Alan Richardson (footballer, born 1965)

For the former Richmond and South Melbourne player known as Bull, see Alan Richardson (footballer, born 1940).

Alan Richardson (born 17 May 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who is the former senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Alan Richardson
Personal information
Full name	Alan R. Richardson
Date of birth	(1965-05-17) 17 May 1965 (age 58)
Original team(s)	East Burwood
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Position(s)	Defender
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1987–1996	Collingwood	114 (10)
Coaching career^3
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
2013	Port Adelaide	1 (0–1–0)
2014–2019	St Kilda	126 (43–81–2)
Total		127 (43–82–2)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1996. ^3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2019.
Career highlights
Joseph Wren Memorial Trophy 1988
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

He was previously the Director of Coaching at Port Adelaide and had earlier roles as an assistant coach at the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton and Port Adelaide. He is a former player with Collingwood and played 114 senior games and now works as an assistant coach at the Melbourne Football Club.

Playing career

Richardson had initially been listed at North Melbourne, where he played at reserves level, but was let go by the club without being able to break into the seniors.^[1]

Collingwood Football Club

A half back, he was given a second chance by Collingwood Football Club and made his league debut a week before his 22nd birthday, in 1987.^[2][3][4]

It was not until 1990 that he became a regular fixture in the Collingwood side and he participated in both qualifying finals against the West Coast Eagles, after the first was drawn. He also played in the semi-final win over Essendon, which saw Collingwood make the grand final, but cracked his collarbone when he collided with Adrian Burns. On the Thursday before the premiership decider, Richardson failed a fitness test after being bumped by his coach Leigh Matthews while walking off the ground. He was replaced by Shane Kerrison, a surprise inclusion ahead of Ron McKeown who had missed the semi-final.^[5][6] Richardson retired at the end of the 1996 season. Richardson played a total of 114 games and kicking 10 goals for Collingwood Football Club.^[7]

Coaching career

Early coaching career

When his playing career ended, Richardson became a coach and was put in charge of his original club, East Burwood, in the Eastern Football League. He coached the seniors to premierships in 1999 and 2000.^[8][9] He was the senior coach of VFL club Coburg for the next two years.

Western Bulldogs

in 2003, he joined the Western Bulldogs as an assistant coach.^[10]

Collingwood Football Club

After three seasons at the Bulldogs, Richardson was appointed to Mick Malthouse's coaching staff at Collingwood and given the role of development manager.^[11][12]

Essendon Football Club

From 2008 to 2010 he was an assistant coach with Essendon.^[13]

Carlton Football Club

He joined the Carlton Football Club as an assistant coach in 2011,^[14][15] but was released at the end of the 2012 season because of the departure of senior coach Brett Ratten who was replaced by Mick Malthouse.^[16][17][18]

Port Adelaide Football Club

He then joined the Port Adelaide Football Club as a senior assistant and director of coaching for the 2013 season. On 4 May 2013, Richardson coached his first official AFL game as caretaker interim senior coach in place of regular senior coach Ken Hinkley, who was unavailable due to a virus. Port Adelaide under Richardson as stand-in senior coach for Hinkley, lost that game to North Melbourne by a margin of ten points in Round 6, 2013.^{[19][20][21][22]}

St Kilda Football Club

Richardson was appointed senior coach of St Kilda Football Club on 14 November 2013, when he replaced Scott Watters, who was sacked at the end of the 2013 season.^{[23][24][25][26][27]} Richardson received criticism by Port Adelaide over the late timing of the decision, being made only one week before the national draft.^[28][29]

Richardson's coaching career at St Kilda started well with three wins from their first five games, however, the club would win only one game (against then-second placed Fremantle in Round 18) for the remainder of the 2014 season and crash to its first wooden spoon since 2000. After coaching the team to the brink of finals in 2016 and 2017, the Saints fell to 16th place in 2018. The 2019 season saw considerable scrutiny applied to Richardson and his coaching tenure. Although the Saints won four of their first five games, their subsequent poor record where the Saints under Richardson sat fifteenth position on the ladder with six wins and ten losses, saw Richardson resign as St Kilda Football Club senior coach on 16 July 2019, in the middle of the 2019 season after Round 17, 2019.^{[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]} Richardson was then replaced by assistant coach Brett Ratten as caretaker senior coach of St Kilda Football Club for the remainder of the 2019 season, who was eventually appointed full-time senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club.^[38][39]

Melbourne Football Club

On 23 August, 2019, Richardson returned to coaching when he joined the Melbourne Football Club in an assistant coach role in preparation for the 2020 season.^[40] Richardson spent the 2020 season in the assistant coaching position as the club's director of coaching.^[41] Richardson was then appointed to the position of the club's General Manager of AFL Football Performance in 2021.^[42]

Personal life

Richardson is married to Jo and they have two sons. He lives in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.^[8]

