Brett Deledio’s pain of watching former club win the flag was too much
BRETT Deledio hasn’t watched one second of Richmond’s AFL grand final success, the Giant revealing not being part of his old side’s premiership is still too raw.
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BRETT Deledio couldn’t bear to watch this year’s AFL grand final — so he took his family to Taronga Zoo.
The Giants midfielder left Richmond a year ago after pouring his heart and soul into 12 seasons and 243 games at Richmond with very little reward.
To watch the Tigers attempting to break their 37-year premiership drought would have been “gut-wrenching”, the veteran revealing he went to great lengths to avoid watching or hearing anything about the decider against Adelaide.
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“I haven’t seen a minute of it, we went to the zoo,” Deledio told sports social media platform 20four.
“We hadn’t been there so we thought we’d check it out and we thought we’d come back home. Katie turned my phone off, we watched a movie and then we went to the park.
“Funnily enough, a guy was shooting some hoops with his kid and he had the game on radio in his pocket. I couldn’t get away from it.
“I’ve watched every grand final for the last few years for motivation. It was just so raw, the emotion of it all.
“I made the decision (not to watch) out of fear of it getting to me mentally, it was gut-wrenching.”
But he doesn’t regret his move to the Giants, saying: “You tell me one person who could have foreseen the Tigers winning the flag and I’d call them an absolute bulls--t artist.”
He hasn’t been able to completely avoid Richmond’s victory, having seen some photos of the Tigers’ wild celebrations.
“The photos of the boys celebrating, they were some of my best mates,” Deledio said.
“That was really tough to go through everything we did and the work we’d done in previous years and to see them celebrating when I felt like I could have and should have been a part of (that) was really tough.”
The only Richmond player Deledio has had any contact with since the grand final was his close mate Shaun Grigg.
“It’s just a bit raw at the moment and doesn’t feel right texting them to say congratulations,” Deledio said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m really rapt for them they’ve won it, but bringing myself to say congratulations is a little bit tough at the moment. The time will come when I’ll reach out.”
There was an added level of pain for the 30-year-old as Richmond beat the Giants in the grand final qualifier one week earlier.
“I faced a lot of mixed emotions during the last quarter, knowing what the result was going to be,” Deledio said.
“I choked back a few tears at times sitting on the bench, just knowing I wasn’t going to get the fairytale finish I was hoping for — playing in a grand final.”