'Poaching Ted one of my best calls'

Sydney Swans defender Ted Richards will this week play his 200th AFL match against Collingwood. Picture: Phil Hillyard Source: Philip Hillyard / DailyTelegraph

TED Richards' journey at Sydney began at a simple recruiting meeting towards the end of the 2005 season.

While projecting where the Swans were heading, it was suggested to break up the list into inside mids, outside mids, small forwards and backs, and key-position players.

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Once the discussion about where each player would fit was finalised and the magnets properly adjusted, almost to a man we agreed there was a glaring hole in our depth in the key defensive posts.

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The next stage was to see who might be available and our attention quickly turned to an Essendon player who was constantly in and out of the Bombers' line-up.

He appeared to be athletic and had shown glimpses of being able to hold down a key position at AFL level.

As we look back on it now, it was one of the best moves the club and Ted made as we swapped pick 19 for the inconsistent Bomber defender - who tonight plays his 200th game against Collingwood.

In the early days it was evident Teddy lacked confidence. Even when I told him that he was in our best 22, and the spot was his to lose, I could tell he didn't really believe me.

By his own admission in the papers this week, he always felt he was a game or two away from being dropped at the Swans.

This was certainly not unusual for the players the Swans recruited from other clubs. Many had spent time in the seconds and were down on confidence when they arrived.

Coaches had countless discussions with Ted about believing in himself.

Even when he started to become a good player during his early time at Sydney, this didn't lead to a confidence that he had become a regular AFL player.

The 2010 season seemed to be the turning point. After being dropped during the year he came back and played well towards the end of the season and earned a new contract.

There is no doubt that the 2012 Grand Final showed the player that Ted has become.

After a very tough battle with "Buddy" Franklin in the first three quarters, he could have easily dropped his bundle and in fact this would more likely have happened in the early part of his career with the Swans.

But the now-confident Richards went on to be one of the Swans' most important players in the last quarter, reading the ball and winning critical contests. As Ted runs out tonight he has established himself as one of the most popular members of the team.

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His teammates, coach and everyone at the Swans would be so pleased and proud of him that he has become the player we all thought he could be.

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Collingwood is coming off its best win of the season and will put fear in the top-four teams. After an outstanding four-quarter performance against Essendon, we are aware Collingwood's best can win the premiership.

Nathan Buckley will know that as good as last week was, there is no greater challenge than playing the Swans.

As a football fan you would love to see Collingwood maintain its form of last week. This would guarantee a cracking game tonight.

Teddy Richards will be right in the mix as Ben Reid looks to have joined Travis Cloke as a very dangerous one-two punch in attack.

The strength of the Swans' two key defenders in Richards and Heath Grundy is their ability to help each other by zoning off their direct opponent and getting to the key tall. This becomes so much harder with Reid now forward alongside Cloke.

Reid has a great ability to lead to dangerous areas and will either mark or take his opponent away from Cloke and open up a one on one for the big man deep in the goalsquare.

We saw this constantly last week and Cloke enjoyed more one-on-one contests against the Bombers than perhaps any other game this season.

I get the feeling that won't happen tonight because his opponent will have help from one of the best defenders in the competition.

In his 200th game, I hope Ted Richards finally believes that too.

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