Richmond Athletic's second division team which won the Nelson Bays Football second division on Saturday. Photo: Andrew Board.

Richmond div 2 break long trophy drought

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Three years ago, Richmond Athletic 2nd XI finished second-to-last, this year they won the league.

A 5-0 win over Nelson College 2nd XI at Jubilee Park on Saturday sealed their first title in 25 years.

After a slow start, Richmond has scored a league-leading 52 goals.

“We lost our first game to Golden Bay and the boys got together and realised they needed to work on scoring goals,” coach Toby Gaskin says.

Toby says the team has a good mix of youth and experience and they trained each week with the Richmond division one team which had allowed players to slot into the division two environment while also allowing the young players to get a feel for a higher grade of football.

“The guys train hard and while they might get beaten in a training game against the top boys, they can often turn it around on a Saturday.”

Toby says with Suburbs Seals and Tahuna stepping up to the top grade in past seasons, he saw a chance to make an impression.

“I noticed a few years ago that all the top teams still had some experience and it had to be a balance. I think we got it right.”

Toby says the assistance from first XI coachers Matt Campbell and Steve Clark had been a major influence on the success.