As Brett Deledio posed in his new orange and charcoal strip for the first time on Tuesday, the Giants' boom recruit revealed it was the lingering connection between GWS and Richmond that ultimately sealed his eleventh-hour trade to western Sydney.
Giants head of football Wayne Campbell is a close friend of Deledio's – the duo's playing careers overlapped in 2005. The former Tigers champion hung up the boots at the end of that season, just as a blond-tipped No.1 draft pick started his AFL journey.
Had Deledio been just two years older, he would have played at the club alongside new coach Leon Cameron, a man he has known well for a few years through that same link with the Tigers.
At GWS Deledio will escape the searing blowtorch constantly being aimed at Richmond, the AFL's perennial underperformers, who still boast one of the largest followings in the land despite not having won a flag in 36 years.
He will slot into a Giants outfit still building a fan base in a city where he can walk down the street largely unnoticed, added to a playing list not as one of the big fish – as was the case at the Tigers – but as an element of polish to complement a side that will surge into 2017 as premiership favourites.
"I'm excited by that, excited by the fact that I can walk around town in Sydney and not too many people are going to stop and say hello, not that I'm unfriendly by any stretch," Deledio said.
"I'm not saying by any stretch that I was the big dog at the Tiges, because we had Jack [Riewoldt] and Trent [Cotchin] and Dusty [Martin] there and now Rancey [Alex Rance] as well that certainly hold that mantle.
"Walking into Richmond day one in 2004, you certainly get a sense of how big that club is. It's a big club, it's coming week in, week out – that's something that I won't have experienced, being up at the Giants. We're certainly looking to build it, to make it as big."
Deledio approached Richmond before the trade period began and informed coach Damien Hardwick he was seeking a move after 12 seasons in the yellow and black.
Geelong looked his most likely destination, but the two clubs were unable to agree a suitable exchange.
The Western Bulldogs also made a play, but Deledio toured GWS headquarters on Tuesday last week and decided late on the Wednesday night that the Giants would be his new home.
He joins experienced quartet Heath Shaw, Shane Mumford, Ryan Griffen and Steve Johnson to have made the GWS switch in the latter stages of their careers.
And Johnson is already taking credit for luring the 29-year-old up north.
"We were at a good mate of mine's wedding up in Wangaratta – it started with him trying to take a hanger on me on the dance floor to him telling me that I should be up there," Deledio said. "He's taking a little bit of credit for it, but he's been fantastic since on the phone, and reassuring me that the nervous feelings will go away and that you'll settle in pretty quick."
Hardwick said after Richmond's final-round humiliation against the Swans that he expected Deledio would stay, along with the club's four other superstars.
But after months of speculation over his future, Deledio opted out of the final year of his contract.
"I'd lost motivation and the love of the game and I just wanted to reinvigorate myself and get back out there and play for the love," Deledio said.
"They're a super-talented side and I'm really looking forward to meeting all those new teammates. I've enjoyed watching them for the last couple of years because they play an exciting brand, and Leon's got them playing really well."
