Rising Star

It's never easy to be the son of a famous footballing father. Andrew Raines the son of Richmond 1980 Premiership centreman Geoff is no exception. As Geoff played for 4 clubs and more than 100 with both Richmond and Collingwood Andrew was eligible as a father/son selection with either. Having missed out on the sons of former player David Cloke to the former centre half forward's 2nd club Collingwood Richmond were not prepared to see anymore former players sons go elsewhere and picked Andrew a year earlier than most people thought he was ready with selection 76 in the 2003 draft.

Young Andrew progressed rapidly and instead of spending most of 2004 playing for Coburg reserves as many thought he would, he was soon in the affiliate's senior side and was even selected for his senior AFL debut in the last game of 2004 against Sydney.

Andrew's development continued in 2005 and played a further 6 senior games, although he was listed 11 times as an emergency without playing on match day. He was given limited time, but showed glimpses of the speed and skill needed to succeed at the highest level, he not only looked like his father, he also played uncannily like Geoff.

A solid pre season and whispers about his form got him in the opening round side and although the team was soundly beaten by the Dogs Andrew was one of the better players. He regularly lined up on bigger, stronger and more experienced opponents and usually beat them, his speed and skill are what the Tigers need and his runs from the back line are breathtaking. His game against the Lions in Rd 4 earned him a Rising Star nomination and he went up another cog against Carlton, using his speed and long kicking, plus those strong hips to twist out of tackles, put the Blues to the sword again and again.

If this keeps up instead of calling Andrew the son of Geoff we'll be calling Geoff the father of Andrew.

Chris