AFL Round 16 Richmond v Carlton: Jack Graham opens up on his future at Punt Road
Jack Graham was famously spotted touring Port Adelaide’s facilities as he considered a move to his native South Australia. He talks about his future at Punt Road and life under Adem Yze with JON RALPH.
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Jack Graham finally caught a break against Hawthorn in the dying minutes of a Dustin Martin tribute game.
As Martin was being feted by his good mate Jack Riewoldt, Graham was dealing with another hamstring issue that saw him parked on the bench in the final minutes.
For unrestricted free agent Graham, another soft-tissue concern would have been an unmitigated disaster.
Finally he was able to allay the concerns of the Richmond medicos – this time it was only cramp.
Bullet dodged.
Another injury averted.
“Yeah, it was just a cramp. It was a bit of a scare for the medical team but it was only cramp. They wouldn’t let me go back on. There were only four minutes left but I was ready to go,” Graham said this week.
As Richmond takes on Carlton at the MCG on Sunday, the Tigers will hope to use the final nine weeks to build confidence in their brand and inject more games into the kids.
But for Graham, they could shape the second half of his AFL career.
Show Richmond and rivals he can still be that hard-running, hard-tackling powerful on-ball option and the offers could flood in from everywhere, given his unrestricted free agency status.
Cough and splutter to the end of the season and his leverage might just dry up.
Graham, 26, is thankful to at least be injury free, fully aware how much is riding on how he finishes his eighth AFL season.
“It was a frustrating start to the season. I have put three games together and the bye came at a good time to freshen up and then I can roll into the second half of the season,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I had my first full pre-season in a while and then in the bloody last 45 seconds of the Collingwood (pre-season) game I felt a stab in my quad.
“It put me back six or seven weeks then came back for two weeks and did a little hamstring.
“It wasn’t a major one but I wish it was so I could have put a straight line through me for 21 days. So I missed a week and then came back and re-did it. I took the two weeks off and have been back since trying to play some consistent footy.”
As an unrestricted free agent, it is the duty of his manager Marty Pask to at least assess the landscape for rival offers.
Even if they only boost his contract price.
Does he want to stay at Punt Road after two premierships in yellow and black under coach Adem Yze?
“Yeah, definitely. Obviously I am out of contract and the bye was a good time to talk about that. It was more about saying let’s play good footy and let the footy do the talking.
“I spoke with my manager because we hadn’t really had too many conversations and to be honest it was about getting on the park to show everybody what I can do. That is what the second half of the season is about. I want to get my body right and stay on the park and build confidence and then hopefully there is a hot patch coming up.”
If the timing of those injuries has been wretched, it is all about footy’s swings and roundabouts.
Graham famously played in an AFL premiership in his fifth game – tagging Rory Sloane and helping himself to three momentum-turning goals in the drought-breaking 2017 win over Adelaide.
He missed the 2019 premiership when he dislocated his shoulder in the prelim – opening the door for Marlion Pickett’s fairytale – before adding a second flag in 2020.
As Richmond recruited Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper at the end of 2022, Port Adelaide came hunting and Graham flew across the border to speak with Power coach Ken Hinkley.
The cameras quickly tracked down the former SA state under 18 captain.
“Last time I got caught in the media and I had that joke with Dimma (Damien Hardwick). He called me up and said, ‘I thought you were going to see your old man (in Adelaide)’. But my manager Marty had said this is an opportunity. I have told (list boss) Blair Hartley, he is across it. See what they have to offer. So that’s why I have a manager. Let them do the digging.”
Two years on, Graham says he has come to grips with playing that half forward-midfield role.
“I definitely think there is a role for me (at Richmond). It’s trying to find that balance.
“It’s playing mid and also going forward. It’s trying to play as a midfielder but also finding consistency if I have to roll forward. We have got some pretty good clearance players in Tim, Jacob, Shai Bolton and Thomson Dow. Here and there I am happy to go in and it’s making the most of my time in there.”
Graham took the chance across Richmond’s bye round to head back to South Australia with teammates Jayden Short and Kamdyn McIntosh, where fiancee Jordy May’s parents have a farm on the Eyre Peninsula.
A regular golfer – he is off a handicap of nine at Kew – he is prepared for a very different life post-footy.
“That is life after footy, going farming,” he says.
“Adelaide will always be home. So if I play one more year or six more years, Adelaide will be home. But the beauty of it is I love Melbourne. The night-life and cafes, there is so much going on here. But I also enjoy getting back to Adelaide. There is no traffic and everything is 20 minutes away.”
Carlton was once Richmond’s bunny and yet the Tigers will go into Sunday’s clash as a massive underdog.
But Graham’s message for the fans is that Yze is the man to lead them into the new era.
“It’s obviously been a tough season but ‘Ooze’ is a great coach. He is very calm. I have also seen a few sides of him come out on the bench when he’s been a bit frustrated but he’s an exciting new voice. He sees the game differently to Dimma and it is great to learn another way.
“Dimma taught us a lot. But Yze will teach us what is next and what comes in the future.”
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