41 Facts About Ryan Garthwaite

Ryan Garthwaite was born on 30 June 1998 and is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Ryan Garthwaite won a VFL premiership while playing with the club's reserves side in 2019.

In 2013 Ryan Garthwaite played with a combined Rivernia-Murray area team at the 2013 under 15 New South Wales schools championships.

Ryan Garthwaite begun representing his region in state-league junior football in 2015, playing with the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup.

Ryan Garthwaite placed second in the club's best and fairest award that year despite being an underager, finishing behind only future-first-round AFL draft pick Clayton Oliver.

Ryan Garthwaite repeated his effort set the year previous, again placing second in the club's best and fairest count.

Ryan Garthwaite was noted by AFL Draft Central as one of the best intercept marks in that competition, having averaged 6.5 marks per game across the season.

Ryan Garthwaite played a total of three senior matches across his two years with the club.

Ryan Garthwaite was rated as the Allies best player in round 3 of the tournament, gathering 12 disposals and keeping his Western Australian opponent Luke Strnadica to a single disposal.

In July 2016 Ryan Garthwaite was officially invited to the forthcoming national draft combine in Melbourne.

Ryan Garthwaite was noted pre-draft for his skills in one-on-one contests, his strength in marking and spoiling and his ability to play on both small and tall forwards.

Ryan Garthwaite attracted criticism though for a highly unorthodox two-handed kicking style, despite being largely reliable in his disposal by foot.

Two weeks prior to the draft Ryan Garthwaite was ranked by AFL Draft Central as the 43rd best prospect available that year.

Ryan Garthwaite was drafted by Richmond with the club's third pick and the 72nd selection overall in the 2016 national draft.

Clarke praised Ryan Garthwaite's defensive reading of the play and suggested a continuation of his form would see him in the frame for senior selection.

Ryan Garthwaite finished the 2017 season having played 21 matches in the reserves.

Ryan Garthwaite earned his first match at the top-level in Richmond's opening game of the 2018 calendar year, playing a pre-season match against Essendon in Wangaratta in late February.

Ryan Garthwaite collected 10 disposals and four intercepts in the match, earning praise from senior coach Damien Hardwick who labelled his individual performance "terrific".

Ryan Garthwaite was close to an AFL call-up on a number of occasions in the first half of that season, named as an emergency in rounds 3 and 8.

Ryan Garthwaite was again named as an emergency in round 13, but was called up to make his AFL debut when premiership defender David Astbury was ruled out with an ankle injury.

Ryan Garthwaite found himself matched up on Geelong forward Tom Hawkins and conceded two early goals to the former All-Australian.

Ryan Garthwaite finished the match with nine disposals at 100 per cent efficiency in what The Border Mail labelled a "solid" debut.

Ryan Garthwaite missed the next week's match as a result of the injury, before returning to football in the later part of the month.

Ryan Garthwaite paired well with All-Australian defender Alex Rance to blanket Essendon forward Cale Hooker early in that match before enduring a head collision with teammate Shaun Grigg that forced him to leave the field with a bloody face.

Ryan Garthwaite was on hold as his emergency replacement but ultimately Astbury was ruled fit to play and Ryan Garthwaite's season came to an end when the club was upset by Collingwood in that match.

Ryan Garthwaite finished the year having played two matches at AFL level, while playing a further 17 with the club's reserves side in the VFL.

Ryan Garthwaite lasted just one match in the seniors though after conceding seven goals to eventual Coleman Medalist Jeremy Cameron.

Ryan Garthwaite was characteristically strong at VFL level, playing what coach Craig McRae labelled "AFL level footy" in three matches before earning a recall to AFL level in round 8 following an injury to teammate Nick Vlastuin.

Ryan Garthwaite set his own season-best tally with eight marks in that match and continued to perform strongly over two more weeks at AFL level.

In round 11, Ryan Garthwaite was tasked with assuming primary responsibility for defending North Melbourne's Ben Brown, who finished the match with five goals.

When teammate and primary tall defender David Astbury was ruled out with injury over the next two weeks, Ryan Garthwaite played as the team's lead tall defender but conceded hauls of four goals to each of Tom Hawkins and Josh Jenkins.

Ryan Garthwaite remained at that level for the final two months of the season as the club's reserves side secured the VFL minor premiership.

Ryan Garthwaite's side won a come-from-behind qualifying final win over the Essendon reserves before he produced a "masterful" defensive performance in defeating Port Melbourne in a preliminary final a fortnight later.

Ryan Garthwaite was a key part of the Richmond VFL side that defeated Williamstown the following week, as the club won its first reserves grade premiership since 1997.

Ryan Garthwaite was named as an emergency for the AFL grand final one week later, though went unselected as the club won the top-league premiership.

Ryan Garthwaite finished the season having played seven matches at AFL level, as well as 14 matches with the club's VFL premiership winning reserves side.

Ryan Garthwaite was scheduled to play in another reserves match the following week that was eventually cancelled due to safety concerns as a result of the rapid progression of the coronavirus pandemic into Australia.

Ryan Garthwaite played in an unofficial scratch match against Collingwood's reserves when the AFL season resumed after an 11-week hiatus, owing to the cancellation of the VFL season.

Ryan Garthwaite continued to play the role in VFL practice matches that ran during the early weeks of the AFL season, before being named as a defender in the club's VFL season-opener against Sandringham.

Ryan Garthwaite plays as a key position defender, tasked with directly negating opposition tall forwards.

Ryan Garthwaite is notable for his proficiency at spoiling at defending opposition players one-on-one defensively.