Why is is this so??

Richo wasn't the greatest player of the past 15 years. Indeed, a close examination of his career would reveal a few flaws. He was a poor kick for goal for a full-forward and his on-field petulance smacked of a "me-first attitude", which would have been eradicated from his game long ago had he been playing at a half-decent club.

But they're the only negatives you'll find about Richo here.

Pretty much from the time he debuted for the Tigers in 1993, Richo was the Richmond Football Club. A second-generation Tiger player, his joy at playing AFL footy was all the greater because he was running around for the same club as his father. He was a Richmond fan who happened to play for the Tigers, and the club's lack of success anguished him as much as did the perennials who sit behind the Punt Road goals.

He was charismatic, athletic and brave. His was a unique mix of height, strength, speed and speed that made him a handful for any type of key defender. And while Terry Wallace didn't do a whole lot right in his time as Richmond coach, he did release Richardson into the midfield and so successful was that move in 2008 that he nearly pinched a Brownlow Medal. The entire room at the Crown Palladium was riding him home that particular night.

The sad part for Richo was that his entire career yielded just two years in the finals - 1995 and 2001 - and while the annual struggles of the Richmond Football Club provide great comedy for many of us, even the most churlish would not have begrudged Richo the opportunity to play finals on a few more occasions, Showmen of his ilk deserved to play more frequently on the biggest stage.

For several years, footy scribes would throw up his name for trade because he was considered to be the sort of player who could turn a contending team into a premiership winner. Yet now that his career is done, who isn't glad that he was a one-club player. Richo wearing navy blue and white, or red and black? Unthinkable.

His retirement also brings to an end the decorated ‘Class of ‘93?. Can any year boast a better group of Rising Star nominees? Names such as Peter Everitt, Shane Crawford, Scott West, David Neitz, Nathan Buckley, James Hird, Dustin Fletcher, Glenn Archer, Sav Rocca, Mark Ricciuto, Leigh Colbert and Richo would suggest not.

Matthew Richardson now starts a well-earned retirement. As one of the best blokes ever to play the game, he deserves the fondest of farewells from the Tiger faithful before the first game next year and from the football public in general before next year's grand final.

And he will certainly get them.