Pat Richards
Personal information
Full name	Patrick Richards
Nickname	Paaaaat, Cliff, Paddy, Super Pat
Born	27 February 1982 (1982-02-27) (age 27)
	Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia
Height	191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	99 kg (15 st 8 lb)
Playing information
Position	Wing, Fullback
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2000–2003	Parramatta Eels	37	14	4	0	64
2004–2005	Wests Tigers	39	26	0	0	104
2006–	Wigan Warriors	119	72	253	3	797
	Total	195	112	257	3	965
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2008–2009	Ireland	3	3	8	0	28
As of 4 October, 2009
Source: RLP, NRL Stats

Pat Richards (born 27 February 1982 in Liverpool, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer of Irish descent currently playing for the Wigan Warriors of Europe's Super League. Richards previously played in the National Rugby League for the Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers (with whom he won the 2005 National Rugby League premiership) and has also represented the Ireland national rugby league team. His usual position is wing.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Early career

Richards' junior club was Cabramatta and he attended St Therese Primary School and Westfields Sports High.

[edit] NRL career

Richards played for the Parramatta Eels between 2000-2003 before moving to Wests Tigers.

He enjoyed a successful 2005 season with the Tigers, scoring a club record 20 tries during the season. Richards' drop balls and towering kick-offs were instrumental in gaining valuable field position for the team during their premiership year.^[1]

Despite suffering an ankle ligament injury the week prior, Richard's was cleared to play in the 2005 Grand Final against the North Queensland Cowboys.^[1] Richards' try from a Benji Marshall flick pass was a highlight of the Wests Tigers' win.^[2]

[edit] Wigan career

Richards signed a two-year contract with Wigan Warriors for the 2006 and 2007 seasons in June 2005. Speaking from Sydney on the day of his signing for Wigan, Pat Richards said, "I had three enquiries from leading Super League clubs but I feel sure that Wigan is the club for me. They are strengthening well for next year and Ian Millward is a very successful coach. I am looking forward to joining the club." Head Coach Ian Millward also commented, "Pat is the ideal player for the modern game. He is over 6ft tall, fields high balls very well and has a special and powerful kicking game. In keeping with the modern game he gives us cover for several positions. He also has an Irish background and he may bring a bit of the Irish luck with him." ^[3] Because of his Irish EU passport he did not count in Wigan's overseas quota.^[4]

He started his Wigan Warriors career playing in the centres rather than his usually position of winger. He scored 12 tries and kicked 12 goals in 25 appearance during the 2006 season but there was some criticism of Wigan coach Ian Millward for playing him out of position as it was clear that Richards was not suited to playing in the centres. At the end of the 2006 season winger Brett Dallas retired from rugby league which allowed Richards to move back to his usually position of winger for the 2007. At the start of 2007 he was given the squad number 5 and was also promoted to first goal kicker after the other goal kickers, Michael Dobson, Danny Orr and Wayne Godwin left Wigan at the end of 2006. Despite not previously being a regular goal kicker, Pat quickly developed the skills and is now^[when?] rated as one of the best goal kickers in the Super League.^{[citation needed]} After 27 appearances in 2007 he scored 14 tries, kicked 103 goals and was man of the match 4 times. Mid-way through the season, Richards was moved to full back after Michael Withers' retirement.

On 21 September 2007 he kicked the vital drop goal to give Wigan a 31-30 win over Bradford Bulls. It completed the biggest comeback in super League history. ^[5]

In 2008 Pat was the Wigan Warriors Player Of The Season scoring 19 tries and getting a total of 375 points in one season meaning he was the top points scorer in Super League that year as he was the previous year. He also signed a new 3 year deal with Wigan Mid-2008 stating he and his family were settled at the club and loved the town.

Pat Richards is the first Australian player to score 1,000 points or more for the Wigan club.

[edit] Ireland career

Both Richards' parents are Irish and, although born in Australia, he spent a lot of his childhood in Ireland.^{[citation needed]} Richards made himself available for Ireland's 2008 Rugby League World Cup campaign.^{[6][dead link][7][8]}

In August 2008, Richards was named in the Ireland training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,^[9] and in October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man Ireland squad.^[10] He featured prominently in the tournament; in Ireland's win over Samoa on 5 November, Richards scored 22 of the team's 34 points, including three tries.^[11]

Richards was selected again for Ireland for the 2009 European Cup.^[12]

[edit] Career highlights

• Junior Club: Cabramatta
• First Grade Debut: Round 14, Parramatta v Melbourne at Parramatta Stadium, 5 May 2000
• Premiership: Wests Tigers 2005, 1 try
• First Grade Record: 76 appearances scoring 40 tries & 4 goals
• 2007 Super League top points scorer with 248 points in the regular season.
• 2008 Super League top points scorer.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wigan Warriors profile
• Pat Richards Wigan Career Page on the CherryandWhite.co.uk Wigan RL Fansite.

• Ireland profile