Richard Tambling

Australian rules footballer, born 1986

Richard Tambling (born 12 September 1986) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club and the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Tambling is from the Northern Territory, he grew up in a remote aboriginal community until the age of 13 before moving to Jabiru in Kakadu where he spent most of his childhood, he played footy as a junior but not seriously. English was not his first language growing up. As a teenager he moved to Darwin, Northern Territory to live with his grandmother where he got more serious about football joined the NT Thunder program and played in the underage national championships. It was there that he was identified by talent scouts. He had long been considered a dominant player up in the Northern Territory with his explosive speed and ability to read the play; he only confirmed that status throughout the 2004 pre season. Terry Wallace was particularly impressed, saying he and Deledio were the "best young kids in the country". In the 2004 AFL Draft Tambling was a first round selection, the number four pick overall, and drafted to the Richmond Football Club. Richmond had the opportunity to recruit Lance Franklin, some say this was bad judgement made by the Richmond recruitment personnel. In comparison to Franklin, Tambling's tenure at Richmond has been enigmatic.

He played in 12 games in the 2005 AFL season and a further 21 in the 2006 AFL season. In the latter stages of 2005, Tambling struggled with injury, including a broken toe and a consistent hamstring problem. By 2009 the constant criticism of the underperforming midfielder reached new heights in the round 3 match between the Western Bulldogs and the Richmond Tigers. Tambling's game was viewed by many experts as one of the worst performances of faltering career due to the amount of costly turnovers from his small total of 12 possessions. He received a bronx cheer from the Richmond fans after getting his first kick which also happened to be a turnover. Coach Terry Wallace later explained that Tambling had become a father in the two days earlier, which had affected his sleep before the match. Tambling was dropped from the Richmond team for the following match against the Demons. After a week at Coburg, he returned to the AFL in arguably the best form of his career. Very influential against Sydney, Fremantle, and the West Coast Eagles, he was finally showing the ability that was expected of him with his high draft pick.

On 6 October 2010 Tambling was traded to the Adelaide Crows in exchange for a first and a third round draft selection. He was delisted at the end of the 2013 season, following 16 AFL matches over three years at the club.

After playing for Sturt in the SANFL, he has since played for the NT Thunder in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 NEAFL competitions.

Richard is an Indigenous Australian and his ancestry can be traced to the Woolna, a Northern Territory tribe.