In a special summer series, Richmond Media is counting down the top 25 Tiger recruits from rival AFL clubs throughout the past five decades. Nathan Brown comes in at No. 18.
Nathan Brown was one of the highest-profile players from a rival AFL club to make the switch to Richmond.
Brown’s decision to quit the Western Bulldogs, where he had played 137 games and kicked 206 goals in a stellar career from 1997-2003, attracted plenty of publicity throughout the football world.
The Dogs were reluctant to release the star medium-sized forward, but eventually relented, receiving national draft picks 6 and 20 from Richmond in return for Brown’s services.
Brown had an instant impact with the Tigers, collecting the three Brownlow Medal votes for best afield in their big Round 1, 2004 victory over a Collingwood team coming off a Grand Final appearance the previous season.
The silky-skilled left-footer had a good debut season for Richmond, finishing with 26 goals in his 20 games and polling eight votes in the Brownlow Medal.
It was in the first half of the following season, however, where Brown took his game to an outstanding level.
Going into the Round 10 clash with Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, Brown had 32 goals on the board – 19 of them coming in a piping-hot streak of form during the previous four games.
Brown booted six goals against Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium in Round 6, four goals v Carlton at the MCG in Round 7, five goals (all in the last quarter in wet conditions) v Collingwood at the MCG in Round 8, and four goals v Brisbane at the Gabba in Round 9, to be widely acclaimed as the best player in the competition at that point.
His brilliance up forward provided the catalyst for Richmond to win all four of those games and, by the time the Melbourne game came around, the Tigers were third on the ladder with a 7-2 record.
Sadly, it all came to an abrupt halt that fateful late May Friday night under the Marvel Stadium roof.
Brown kicked two goals early in the game before suffering a severe, season-ending broken leg in an horrific incident.
Although Brown did return to the field in Round 1 one the following season, he was never the same player again, with subsequent complications from the broken leg hindering him for the rest of his AFL career.
He did, however, still manage to kick 21 goals in 2007 and 35 goals in 2008, before retiring from AFL football in 2009.
Despite Brown’s nightmare injury run, he had thrilled Yellow and Black barrackers with his talented on-field exploits.
