PORT ADELAIDE defender Troy Chaplin has put his hand up for the big job on Richmond match-winner Matthew Richardson when the Power and Tigers do battle at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
Richardson almost single-handedly beat Melbourne last week, with his 21 possessions, 18 marks and five goals helping the Tigers to a 22-point win.
Chaplin has taken on big names like Nick Riewoldt and Jonathan Brown in the past and says he has the engine to run with the in-form Tiger.
“I’d love to take Richo,” Chaplin said on Wednesday.
“He’s a superstar of the AFL. He’s been in great form this year and it’s been well documented that he’s probably one of the favourites for the Brownlow. If you watched on the weekend, he took 18 marks, kicked five goals and took six intercept marks inside the opposition’s forward 50m. He’s just all over the place.
“I’d be more than happy to take him, but I think that Alipate Carlile could do the job or Chad Cornes could go there too.
“He’s someone we definitely need to worry about because when a guy takes 18 marks and kicks five goals, there’s your match-winner straight away.”
Chaplin, who is considered a future leader of Port Adelaide, said the players had looked to a teammate outside the official leadership group for inspiration over the past few weeks.
Footage of ruckman Dean Brogan imploring his teammates to lift at three-quarter time last week has been given plenty of airplay and Chaplin said Brogan had been fantastic in boosting the morale of the group.
Brogan even initiated a 'joke-around' session involving only the players prior to Wednesday’s main training session.
“I think Dean Brogan has lead by example over the past few weeks. The intensity he’s come to training with and the way he tries to get the group up – everyone is starting to buy into that now. We realise that’s what we have to do to get the group up and going,” Chaplin said.
“When the chips are down and there are guys trying to bring each other up, it’s just fantastic. Dean is one guy the playing group has looked to and he’s delivered.
“He’s playing good football and he’s backing what he says up. If he has a crack at you on the ground, you listen because he’s the one who is backing up. If he says, ‘Put your head over the ball’, you know you’ve got to do it because he does it every time.”
Chaplin believed the emergence of leaders from outside the official group was a positive rather than a slur on the Power’s six-man leadership group: Warren Tredrea, Brendon Lade, Dom Cassisi, Shaun Burgoyne and Chad and Kane Cornes.
“I’m not saying that the leaders aren’t doing it (inspiring players), but it’s great for someone outside of the leadership group, to do it,” Chaplin said.
“You look to the leadership group all the time to innovate things and to motivate the group. For someone outside the group to do that is absolutely fantastic.
“You can’t rely on these six or eight guys in the leadership group all the time. You know they are going to play consistent footy. Yes, they’ll have games where they’re not going to be great and that’s when we need the guys below them, like Dean Brogan, to step up.”
