giving up his drafting potential, he reacted by focusing on school footy and playing as well as he could during the TAC Cup. .

During the year, he played 12 games with the Chargers, averaging 22 possessions and five releases per game, earning him the title of best and most accurate club.

"It was a little unfortunate, being the only guy who was cut off from the subway, but you can not stay too long sitting on it, you take a week or two and you recover and you train to prove them wrong" , he said.

"I just used it as a motivator, really.

"I did not see [the best and fairest] Arriving at all, I played soccer mainly during the year at Caulfield Grammar, so I played only a handful of games.

"I was happy with my form and I probably used the fact that Vic Metro was hurt to avoid that and play like me."