Ted Richards

2006-2016
228 games
16 goals
Premiership Player 2012
All-Australian 2012

Bio

Each week, for the final six years of his career, Ted Richards sat on the same bench in Centennial Park for 45 minutes, visualising the upcoming weekend's performance. All game day elements were included, from getting ready at home to entering the changerooms after the match as victors.

The lowest point in his career prompted the new routine. In 2010, Richards struggled to cement his place in Paul Roos' team. Dropped to the reserves early in the year, and coming out of contract, he didn't like his chances of a recall. He'd even planned to move to Sweden to live with his brother Jake at season's end.

Then, an injury to Craig Bolton opened the door of opportunity. "Around that time, there wasn't much focus on the mental side of the game," Richards said. "I started using visualisation, and when I got a one-year contract extension leading into 2011, I told myself I would become the best centre half-back in the competition. I didn't have enough belief in myself, and that was the mantra I used."

It worked.

When Richards arrived from Essendon ahead of the 2006 season, he joined the competition's premier team. Immediately, he was quizzed on the outside perception of the Bloods.

"One of the most vivid memories I can speak to is when I was asked to stand up in front of the group. Kirky started firing questions at me. And the questions were regarding Essendon and how they viewed the Swans. I didn't know how to answer that," Richards recalled.

"I said, you know, you're the Bloods, you won the premiership last year. But Kirky kept coming back at me. Do they view us as soft? Do they see us as pushovers? I had no idea where it was coming from."

"Afterwards, I sat down and thought, what the hell just happened? After the meeting, I discovered that the origins of the Bloods culture was the realisation that many teams viewed them as pushovers."

"It was those leaders who wanted to change that perception. And in changing that perception, they wanted to know that the perception wasn't out there anywhere. When I discovered that further information – what I'd call a healthy amount of paranoia – about how they might be perceived, it always stayed with me."

In creating that ruthless edge, the impression of the Swans infinitely changed.

Richards played his debut Sydney season with a fearlessness that impressed his new teammates. Courageous to a fault, his attack on the ball contributed to his selection in the 2006 Grand Final side. One of the team's best in a heartbreaking one-point loss, he was knocked out in the final few frantic moments.

While playing regularly for the following three seasons, Richards found himself in more of a utility role, playing back, forward and wing – which ultimately led to his crossroads moment.

In assessing the elite backmen of the competition, Richards identified a need to add some bulk to his frame. In typically determined fashion, he set out to own the key defensive post vacated by Bolton's retirement. By the end of 2011, he finished fifth in the Swans' best and fairest, unlucky to miss All-Australian selection.

It takes a rare individual to embrace the small, tedious pain required for personal discipline because they avoid nothing in pursuit of their highest aspirations. Richards played the 2012 season with an unmistakable sense of purpose. In Round 5, the Swans defeated Hawthorn on the day Adam Goodes broke the club's games record. Richards kept Lance Franklin goalless in a game he describes as 'one of the proudest of my career.'

Later, the Swans reached September as one of the top contenders. After a memorable Qualifying Final win in Adelaide, a home preliminary final awaited.

In that game against Collingwood, Richards injured his syndesmosis. Generally, a six-to-ten-week recovery period ensues as the ankle ligaments recover. Richards had seven days. Soft? Pushovers? Not anymore.

A vital pillar of the team, Richards was unable to train and endured a sleepless week in the lead-up to the Grand Final. The club's medical team believed he could still play a role and administered cortisone injections between draining fluid from the joint.

On Grand Final day, Richards, hobbled, and again played on Franklin – the most dangerous forward in the game. After receiving pain-killing injections at every break, he finished the match strongly, with some crucial final quarter moments, becoming a premiership player.

"When the siren went, my first emotion was, we did it... it's over. They can't ever take it from us. Doing the lap afterwards was better than I could ever imagine," Richards said.

"After the game, just the players and coaches entered the meeting room, and we had 15 minutes together to soak it all in. That was special. Then we went back to the change rooms, and it was packed with friends and family. I come from a big family, and they were all there. Celebrating with them was just as special as they've been on the journey too."

He finished the season as the All-Australian centre half-back, runner-up in the Swans' best and fairest, and his refreshing approach to the game made him a popular figure. When The Australian asked how he would celebrate the premiership win, Richards delighted in saying he would buy a new Danish armchair.

The Swans remained a top-four team for the remainder of Richards' career, with another Grand Final appearance in 2014. Upon his retirement in 2016, John Longmire described the impact Richards made at the Swans.

"Ted has been incredible – he's really the epitome of a balanced footballer," Longmire said. "He has always trained really hard and worked really hard, but he also loves having a laugh and is a great family man."

Richards' character is best captured by his desire to improve individually and as a teammate. In 2010, looking to launch into the second half of his career, he attended every finals match to study the best key defenders in the game. And, in taking action to advance his career, he won the Swans' Best Clubman award.

In a 2022 interview with the Australian Financial Review, Richards said many sports teams, like businesses, consider culture to be something nice to have – not a need to have – but that is not the case at the Swans.

"They invest time in culture year after year," he said. "I won't pretend it is easy. Many uncomfortable conversations are had throughout the season. But culture is not assumed; much time is put into it. And it is not about someone from marketing sticking up some mantra; the players and the people come up with it and own it, and that is important."

Before signing with the club, Richards was flown to Sydney to meet with Paul Roos and Andrew Ireland just days before the Swans played in the 2005 Grand Final. They made him feel wanted. They committed. In return, Richards provided 10 years of unwavering spirit and courage, a True Blood.