All-Australian Tiger Shai Bolton has re-signed until 2028 in a pre-Christmas boon for Richmond as Dylan Grimes put his hand up for the captaincy again.
Bolton was comfortably Tigers list boss Blair Hartley’s top re-signing priority after a career-best season.
AFL greats Kane Cornes and Jonathan Brown even labelled the 24-year-old West Australian as the game’s best player during the season due to his rare skill set and match-winning ability.
Shai Bolton will be a Tiger until at least the 2028 season.Credit:AFL Photos
Bolton averaged 18 disposals, kicked 43 goals and ranked third in the competition for score involvements.
“I have loved the club since I got drafted. I love the culture here, all the boys, the coaching staff and playing at the MCG,” Bolton said. “It was pretty easy to decide in the end … I am super excited to stay here.”
Bolton’s long-term commitment also thrilled Grimes, who raved about his teammate’s “phenomenal” progress since being the 29th pick in the 2016 draft.
“We saw glimpses really early on of what he could do, but to see him back that up with some consistency, then obviously grow his game to new heights was special to watch,” Grimes said.
“There were times, I’m sure, that every fan – Richmond or not – [was] appreciating some of the stuff he was doing on-field. He’s come back and is in great nick this year already, so hopefully more of that to come.”
The Tigers are yet to make a captaincy call after Grimes and Toby Nankervis served as co-captains last season in the wake of Trent Cotchin stepping down.
Dylan Grimes.Credit:AFL Photos
Grimes will happily take on the role again, but said they were “blessed” with many options.
“When you look at some of the players we’ve got at the club, with Trent and Jack [Riewoldt] and such established leaders there, but [also] there are some young leaders coming through,” he said.
“My role as a leader won’t change a great deal, whether I’m captain or not.”
Reigning club champion Tom Lynch (plantar fascia soreness) was notably absent from Richmond’s last session of the year at Beaconsfield’s Holm Park Reserve on Tuesday. Jack Graham (toe) has also been on modified duties.
Grimes, who has recovered from the hamstring surgery that ended his season, played down Lynch’s injury, saying the high-performance staff were simply being conservative with the star forward.
“It’s still such early days. You don’t want to take any risks before that Christmas block,” he said.
“Tom’s an exceptional player. We’re just going to manage him through this time, and he’s a bit of an aerobic beast, so missing a bit of pre-season won’t hurt him too much. Hopefully, we’ll see him back out on the park very soon.”
Grimes said he was cleared of his own injury about a week after Richmond’s narrow elimination final defeat and was buoyant about his fitness after adopting a different pre-season approach.
“It was my third bout of hammy surgery now, so we’ve got a bit of an idea of what to do,” he said.
“But, having said that, we’ve got a new fitness coach and new weights coach as well, so we’re throwing pretty much the kitchen sink at it, really.
“Most of the stuff that’s been different has been in the gym … [and] I probably didn’t de-load as much as I normally would over the break and just tried to maintain fitness, so coming back there wouldn’t be that lag.”
The Tigers made their intentions clear when they off-loaded a bevy of high draft picks this year and next to bring in established midfielders Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper from the Giants.
They handed both players seven-year deals, and the moves have been compared to Hawthorn’s recruitment of on-ball stars Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell at the end of 2016, as the Hawks tried to remain in flag contention.
O’Meara and Mitchell were coincidentally traded again in the most-recent trade period, with Hawthorn in rebuild mode.
But Grimes backed Richmond’s aggressive list strategy, saying Hartley and co’s track record demanded respect.
“I feel like the list management have proven their success in that way,” he said.
“You look back, and you’ve got Dion [Prestia], [Josh] Caddy, Nankervis and Shaun Grigg, who played in premiership years for us, so it’s hard to question their method when they’ve got those kinds of results on the board.”
