Kayne Pettifer has a talent for making people smile, so there were no lack of laughs at the Sportsman’s Night that doubled as a tribute to the champion Kyabram footballer at Wilf Cox Community Centre on Saturday night.
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Pettifer was joined by close friend and former Richmond teammate Matthew Richardson, who would normally have been in a commentary role on Channel 7, but was inside a couple of hours north of football headquarters to honour the man he called “train’’.
The nickname is a nod to a time when Pettifer had the entire Richmond squad of the early 2000s in stitches when he dubbed himself the P-Train to jump on the coat tails of St Kilda full-forward at the time Fraser Gerhig.
When he took a spectacular mark on the shoulders of Richardson he changed the moniker to P-Plane.
That was just one of the stories host for the evening, Tim Nelson, shared with a pack room in a highly entertaining evening that also featured Carlton champions Ange Christou and Anthoy Koutoufides.
Richardson described Pettifer as one of his best friends in the world before moving on to his most favourite subject, himself (his joke, not mine).
“One stat I am proud of the most is having kicked the most goals on the MCG. Second on that list is Matty Lloyd, he is on 462. I have got him for two.
“Buddy would have got me, but went to Sydney. And Jack Riewoldt has retired, so I might have it for good,” Richardson said.
Richo Man, as he was dubbed toward the end of his career when he was a crowd favourite with his emotional response to most on-field scenarios, stunned the crowd when he said he considered Carlton a big chance to win the premiership (that was before last weekend’s result).
“Charlie Curnow is the best player in the game at the moment,” he said.
In between nods to his close mate, Richardson touched on subjects such as the five-year offer made to him from Fremantle, his interaction with then Carlton coach Denis Pagan and his first game.
The first of his 282 games (which brought an 800 goal return) was on late St Kilda champion Danny Frawley.
In that game he had 20 possessions, nine marks, a goal and the Tigers won (he was right, I checked).
He even touched on what he said was the unfair critique that he was a bad kick for goal (although he did kick 551 behinds).
In 1995 Richardson kicked 27.3 before he did his knee in Sydney in round nine. In doing so he just qualified (30 shot minimum) for judgement among the most accurate players of all time.
“Going on that I am the most accurate player in history of the game,” he said.
His recalled first game on the wing, at Subiaco, when he lined up on now retired David Mundy.
“We shook each other’s hands and didn’t see each other again. I had 28 and kicked four,” he added.
Richardson almost famously won the Brownlow Medal that same year.
“I thought I was going to win it at one point. It came down to the last game and we won by 10 goals. Everyone in the room thought I’d get the three votes, but I played average.
“I hadn’t met my wife at that point and didn’t have a date so I took Chris Newman.
“They left Richmond game to last, I was trailing (Adam) Cooney by two votes. The cameras started to hover — 1 vote S Tuck, 2 votes J Bowden, 3 votes C Newman.
“My date stole my Brownlow,” he said.
“Kouta and Ange” produced just as many laughs, the former doing most of the talking.
They were there at the invitation of close friend, and well-known Kyabram businessman Tony De Pasquale, who has known the pair for 20 years.
Koutoufides said one of his long-time dreams had been realised and he would be at the Carlton final with his son Lucas.
Christou doesn’t follow the game as closely as Koutoufides, saying he had probably been to eight games in 20 years.
After finishing his career he shared the story of his five years in Mykanos before he returned to Melbourne and now runs a cafe.
He told the gathering that, at 13, his mother and father (who didn’t speak a word of English and didn’t drive a car) called time on footy career and it wasn’t until he was involved in a “troubled kids’’ game at Princes Park as a 17-year-old that it was revived.
“I was lucky I played in that game, because it all went from there,” he said.
Koutoufides, the son of an Egyptian-born Greek father and Italian mother, was a state high jump champion in Year 5 and later won a national title in hurdles.
He admitted, however, when (after jumping a PB of 2.08 metres) he was humbled by Olympian Tim Forsyth it was time for another sport.
The great Carlton mates, who played in the 1995 premiership, packed boxes for Just Jeans when they started with the Blues and both had significant offers to play elsewhere.
A Koutoufides offer from Port Adelaide in 1996 was worth $1.2 million over three years, worth double that now.
He shared his famous connection to Adidas and love for outspoken Carlton president John “Jack’’ Elliott.
“MY favourite photo is from 1995 with me, John Elliott and my dad in the clubrooms,” Koutoufides said.
Midway through the evening there was an auction of several items, including a GWS jumper signed by Shepparton’s Lachy Ash, Nick Holman’s Gold Coast Suns boots (which went for $650) and a football signed by several players, including Tongala’s young star Harley Reid.
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