It started as a chat between mates. As time ground on and the conversations shifted, suddenly they were asking each other: could this really happen?
Richmond were asking themselves the same question.
For Jacob Hopper, Tim Taranto and the Tigers, it was perfectly serendipitous. It was the long shot that landed.
Jacob Hopper is enjoying life as a Tiger.Credit:Jason South
“It probably wasn’t until really late where I think it was like we were both obviously leaning towards Richmond and then obviously the conversation took place where we rang each other and said ‘could this actually happen? Like how do you feel about this?’ And it was like ‘Shit yeah, this would be really awesome’,” Hopper says of his summer move, along with long-term teammate Taranto, from GWS to Richmond.
It was arguably the most audacious trade of the off-season. Two of the biggest players available traded from their former club to the same rival club. It was a statement move by the Tigers to simultaneously expedite a list overhaul while vaulting themselves back into premiership calculations.
Hopper is a big inside midfielder. He is one of those players who strikes you by being much bigger and imposing than you assume him to be from seeing him on the field, though it shouldn’t surprise because he has enormous power in his game. Taranto is slightly smaller, and his game has more nuance and versatility. He is multi-positional, able to play the Toby Greene role as a target forward rotating through midfield as well as being strictly a forward or a mid.
When Taranto and Hopper are added to a Richmond midfield featuring Dustin Martin, who is fit and by all accounts more at ease with himself and in a better place than last year, premiership players Shai Bolton and Dion Prestia, among others, it means the Tigers’ on-ball brigade looks as strong as any.
Hopper and Tim Taranto with GWS in 2021.Credit:Getty Images
There was a further symmetry in the trade period, in the connection between what Richmond and Hawthorn, two recent multiple premiership-winning teams, did. While Richmond brought in two elite midfielders to extend their premiership window and transition the team while remaining in contention, Hawthorn moved out two elite midfielders – Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell – whom they had previously brought in with the same thought in mind that Richmond have now.
For myriad reasons at Hawthorn, it didn’t work. That didn’t make the strategy wrong, and it doesn’t mean the strategy won’t work at Richmond. It just made for an irresistible comparison between the clubs’ directions last year. As much as anything it illustrates that winning a premiership is the product of so many moving parts – players, list management, injuries, coaching, game plan, salary cap, board unity – all clicking.
For Hopper, it was not so much about whether he and Taranto can be the new pieces in the premiership puzzle for Richmond (every player goes to a club hoping to win flags and make the difference), but more about whether he and Richmond felt comfortable with the fit on and off the field.
Hopper, who fielded interest from several clubs, including premiers Geelong, found the appeal of Richmond had a more Dennis Denuto feel about it. It was the vibe.
Hopper and Taranto toured the club with Martin, who volunteered to show them around.
“I had some really good conversations with really good people at different clubs and, yeah, luckily I sat down with Geelong, and I had some really great conversations and was fortunate to have been in a position where I was engaged with great clubs. But I don’t know what it was, it just felt very homely and very comfortable at Richmond,” Hopper says.
“That was in really uncomfortable sort of scenarios where you can get in the room with guys like ‘Dimma’ [Richmond coach Damien Hardwick] and the leaders here and some of the senior boys and have some really good, honest and really good conversations about where they see both the club going from a footballing perspective and from more of a holistic point of view.
“Whatever it was, whether it’s a gut feel, a heart thing or whatever it is, I just felt like there’s a part of me that wanted to be a part of this great club and to have the opportunity to do it was something that I didn’t want to say no to and I wanted to grasp with both hands.
“There’s obviously those football-specific conversations that take place, which I love the game and I love thinking about the game, so obviously those conversations are there. But I think what’s so impressive about a football club is just, you know, everyone throws around the word culture and you don’t know culture until you’re in it and you’re living it and breathing it, but I think just that genuine sort of feel and the connections that I was able to make in such a short period of time, I think is what I found so much strength in and so much value in.
“I think it has become a little bit less about the footy-specific stuff. Like, obviously you want to make the right football decision, which I feel that I did, but I think what complements your footy so much is the environment you put yourself in.”
The embrace has been equally warm each way. He and Taranto have gelled easily with their new teammates, despite the kid-on-first-day-of-school nerves about entering a new group.
Hopper is more Jacob than Jake but the Richmond boys have adopted him as “Hop”.
The footy connection is more complex than the locker-room dynamic.
“There’s a period of almost trying too hard to really get a hold of [the change to a new game plan and new teammates’ idiosyncrasies] but sometimes just letting things unfold a bit and just learning from watching a lot of film and just being out there is important,” he says.
Hopper has enjoyed his first uninterrupted pre-season for a while. An elite talent, he had his best year in 2021 but has often battled with injury through his career.
His role at Richmond will largely be the role he had at GWS. He is what he is.
Hopper is originally from Leeton, a small Riverina town midway between Wagga and Griffith notable for being the home of Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor.
But after growing up a North Melbourne fan in a small country town, who spent his seven years in the AFL at one of the league’s smallest clubs, arriving at the Tigers was a whole new world.
In fact, the whole idea of it being Richmond, of all clubs, that he felt that connection to was almost as surprising to him as anyone. The Giants lost by 89 points to the Tigers in 2019 in their only grand final appearance.
“There’s a bit of banter and stuff thrown around, no doubt, which is always healthy at a footy club. But it is a funny sort of experience to now be at Richmond having experienced some of my bigger games against them. But you know, as they say, time heals all wounds,” Hopper says.
“Now to be in a position where I think to have that instant feel of loyalty and to feel like a Richmond man already is something that’s really cool and happened really quickly for me as well.”
The idea of regularly playing on the MCG in front of enormous crowds was unashamedly an attraction.
“No doubt. It’s just a different sort of energy. I got a lot of energy at Sydney out of being part of something new and that real camaraderie around wanting to be the first and sort of starting out and starting your own sort of legacy there. And I loved my time there [at GWS], loved my teammates and the people there,” Hopper says.
“But then to come here to be in the heartbeat of footy [at Punt Road] and that buzz, you sort of feel it, and it feels really, really special.
“I’ve been part of big games with a lot of noise, but it’s all been for the other team, so it’ll probably shock me a little bit to hear it for me and for us, and to be on the sort of the receiving end of the Tiger army, which I can’t wait for.
“It’s so incredibly special to have like 100,000 supporters, such a big fan base and to be where we are and get the opportunity to play on the ’G as much as we do. It’s something that I get sort of ready to go talking about it.”
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