Richmond’s Shane Edwards on the San Antonio Spurs, cancelling the footy trip, a premiership tattoo and the Tigers starting again

THERE was a month to go in last year’s home-and-away season when Richmond assistant coach Blake Caracella sat the whole team down and made them watch a video. SA veteran Shane Edwards says it was a turning point in the Tigers’ season.

Shane Edwards on his way to 25 disposals in Richmond’s grand final win over Adelaide last year. Picture: Mark Stewart.

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THERE was a month to go in last year’s home-and-away season when Richmond assistant coach Blake Caracella sat the whole team down and made them watch a video.

It was vision of the San Antonio Spurs’ epic NBA 2014 finals series with Miami Heat that saw them win the championship.

The lesson was taught in the classroom but practised on the field by the Tigers who would constantly remind each other “Spurs, Spurs, Spurs” around goal.

“We were getting a lot of (forward 50) entries and low scores and Blake Caracella showed us footage of the Spurs and how they were passing up good shots just to get even better shots at the ring,” Edwards said.

“Passing it around the arc and being really unselfish. It showed Tim Duncan having every right to put the ball up but he passed it to someone else who was in a better spot.

“So we tried to bring that into our game and instead of having shots from the boundary, shots over our head and shots from 60m, we ended up slowly working the ball in and having shots closer to goal.

“The Fremantle game, the second last of the season, we really saw it come to the floor and everyone bought in because we can’t rely on Jack (Riewoldt) kicking 10 goals a game, we had to spread the load and get our midfielders and small forwards kicking goals.

“Eventually it clicked and we preach it now, we always make sure we’re saying ‘Spurs, Spurs, Spurs’ around goal to make sure we’re doing the unselfish thing.”

Richmond had 12 different goal kickers in that Fremantle game in Round 22, 11 in the qualifying final, nine in the preliminary final and 11 in the grand final rout over Adelaide.

Richmond studied footage of Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs to form a game plan that would deliver higher scoring in the AFL finals. Picture: Brendan Smialowski (AFP).

Edwards is a basketball fan so the Spurs messaging was nothing new for him, but he said it was refreshing to look at successful teams in different sports.

“All the guys get a kick out of it when they put up another sport and team, everyone really embraces it whether it’s soccer or basketball,” he said.

“It triggers something different so everyone remembers.”

It’s now Round 2 of Richmond’s premiership defence which heads to Adelaide on Thursday night for the grand final re-match with the Crows.

In some ways Edwards still feels like he’s yet to wake up from a dream.

Last year he played his 200th game, won a premiership in his 11th year at the club and shone in the grand final with 25 hard-fought disposals.

And that was with a broken thumb that he kept secret after injuring it in the preliminary final win over GWS which meant he couldn’t hold a fork or write with a pen in grand final week.

He played with it strapped then had his hand in a splint up until Christmas which stopped him from doing any weights.

Edwards celebrates a goal in Richmond’s preliminary final win over the Giants in which he also broke his thumb. Picture: Quinn Rooney (Getty)

“I think I just got tackled and landed on it, but we went through the vision and couldn’t put our finger on it,” Edwards said.

“It swelled up but I just wanted to forget about it while a game was still on.

“Doing normal things like writing and holding a fork was painful but during a game would be fine because I could strap it and forget about it.

“It was no big deal, there were a couple of other guys who had things as well so it was nothing to complain about.”

The 29-year-old South Australian planned to go to Hong Kong on a footy trip after the season but that was cancelled as the Tigers’ premiership dream began to unfold.

“We did book a footy trip, then we started playing a bit better towards the end of the season so we had to cancel it,” he said.

“We just had to bail on it and hang around the club a bit more because of injuries and everything else, so we were robbed of two weeks of the break - but I don’t care at all.”

Instead Edwards came back to Adelaide for longer than normal, spending time with family and holidaying at Normanville and Yankalilla.

“Even though I didn’t feel as welcome,” he said jokingly.

It was a good time to reflect and share the triumph with his family including his parents and grandmother.

The only sad part of the premiership for Edwards was that his grandfather wasn’t alive to see it.

“He passed away a few years ago but even if you’d told him we would win one in a couple of years he wouldn’t have believed it anyway,” Edwards said.

“He would have thought it was pretty amazing, and my grandma she can’t really believe it, I guess none of my family can believe it.

“Because every time I go back to Adelaide it’s been after the season and we’ve either finished on a loss or hadn’t made the finals.

“So you’re always pretty flat and wondering where you’re at, but this time to go back everyone was just glowing.”

The South Australian got a premiership tattoo of ‘RFC 2017’ on his foot which he said was the most painful thing he’d experienced. Picture: Michael Klein

Edwards got a premiership tattoo with ‘RFC 2017’ on the outside of his left-foot and has given his guernsey and medal to family to lock away for safekeeping.

“I don’t have any other tatts,” he said.

“I went in with about 15 other guys and that was the only way you’d get me in, it took 10 minutes and was the most painful thing I’ve ever had.

“And the medal, that’s just ‘mum put it away and make sure nothing happens to it’, they’re more than happy to do that.

“They’re my vault, anything that’s important I take back to Adelaide because then I don’t have to worry about them in Melbourne.”

Edwards said the club was still buzzing when players returned for pre-season training.

“Because we saw each other a bit it felt like it never really went away, there were just smiles everywhere,” he said.

“Our pre-season went really quick, but then as soon as the JLT Series started it went slow because of the gap between games so we were waiting for Round 1 to get back into it.”

What was new for the Tigers was a new video they would show on the big screen before every home game at the MCG which meant a lot to Edwards.

RiShane Edwards at Richmond’s grand final celebrations with teammate Bachar Houli and Alex Rance. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

As a proud indigenous footballer and person, he welcomed the club’s decision to play an ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ video to recognise and respect traditional land owners.

“It’s another big step forward, our club is always looking to do more and more each year and we’ve got six indigenous players now,” he said.

“We look at a club like Port Adelaide and they lead the way in that area especially with their welcome to country video and showing places around South Australia, that’s something for us to strive to.

“It’s really important and all the guys embrace it.”

But the Tigers will be a long way from home on Thursday night when they enter the Adelaide Oval cauldron with Crows fans wanting revenge.

“We’ll expect it to be pretty hostile, but at the same time we’re really looking forward to the challenge,” Edwards said.

“They play a really disciplined game plan and it doesn’t matter who’s in or out, they’ll always bring the heat and play well so we’ve got to be right at our best.”

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