Blair Hartley declared at the start of the trade period Richmond wants “hungry” players.
One day later, the Club acquired someone who perfectly fits that billing. Nathan O’Driscoll.
The former Fremantle wingman, who played 17 games with the minor premiers this season, joined the Tigers on Tuesday in exchange for pick 61.
And the 24-year-old is coming to the Swinburne Centre with a point to prove.
“I'm hungry as because I got dropped for the [Grand Final], I didn't get traded for a heap, and I want to prove Richmond right,” O’Driscoll told Richmond Media.
“They've taken a punt on me and I'm going to be worth their time. I'm hungry to get success, not only for the Richmond fans and the Richmond people, but just for the boys as well.
“I want to win footy. I don't want to go there and for us to be uncompetitive. I'm ready to win.”
It has been a whirlwind 24 hours for O’Driscoll, who explained just how quickly the terms of the deal between the Tigers and Dockers was agreed upon.
“[Tuesday] I got back [to Perth], [on Monday] I came over [to Richmond], and I had a look around the facilities and what it's going to look like…Blair got me to do some things, I met Adem Yze,” he said.
“It moved pretty quickly from there. That night, I had an offer in front of me. I slept on it, I woke up in the morning, my manager said, ‘do you want to get this moving?’ I said, ‘yeah, let's do it’.
“When I landed in Perth, we told Freo, and then it was pretty insane from then on.
“I landed at about 11am and I was traded by 12:30-1pm WA time. It was insane. I don't even know how to explain it. It was very quick. I wasn't expecting to be traded that quickly.
“I got told it could be by the end of next week, next Wednesday, on the deadline, and then it happened in literally an hour.”
It’s hard to contain O’Driscoll’s excitement about moving to Richmond, with the 55-gamer set to join the Club’s pre-season training in early November with the one-to-four year playing group.
The Northam product has firsthand experience of seeing how quickly a team can bounce back into the finals, with Fremantle’s ladder position during his time in purple going 11th, 5th, 14th, 10th, 6th, and 1st this past year, with the Dockers falling just short in the Grand Final.
O’Driscoll sees plenty of similarities between where Freo was just years ago, praising the culture Yze is building, and is looking forward to driving the Tigers to that same success.
“When I came over and saw the facilities and the plan that Blair and Adem have in place for the Club, it was a no-brainer,” O’Driscoll said.
“To see how young the list is, the potential that the list has, it was a no-brainer for me to want to come over because it was similar to when I joined Freo. They were in that transition period and then two years later, we were in a final. I can see that happening at Richmond.
“The structure around the footy club seems incredible. It's similar to Freo, they’ve got similar beliefs and one of the things is belonging, and that's one of the trademarks at Richmond.
“If you belong at a footy club, then you're going to do successful things.
“I can definitely speak about some of my experiences and let them know, if you hang in there as a tight group for a couple more years, there is going to be success.
“Footy's quick. Footy can be a quick turnaround with things and they'll be surprised by how quickly it can turnaround.
“With the list, all the picks they’ve had, all the good players they’ve bought in, and they went for character. Character is king.
“It will turnaround quickly. I'm looking forward to getting to work with them and leaning on what I've learned at Freo and bringing that in.”
With “multiple things” driving O’Driscoll’s enthusiasm about pulling on the yellow and black, one of the main elements is the new Punt Road Oval redevelopment, due to be complete by the middle of next year.
“It's unreal. Normally we have to travel four and a half hours just to walk onto the MCG, so it'll be nice to just walk out of your backyard and then you’re walking over to the ‘G,” he said.
“I'm really excited, it’s in a prime location. It’s in an awesome spot, in the heartland of footy, in the heartland of Melbourne. That's also one of the reasons that I wanted to come here because it's in such a good location and it's such a rich history in Richmond.”
Likely to be deployed on the wing, O’Driscoll is eager to connect with the likes of Tim Taranto, Jack Ross and Jacob Hopper, to fast-track his knowledge and understanding of the new gameplan.
“I'm looking forward to getting to work with them because they're a little bit older. I'm going to feed off their brains early on and just get all the structures down pat,” O’Driscoll said.
A no-nonsense style of footballer, O’Driscoll identified some key attributes the Tiger Army can expect to see from him once he hits the field.
“I'm a really good runner, that's my strength, my two-way running,” he said.
“I'm lucky, I’ve got the ability to change up my pace really quickly, I’m quick and I've got good endurance. I've got that good balance.
“I'm also pretty tall for a midfielder, I can take a duke if they kick it up to me.
“I also get back hard to support our backs, spoils, and then you’ll see a bit of grunt. I'm competitive, so I like to crack in on contest and have a go.”
As for his goals for 2027, it’s crystal clear – work hard, compete, and win.
“I just want to put my best foot forward, put my head down, arse up, and get to work and learn off the lads and learn the game plan as quick as I can and prove to them that I'm worth their time and effort,” O’Driscoll said.
“That's the main thing and then if that translates to on-field and I'm playing really good footy, that's the goal.
“As a team, hopefully the boys can get to work and we can prove everyone that yeah, this group is really young, but we have got a lot of potential, and we can win games of footy.”
