The sliding doors moment which launched Tiger Shai Bolton to next level

Shai Bolton has been one of the breakout stars of 2020, grasping his chance amid a spate of injuries which decimated Richmond’s midfield. These are the numbers which show just how important he’s been to the Tigers’ resurgence.

Bolton has shone in his new role in the Richmond midfield Picture: Sarah Reed

Richmond assistant coach Andrew McQualter had two bits of good news for the Tigers livewire forward Shai Bolton ahead of Round 6.

The first was that the 21-year-old would be returning to the Tigers senior side, after being dropped for the previous match against Melbourne following three winless games for Richmond.

The second, and perhaps more importantly a month on, was because of reigning club best and fairest Dion Prestia’s syndesmosis injury, Trent Cotchin’s hamstring niggle and Shane Edwards staying in Melbourne the Tigers cub would be shifted to Richmond’s midfield.

Bolton had been a vital cog in the Tigers “mosquito fleet” of small quick forward that have helped the claim two flags in three years — although he did not play in the 2017 Grand Final.

Bolton during the 2019 Grand Final. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )

But ever since the Western Australian came to Richmond with the 29th pick of the 2016 Draft he has wanted to get a go in the Tigers’ engine room.

Damien Hardwick and the Richmond coaching staff had suspected the 175cm, 76kg Bolton could make a mark in the AFL as a midfielder — after showing some promising signs when deployed there in 2019 before returning to his small forward line for the finals.

Now it was time to see how Bolton would fare.

“It was pretty much injuries (behind the move to the midfield),” Bolton said.

“We had a few out and a few were out for a while like Dion and it gave not just me but a couple of other boys an opportunity to play in the midfield.

“It was Andrew McQualter (who told him) … he pretty much tells me if I’m playing or not, so he ended up telling me (before Round 6) I was going to play in the midfield,” Bolton said.

“I played a little bit there in 2019, I’ve always wanted to get the opportunity to play in the midfield so I wasn’t shocked when he told me, just happy I would get a go.”

In the five games since Bolton got the nod he has made the move from the mosquito fleet to midfield as smooth as the way he plays the game.

Since Round 6 Bolton has ranked No. 3 for clearances at the Tigers (3.3 per game), second for metres gained (380), first for score involvements (5.8), third in contested possessions (6.3) and fifth in disposals (15.4) making the most of his chance.

Bolton during the round 10 AFL match between the Richmond Tigers and the Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium . (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

In a real sliding doors moment, Bolton has gone from out of the team to arguably one of Richmond’s most important players as the Tigers began to again bare their teeth.

“It’s opportunity, someone goes down injured and Shai grabs it (with both hands),” Hardwick said.

“He’s an exciting talent, he’s starting to really understand what’s required to be an AFL midfielder, and he’s only going to get better as he plays more.”

Hardwick said the transition from forward to midfielder was reminiscence of Fremantle superstar Michael Walters, who Bolton bases large parts of his game on.

“The coaches have put in a lot of work into him but Shai to his credit has discovered how to work at AFL level,” Hardwick said.

Bolton said this could be traced back to the summer of 2019, when back in Perth he embarked on a gruelling fitness regimen with personal trainer Saia Wood-Halafihi.

Bolton has always had the talent and ability to do things on the footy field that other players wouldn’t dream of – in his draft year he attempted a handball behind his back to a teammate.

But after the 2018 season Hardwick and other Tigers coaches told Bolton he needed to work on his fitness and defence to break into the Richmond senior side.

“I think that is the most important one, just going back home and getting fit and getting ready for pre-season and coming into the season feeling good about myself,” he said.

Ever since the AFL announced the Tigers annual Dreamtime at the G match would now be played in Darwin, Bolton could be forgiven for counting down the days until that match.

Born in Katanning, 277km southeast of Perth, Bolton has football well and truly in his blood.

His dad Darren played a couple of games for the Dockers, his mum is a Pickett and his mum’s mum was a Krakouer.

A Noongar man, Bolton enlisted all of this for when he designed the Tigers Indigenous guernsey for Saturday night’s match against Essendon.

Bolton wearing the Dreamtime at the G guernsey that he designed with his grandmother and family members. Pic: Michael Klein

“To play the Dreamtime game there will be special,” Bolton said.

“My mum and both my nans helped me with the design of the jumper.

“We pretty much wanted to represent not me and just my culture but everyone else that plays for Richmond so we put some elements in there that represented their names or their tribes in there.

“I didn’t really want to make it about myself, we are playing as one together in the Dreamtime match.”

Originally published as The sliding doors moment which launched Tiger Shai Bolton to next level