It’s not long until Nathan Richards makes the move to Sydney to link up with Greater Western Sydney but before that he has one little thing to do.
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The Griffith junior headed to the US on Sunday with the Australian AFL Academy.
The trip will last for two weeks with the first to truly put the up and coming footballers to the test.
“We’ll go to the IMG Academy which is basically a little city on its own where professional athletes from around the world travel to come and enhance their sporting and athletic ability,” Richards said.
“They’ll smash us. They’ll put us through our paces and see how we cope under pressure in a different environment in front of all the recruiters.
“It will be a challenge but it’ll be really good. I’m looking forward to it.”
It won’t be all business over in the US with the squad to visit a range of sporting events – including NBA, college football and hockey matches – as well as Disneyland in the second week.
When Richards returns, it will be back to sweating it out on the training field.
Richards will play with the Giants in the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) in 2017.
He will work as a trainee groundskeeper two days a week and play and train with the Giants – both reserve and first grade sides – for the rest of the week. To say Richards was raring to go would be an understatement.
“I’m definitely excited,” he said. “In saying that, I think if anyone told you they weren't daunted about leaving a little country town to go to a major city, they'd be lying.”
The ruckman will be put up by a GWS Giants host family in Sydney while he works, trains and plays.
The ultimate goal is an AFL contract but for now, the level-headed Giant was taking it one step at a time.
“At the moment one of my goals is just to be as fit as I possibly can,” Richards said.
“The last few years I’ve felt pretty fit but if I can step it up another level from there it’ll hopefully also take my footy to another level.
“From there I just want to see how far I can go. I want to play well game to game and not worry about the end result too much.
“I’ll try and do my best and if everything works out hopefully all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.”
