Richmond’s first pick in the 2010 National Draft, Reece Conca, has taken plenty out of his debut for the Club, in last Saturday’s NAB Cup opening round, against Carlton and Collingwood at Etihad Stadium.

 

Although the Tigers bowed out of the competition, with two losses, Conca, like his senior coach Damien Hardwick, was unperturbed, and looking forward to the start of the season proper.

 

“It was a bit different, a lot quicker than junior footy, but a great experience,” he said.

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“The whole build-up to the game, and getting out there, in front of 40,000 people, was a bit overwhelming, but it was good fun, and I think the experience will help me, come Round 1. But I’m sure Round 1 will just kick up to another gear again.

 

“I probably didn’t find the ball as much as I would have liked, but being the first game, I thought I did okay. There’s certainly room for improvement, though.”

 

Hardwick gave some salient advice to his young charges pre-game, telling them to ignore the scoreboard . . .

 

“Our aim going in was to enjoy ourselves, stick to the game plan, and just focus on that,” Conca said.

 

“We came up against two quality sides, who had stronger line-ups than what we did.

 

“We had a lot of energy early with such a young squad and we came out all guns blazing (against Carlton), but we tailed off towards the end of that second half . . .

 

“I think we played really well in that first half and, come Round 1, I think we’ll do quite well.

 

“We’ve done a lot of work on our tackling and defensive pressure, and our young guys showed a lot of energy and a lot of aggression.

 

“So, we’re happy with that . . . Collingwood were playing a fair few of their premiership side and I thought we held our own for a while against such a quality team.”