Shaun Grigg determined to enjoy every minute of his footy career

RICHMOND hasn’t won a game for almost a month, but that hasn’t stopped Shaun Grigg bashing out a few renditions of “Oh, We’re From Tigerland”.

Richmond’s Shaun Grigg goals in the fourth quarter. Picture: George Salpigtidis

RICHMOND hasn’t won a game over the past three weeks, but that hasn’t stopped the one of the club’s important midfielders Shaun Grigg bashing out a few renditions of “Oh, We’re From Tigerland”.

The truth is, he hasn’t had much choice.

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His soon-to-be three-year-old son, Sonny, demands it most days, and as a devoted dad wanting to keep his boy happy, Grigg is content to oblige — even if his enthusiasm was greater in the first five weeks of the season.

“Whenever I’m driving him around and he is listening to the radio, he (Sonny) says: ‘I don’t like this, can you put on the ‘Tigerland’ song’?” Grigg said this week with a smile.

“He knows all the words. It is pretty cool. He requests it, even when we lose. I don’t think he really understands, but he is passionate about it, and that’s what matters.”

Shaun Grigg is flying under the radar this season. Picture: George Salpigtidis

That passion must be in the genes, for Grigg is just as enthusiastic about the things he values in his life, and he acknowledged that level of appreciation has resulted in one of his best starts to a year in his 11 AFL seasons.

There is his love of the Tigers and his unwavering belief that the club is on an upward trajectory leading into Saturday’s game against Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium. There is his passion for the game that remains just as strong as a 29-year-old as it was when he was a kid growing up in Ballarat.

There is his appreciation for his life away from Punt Rd, his gratitude to his wife Sarah, his son’s endless enthusiasm, and also his burgeoning business, Spud Bar, from which there are now franchises in 19 locations across Victoria, as well as few interstate ones.

“I remember hearing Darren Lehmann when he became coach of the Australian cricket team and he said (playing at the top level) should be the time of your life,” Grigg said. “That really stuck with me.

“I don’t want to look back when I am 40 and think I was so stressed out through my footy years that I couldn’t sit back and enjoy the experience.

“I am enjoying my football more than ever. When you first start off, you are caught in a bubble where you think everything has to be perfect and it becomes quite stressful. I want to look back at this period and realise that it was the time of my life.

“When you are young, you are trying to win the respect of your teammates, family, friends and the fans. You can easily get caught up in it. You worry about what other people think and what you don’t see is that everyone is going through their own issues. Once you realise that, and start backing yourself, you relax a bit and appreciate it more.”

Becoming a father in 2014 taught him perspective, and it has balanced his football, too. He finished fifth in Richmond’s best-and-fairest last season after a very consistent year, and this season has taken his game to a higher level, to the point where in the last quarter of last week’s game, Fremantle coach Ross Lyon instructed Nat Fyfe to try to stop Grigg’s influence on the game.

Lyon revealed on Fox Footy’s On The Couch last Monday: “I said to Nathan, get to Grigg, he was having a big quarter, we needed to negate that.”

Grigg has come a long way since he requested a trade to Punt Rd from Carlton in late 2010. He was swapped for Andrew Collins, who played only 11 games for the Blues — Grigg will this weekend play his 176th game overall and his 133rd with the Tigers.

He’s a smart player, who even milked the third-man up ruck role in Round 2 against Collingwood, from which he kicked a crucial goal.

In the chaos of the last 20 seconds last week, when the Dockers managed to get the last clearance that resulted in the matchwinning goal to David Mundy, Grigg almost foiled Fremantle, grasping in competition with Fyfe for possession at the centre bounce, before it was swept away.

“I knew Sandi (Aaron Sandilands) would tap it to Fyfe ... we were tangled up and we both sort of went for it and he just sort of slapped it out of my hands,” Grigg said.

Shaun Griggs almost hauls in a one-handed mark on the boundary line late against Fremantle. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

The compliment of having the 2015 Brownlow Medal winner assigned to him in the last quarter wasn’t important for the modest Grigg — he was far more concerned about not winning the game. But he has been happy with his form this season, and more importantly, is confident Richmond can build on its first five wins of the year, starting with the Giants.

“We are playing a good style of footy, but the last few weeks not for long enough,” he said. “We have shown when play that style for a period of time, we are going to hard to beat.

“But this competition is just so even at the moment that you have to play for a whole game. Last week we turned up and played a quarter and a bit, and when you do that, you can’t expect to win.”

Grigg has been the oldest player in the Richmond team for much of the year, but that hasn’t fazed the gregarious midfielder.

“I love working with the young guys, they keep me younger myself with their music and their stories,” he said. “We are a really close bunch at the club and the younger guys are coming out of their shells.”

He’s sure some more renditions of the theme song with his teammates — and his son — are not too far away.

TIGER EARNS NEW DEAL

RICHMOND has rewarded Shaun Grigg for his outstanding start to the season by locking him into a new deal for 2018.

While the 29-year-old had to wait until the final few rounds of last season to secure his contract for this year, the Tigers have reached an agreement with him much earlier this season.

“I’ve recently extended for another year,” Grigg told the Herald Sun. “It’s definitely a great show of faith from the club.”

Grigg said he was keen to play on for as long as he possibly can, but expects the club will offer him one-year contracts into the future, given he will turn 30 next year.

“Last year was pretty tough, my form was solid, but the team wasn’t going great,” he said. “I could understand the club wanted to hold off (last year) on some of the guys’ contracts.

“It was done around Round 21 or something. But it was great to be able to do it a bit earlier this year.”

Originally published as Shaun Grigg determined to enjoy every minute of his footy career