Former Richmond coach Terry Wallace says Richard Tambling struggled with the constant comparisons to Lance Franklin throughout his career.
Tambling was taken with pick four in the 2004 AFL draft, one pick ahead of Franklin at five.
The selection is widely dubbed as one of the all-time draft busts, criticism that took a mental toll on Tambling according to Wallace.
โRichard Tambling was a better footballer three weeks into his time at Richmond, than what he was three years into his time at Richmond,โ Wallace told SEN Afternoons.
โI remember his first game he played at Etihad Stadium in a preseason match.
โI remember him getting the ball out of the middle, ducking around four players, taking four bounces, and just taking the game on with freedom.
โEighteen months later, he was a shell of the same person.
โPeople say, how come he couldnโt develop? It was all mental.
โOnce the Buddy Franklin stuff really kicked in, people were pointing the finger at him.
โHe came down as a boy from Darwin, who was a hero. He was captain of the Northern Territory, a superstar; people thought he would be the next Michael Long.
โHe had real pride in his background and everything. That vanished.
โThe not succeeding to the levels he expected, with that pride, I think he expected to come down and be captain, but he just couldnโt handle it.โ
Tambling struggled to live up to his potential, playing 128 games, including a stint with Adelaide, before retiring at the end of 2013.
Contrarily, Franklin is one of the gameโs most decorated players, and signed a nine-year $10 million mega deal in 2013, the biggest ever seen in AFL.
Wallace says Tambling had a profound impact for Richmond off the field which supporters would never see.
โUnderstand, he went to Canberra on behalf of the Richmond football club and presented to the government, which got the indigenous allowance to build the new Punt Road facility, over 20 million dollars,โ he said.
โRichard Tambling was a major part of getting that facility built for the footy club. When history will be written, it wonโt be on the field, but it shouldnโt be forgotten what he did off the field.โ