Statistics

Playing statistics

^[43]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)							Votes
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
1987	Collingwood	13	2	0	0	10	4	14	2	0	0.0	0.0	5.0	2.0	7.0	1.0	0.0	0
1988	Collingwood	13	4	0	0	34	23	57	13	2	0.0	0.0	8.5	5.8	14.3	3.3	0.5	0
1989	Collingwood	13	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
1990	Collingwood	13	18	7	5	170	73	243	45	12	0.4	0.3	9.4	4.1	13.5	2.5	0.7	0
1991	Collingwood	13	11	2	1	132	42	174	32	22	0.2	0.1	12.0	3.8	15.8	2.9	2.0	0
1992	Collingwood	13	22	1	1	289	124	413	79	41	0.0	0.0	13.1	5.6	18.8	3.6	1.9	0
1993	Collingwood	13	20	0	3	229	128	357	65	42	0.0	0.2	11.5	6.4	17.9	3.3	2.1	6
1994	Collingwood	13	11	0	0	75	51	126	29	11	0.0	0.0	6.8	4.6	11.5	2.6	1.0	0
1995	Collingwood	13	21	0	0	175	75	250	39	21	0.0	0.0	8.3	3.6	11.9	1.9	1.0	0
1996	Collingwood	13	5	0	1	32	16	48	11	10	0.0	0.2	6.4	3.2	9.6	2.2	2.0	0
Career			114	10	11	1146	536	1682	315	161	0.1	0.1	10.1	4.7	14.8	2.8	1.4	6

Coaching statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season^[44]

Legend
W	Wins	L	Losses	D	Draws	W%	Winning percentage	LP	Ladder position	LT	League teams

Season	Team	Games	W	L	D	W %	LP	LT
2013	Port Adelaide	1	0	1	0	0.0%	—	18
2014	St Kilda	22	4	18	0	18.2%	18	18
2015	St Kilda	22	6	15	1	29.5%	14	18
2016	St Kilda	22	12	10	0	54.6%	9	18
2017	St Kilda	22	11	11	0	50.0%	11	18
2018	St Kilda	22	4	17	1	20.5%	16	18
2019	St Kilda	16	6	10	0	37.5%	15	18
Career totals		127	43	82	2	34.7%

References

1. "Alan Richardson". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
2. "Alan Richardson". AFL Tables.
3. "Alan Richardson". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
4. "Alan Richardson". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
5. Herald Sun, "Alan Richardson is a serious contender for the Essendon coaching job", 31 August 2010
6. "Alan Richardson". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
7. "Alan Richardson". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
8. "Meet new St Kilda coach Alan Richardson" by Jon Ralph, Herald Sun, 16 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
9. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-920910-78-5.
10. "Alan Richardson - General Manager of AFL Football Performance". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
11. "Alan Richardson - General Manager of AFL Football Performance". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
12. "Comments stun Richardson". 10 September 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
13. "Alan Richardson - General Manager of AFL Football Performance". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
14. "Carlton coach Brett Ratten to add versatility to team". 9 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
15. "'Selfless' Ratten still upbeat". 28 August 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
16. "Alan Richardson". Retrieved 29 March 2022.
17. "Alan Richardson - General Manager of AFL Football Performance". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
18. "Comments stun Richardson". 10 September 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
19. Fjeldstad, Jesper (5 May 2013). "A question with no answer for Port Adelaide". The Advertiser.
20. "Relief for North after AFL hell". 4 May 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
21. "Port Adelaide learns valuable lessons in loss to North Melbourne in Hobart". 4 May 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
22. "Alan Richardson - General Manager of AFL Football Performance". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
23. "Long-time assistant Alan Richardson unveiled as St Kilda's new coach". 14 November 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
24. "Alan Richardson named St Kilda head coach to replace Scott Watters". 14 November 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
25. "Meet new St Kilda coach Alan Richardson". 16 November 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
26. "St Kilda appoint Alan Richardson as new coach". 14 November 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
27. "Richardson wins St Kilda coaching race". 14 November 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
28. Fjeldstad, Jesper (15 November 2013). "Disappointed Power wins compensation for valued assistant Alan Richardson". The Advertiser.
29. "Saints snare Alan Richardson". 13 November 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
30. "St Kilda head coach Alan Richardson steps down 'effective immediately' after six years at the club". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
31. "AFL: Alan Richardson quits as St Kilda coach". 15 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
32. "AFL 2019: The bold St Kilda strategic plan that ultimately backfired — and cost Alan Richardson his job". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
33. "St Kilda parts ways with coach Alan Richardson effective immediately". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
34. "Alan Richardson and St Kilda part ways". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
35. "Alan Richardson stands down as coach of AFL club St Kilda". 15 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
36. "Alan Richardson departs as St Kilda coach". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
37. "Third AFL coach gone as Alan Richardson quits St Kilda". 15 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
38. "St Kilda part ways with Richardson, Ratten installed as caretaker". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
39. "AFL 2019: St Kilda reconfigures its coaching panel after parting ways with Alan Richardson". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
40. . Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
41. "Alan Richardson - General Manager of AFL Football Performance". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
42. "Alan Richardson - General Manager of AFL Football Performance". Retrieved 18 March 2022.
43. Alan Richardson's player profile at AFL Tables
44. "Alan Richardson's coaching profile". AFL Tables.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alan Richardson (footballer born 1965).

Alan Richardson's playing statistics from AFL Tables