The 31-year-old played every match this season, and was regularly tasked with tackling the opposition’s leading key forwards, including jobs on Jarryd Roughead, Nick Riewoldt and Tom Hawkins.
As the club’s most senior key defender, Richards also took on mentoring roles with the club’s up-and-coming defensive talent, including younger brother Xavier and draftee Aliir Aliir.
Speaking to SwansTV, Richards said while the Grand Final loss was disappointing, there was a lot to look forward to in 2015.
It’s been a tough couple of weeks around the club. How are you and the boys feeling now?
It’s still pretty sombre. We are all really disappointed with the opportunity that we wasted, with so much hard work being done. We’re all still pretty down about it.
Looking at the rest of the season and there were plenty of highlights, including winning the minor premiership. What are some of the things you learnt from this year?
If you asked me after round four or five and said we would finish off in a Grand Final, I would have been pretty happy. It was a shocker of a start to the year but we were able to claw our way back and get ourselves into a good position.
We won so many games and had a lot of improvement, with guys like Luke Parker and Harry Cunningham stepping up. Their ability to play well every week was a real credit to them.
How about your own form - you were pretty consistent this year. How did you rate your season?
I was happy with most of the year, but there were definitely games I wish I could get back. It probably wasn’t my best year, but there were parts of the year I was happy with.
Looking at the defence, I know you were pretty proud to have All-Australian defenders with you this year. That must be a really encouraging sign?
For Nick Smith to get in there, I thought that was great that the selectors really respected the role that he plays. He’s not a player who goes out there and racks up disposals or kicks goals or anything like that, but what he does is so important. It’s good to see that people in the AFL have recognised what he’s done, so it’s good for Smooch.
Speaking of defenders, who are some of the younger defenders who may not have played much senior football this year who you think will step up in the coming years?
There are a couple of guys who I work fairly closely with in my younger brother Xavier and Aliir Aliir. They are two guys who are being groomed to play key positions down back in full-back and centre half-back. Unfortunately for Aliir, he had shoulder surgery which shut his season down, but those two guys should be set for a big year next year.
The off-season is coming up, and then you’ll be back for another big pre-season. What areas do you hope to work on?
I’ll be working on a host of different areas. I’ll try to come back as fit as I can, but at the same time, I’ll be working on the skills, the body and the hardness just to try and be the best player than I can be.
You do have a break coming up. What are your plans?
I’ve got a big plan – I’m getting married at the end of October. I’m also going to Benny McGlynn’s wedding in Bali and then my fiancé and I are off to Tanzania for our honeymoon, which will be a bit of an African safari.
