Former coach Terry Wallace says Richmond should trade Brett Deledio

THE man who brought Brett Deledio to Richmond as a No.1 draft pick in 2004 now says the Tigers need to trade him to get Dion Prestia and keep pick six in the draft.

Brett Deledio in action for Richmond. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

THE man who brought Brett Deledio to Richmond as a No.1 draft pick in 2004 now says the Tigers need to trade him to another club.

Terry Wallace says Richmond has failed to nail its draft picks since Dustin Martin arrived in 2009, and made the problem worse by recycling ready-made players rather than developing its own.

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Wallace said trading Deledio plus the likely departures of three first-round draft picks — Reece Conca, Ty Vickery and Ben Lennon — could allow the Tigers to keep their No.6 pick in this year’s draft.

That selection is expected to head to Gold Coast in a swap for Dion Prestia.

That would deal Richmond out of the draft until the third round after the Tigers gave away their second-round pick to the Suns last year as part of the Chris Yarran deal.

“If you want Dion Prestia in and you don’t want to give away pick six, I think you could actually work this one,” Wallace said.

He said Deledio was worth a late first-round pick while the Tigers could pick up second-round selections for Lennon and Conca.

Vickery’s departure would trigger a free agent compensation pick, also likely to be in the second round.

Wallace said that could allow Richmond to package up selections worth more points to Gold Coast than pick six.

Brett Deledio with then coach Terry Wallace in 2005.

“The thing that really worries me is three first-round draft picks leaving the footy club in Conca, Vickery and Ben Lennon,” Wallace said on Future Stars on Sunday.

“At the draft table in six years hasn’t been good enough ... but at exactly the same time they went with mature players to try to top up around the edges.

“When you go through this group there are too many fails ... some players that they brought in did a reasonable job for them but you can’t have 75 per cent misses because it means you don’t develop other players.”

Wallace listed Shaun Grigg, Bachar Houli and Anthony Miles as hits, but the long list of misses in this category included Ricky Petterd, Mitch Farmer, Todd Banfield, Matt Thomas and all three of last year’s arrivals Andrew Moore, Jacob Townsend and Yarran.

Deledio says he hasn’t met with any other clubs and trade speculation is “all hearsay and rumour”.

The 29-year-old is the last surviving recruit from Wallace’s first draft as Richmond coach. The Tigers brought in 12 players that year including five top-20 picks and mature-age recruits Troy Simmonds, Ben Marsh and Mark Graham.

Originally published as Former coach Terry Wallace says Richmond should trade Brett Deledio