AFL 2020: Richmond Tigers premiership player Jack Graham signs new deal

Jasper Bruce

AFL 2020: Richmond Tigers premiership player Jack Graham signs new deal image

Jack Graham will remain a Tiger until at least the end of 2023, after agreeing to a new deal with the club.

Graham reportedly considered a switch to cross-town rivals Carlton before inking a new contract with the Tigers.

Selected with pick No. 53 in the 2016 Draft, Graham has gone on to play 51 games for Richmond since debuting in 2017.

Graham made a name for himself at Punt Road early on in his career, kicking three goals in Richmond’s 2017 AFL Grand Final win. The 2017 Granny was just Graham’s fifth game of AFL football.

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It was Graham’s performance against Geelong in last year’s preliminary final that truly won over the Tigers faithful, however. The 22-year-old dislocated his shoulder on four occasions during the match but continued to play on. Richmond won the game by 19 points and advanced to the grand final.

Graham is thrilled to be extending his time at Richmond by another three seasons.

“The club's in a great spot, an exciting future ahead and I'm rapt to be here for another three years” Graham told Richmond Media on Saturday morning.

"Since coming in in 2017 - it was a pretty good year to come in - obviously we won the flag and I was lucky enough to be a part of that. Then I've had some ups and downs, a couple of shoulder injuries, which didn't help, but here I am now ready to go again leading into finals.

"It's just going to be an exciting time, I'm really looking forward to it, along with the next three years of my future at Richmond.

"I love the club for the culture, the boys, and obviously footy is the most important thing, but all the things off-field that I enjoy.

"It's a great place to be, we have so much fun, and I can't picture myself being anywhere else.”

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Blair Hartley, Richmond’s General Manager of Football Talent, said the club is equally excited for Graham’s future in the black and gold.

“Jack has been a fantastic player for us since arriving from South Australia and is an important part of our future,” he said.

“We look forward to seeing Jack continue to play football the Richmond way and hope he is able to help contribute towards more team success.”

With the 2020 finals series just around the corner, Richmond will hope to win back-to-back premierships for the first time since 1973-74.

For their first finals match, they’ll go head-to-head with the Brisbane Lions on Friday next week at the Gabba.

 

Jasper Bruce