Xavier Richards says he quit playing for Sydney so he could be closer to his family
ONE month ago he was playing in a Grand Final with Sydney. Now he doesn’t have a club. Xavier Richards talks about his decision to quit the Swans.
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XAVIER Richards insists he didn’t quit the Sydney Swans to chase more money and was instead desperate to return to Melbourne to be closer to family and friends.
Richards shocked the Swans when he asked to be traded back to his home state of Victoria late in the trade period.
He now finds himself in no man’s land with little interest from other clubs and Sydney taking their two-year offer off the table.
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The 23-year-old played the last 10 games of the season for the Swans including all the finals and will be hoping to find a new club when the delisted free agency period starts on Tuesday.
“I just decided I didn’t want to be in Sydney for another two years,” Richards told The Daily Telegraph.
“It was a late decision for me, I just wanted to be back in Melbourne. I know a lot of people may not understand that but I think family and friends are more important.
“I’ve been in Sydney for four years and decided this wasn’t for me.”
Not many players would leave a team when they’ve just played in a grand final, albeit a losing one, and have a two-year offer on the table to stay but that’s exactly what Richards did just two weeks ago.
While the decision looked spontaneous the defender turned key-forward says it was well thought through.
“I definitely chucked myself out there,” Richards said.
“I’d been at the Swans for four years and played 12 games. I knew Sam Reid was coming back and thought I don’t want to be here for another two years.”
While Reid didn’t play a game all year because of hamstring and calf injuries he was close to playing in the grand final and had he been selected it would have almost certainly been at Richards’ expense.
The former Swans’ recent journey is a measure of just how fine the margins of success and failure are in the AFL and most professional sports.
After three-and-a-half years on the outer with just two senior games to his name Richards reached the pinnacle of his career over the last two months of the season, playing from round 18 to the grand final.
He now finds himself in grave danger of being out of the AFL should another club fail to pick him up.
“I’m not fazed by it,” Richards said.
“Whatever happens, happens, I can study in Melbourne if that’s the worst case and be with family and friends.
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“Sydney has been great to me and I’m grateful for the time I had there. I decided Melbourne is home and that’s where I should be. When you are younger you don’t realise how important family and friends are.”
Richards’ older brother Ted retired at the end of the season after 228 games for the Swans and 33 for Essendon.
Originally published as Xavier Richards says he quit playing for Sydney so he could be closer to his family
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