If you could go back and check Paul Roos’ diary for grand final week 2005 you’d find an unusual entry. Amid all the pressure of the biggest week of the year the Swans senior coach had a meeting with an opposition player.

It was on the players’ day off and Roos rolled out a heavyweight team to meet with a slightly overwhelmed 22-year-old 33-gamer from Essendon. Ted Richards.

Also on hand to sell the club to Richards were then football boss Andrew Ireland and assistant-coaches John Longmire, Peter Jonas and Brett Allison.

Richards couldn’t believe what was happening, but it was a turning point in the Xavier College graduate’s life, who was being pursued by several clubs - as a key forward.

“I was thinking, you’ve got a Grand Final in a few days, why do you want me to come up for. And they said we want you to be part of our plans next year,” he recalls.

“That was just the biggest indication to me that here’s someone that wants me. The fact me they were prepared to fly me up and with all they’ve got going on, chat with me, was probably further reinforcement that this is where I want to be.”

“Just the fact that all those people were in the room was massive, let alone what they said.”

Among other suitors, Richards had also been pursued by the Western Bulldogs, coached at the time by ex-Swans coach Rodney Eade. Originally he favored staying in Melbourne … until his trip to Sydney.

Originally drafted by Essendon from the Sandringham Dragons with selection #27 in the 2000 National Draft, Richards played 2-10-11-10 games year-by-year from 2002-05 but could not cement a regular place in the side.

Playing back and forward, his longest run of consecutive games was seven – his last seven. And he’d learned very early that perception isn’t always reality.

In his 26^th game against Brisbane at Docklands in Round 6 2005 Richards started on Jonathan Brown in his return from a five-match suspension incurred in the 2004 grand final.

Brown kicked eight goals, Brisbane won by eight goals and Richards was dropped the next week despite the fact that the Lions power forward only kicked his first three on the 22-year-old Bombers backman.

Ten weeks out of the side was a high and unfair price to pay, and despite his seven-game finish to the season an out-of-contract Richards decided he needed a fresh start. And despite other options his grand final week meeting with Roos had done the job. He requested a trade to Sydney.

But much to his dismay Essendon adopted hardball negotiation tactics.

“I played the majority of that year at the Bendigo Bombers so I was incredibly embarrassed when Essendon put a first-round draft pick price tag on my head.

“I was even more embarrassed when the Swans said yes, we’ll pay it. I was like, hang on, I’m on the bus to Bendigo every week playing in the VFL.

“Then Essendon came back and said ‘No, we want more. We want a third-round draft pick too’. So there was a discussion around steak knives. It was kind of comical what they had to pay for me. I felt quite sheepish about that.”

In end the Swans gave picks #19 and #50 to Essendon for Richards and pick #54. Or, as it turned out after the draft, Courtenay Dempsey (133 games) and Sam Lonergan (79 games) for Richards and Kristin Thornton (8 games).

History says it was a massive win for the Swans when Richards went on to play 229 games in red and white, ranking 20^th on the all-time games list despite playing his first game at 23. He grew into a key leadership role at the club and was All-Australian in the 2012 premiership year.

Fifteen years ago today, on 1 April 2006, Richards made his Swans debut, joining 32-game ex-Geelong ruckman Paul Chambers, picked up in a trade for draft pick #39, and a 20-year-old Jarrad McVeigh, still regarded as a development player despite is 33 games, in three changes to the 2005 premiership side.

They replaced the retired Jason Ball and the injured Tadhg Kennelly and Paul Bevan.

As fate would have it, Richards’ first game for Sydney was against Essendon at Docklands. Paddy Ryder made his debut and Scott Camporeale had his game for the Bombers after 233 games at Carlton.

Richards’ first opponent was Essendon captain, three-time Coleman Medallist and five-time All-Australian full forward Matthew Lloyd. And when he kicked six goals in the first quarter it had Jonathan Brown written all over it.

“We probably had a bit of a chat because we always got on well but I don’t remember too much about it to be honest,” Richards said this week. “I was just trying to get a kick.”

Despite giving away five years and 178 games worth of experience, Richards held Lloyd goalless from quarter-time until 10 minutes into the fourth quarter. The Bombers had it wrapped up, and two junk time goals gave Lloyd eight in a 27-point win.

If nothing else it was good fodder for sportsman’s night appearances for a man, hugely popular and respected among his peers, who tells a yarn with just the right wit and turn of phrase.

Even before he started his AFL career he was building a good bank of stories. Like the day he was drafted by Essendon when he had every reason to expect to go to North Melbourne.

“There was about four or five (clubs keen) which was quite a lot I thought considering I didn’t get an invite to the draft camp,” he said.

“The Kangaroos had shown the most interest. The night before the draft, Greg Miller who was then at the Roos, came around and said ‘Look, we’re going to take you tomorrow. We’ve got a new sponsor on board in Russell Athletic, here’s a polo, here’s a hat. When we pick you up and say your name, can you get this on as quick as possible’.

He sat and waited, with his polo and hat at the ready, as North drafted Dylan Smith at #6, Daniel Motlop at #8 and Daniel Harris at #14 before Essendon went with Xavier College boy James Davies at #17. North took Drew Petrie at #23 and Sydney chose Luke Ablett with their first pick at #24.

North’s next pick was at #30 but it didn’t matter. Essendon swooped at #27. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Richards moved to the Harbour City and is still there. He finished at 261 career games to outpoint all but six players in a Class of 2000 headed by ageless pick #12 Shaun Burgoyne at 391 games – and counting. Others ahead of him are pick #1 Nick Riewoldt (336), Petrie (332), #16 Scott Thompson (308), #20 Kane Cornes (300) and #55 Chris Newman (268).

And post-football the now 38-year-old is kicking goals off the field. Married to Ella with children Beau (5), Poppy (3) and Max (3months), he is working in investment management with Six Park. Or as he describes it “helping people make their money work harder for them”.

He’s also won huge acclaim for his podcast ‘The Richards Report’, which offers investment advice and was a finalist in the Australian Podcast Awards in 2019 and 2020. It is available via I-Tunes and Spotify.