MICHAEL Rischitelli is in his sixth year at the Brisbane Lions and is more desperate than ever to break his finals duck.
Rischitelli, 23, has played less minutes in his treasured midfield role in 2009 but he said he was enjoying his time in the forward line, particularly while the Lions were winning.
Since being drafted at No.61 in 2003, the hard-nosed ball winner watched his teammates make the 2004 decider but hasn’t tasted finals action himself since establishing his place in the team.
He now has 77 games under his belt – but none in September.
“I’ve never played finals and I really want to. I thought last year we’d get there but it didn’t happen,” he said.
“Every year you don’t play finals you see other players and think ‘Geez, I’d love to be out there’.
“It makes you more hungry. You have to come back to training earlier and it makes for some pretty long pre-seasons.
“Lots of guys haven’t played finals and we want to start something new here.”
Like a number of Lions this season, Rischitelli has had to sacrifice his role somewhat in order to achieve team success.
More noted as a midfielder, Lions coach Michael Voss has moved the versatile Keilor junior into the front half.
And Rischitelli has not let his coach down.
While averaging 15 possessions and a telling five tackles per game, Rischitelli brings more than raw statistics to the Lions.
He brings a chasing and defensive presence that is not lost on those in the know.
“It’s a team sport and if that implies my role is to go forward, that’s fine by me,” he said.
“There’s plenty of different stats in footy and once we get our plan and what we want to work on in place, you tend not to look at stats too much.
“It’s (chasing) not a stat that anyone takes down, but it’s in-house and it gets noted and that’s what counts. We need opposition backmen to be under pressure.
“We also have guys like Albert Proud and James Polkinghorne and they are good on the lead and good at that pressure. They have both bases covered, which you need because you don’t always get it served to you on a plate.”
Rischitelli said he was happy to be playing anywhere in a winning team and while his forward line skills were developing, he emphasised that he was “no Jonathan Brown or Gary Ablett yet”.
On a team front, Rischitelli said the Lions were wary of last season’s fade-out, which saw them drop from 7-5 after 12 rounds to wind up in 10th position.
“Last year we slipped up so our training has to be better and our foot skills have to be better and the onus is on us and we need to step up,” he said.
“We’re all looking forward to it.”
And for any Lions fans worried the boy from Melbourne was getting homesick and might return home, he’s more than happy north of the border.
“The weather is great, it’s real laid back and it’s not as overwhelming as Melbourne can be, being a footy fanatic city,” he said.
“The coaches and the team are great.”
