Richard Osborne

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**Richard Osborne**
Personal Info
Birth	June 16, 1964, Victoria
Recruited from	Bulleen/Templestowe
Playing Career¹
Debut	1982, Fitzroy vs. , at
Team(s)	Fitzroy (1982-92) 187 Games, 411 Goals Sydney (1993) 16 Games, 39 Goals Footscray (1994-96) 51 Games, 98 Goals Collingwood (1997-98) 29 Games, 26 Goals
¹ Statistics to end of 1998 season
Career Highlights
Fitzroy 2nd best and fairest 1984 Fitzroy Leading Goalkicker 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992 Footscray Leading Goalkicker 1995 Fitzroy Captain 1991

Richard Osborne (born 16 June 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who enjoyed a lengthy career in the VFL/AFL. He played a total of 283 games in 17 seasons, and played with 4 different clubs.

Originally from Bulleen/Templestowe, he arrived at Fitzroy Football Club and began his career in 1982 as a skinny 17 year old. Over the years his game improved and he was Fitzroy's leading goalkicker 5 times, including 4 consecutive seasons between 1986-1989, with feats of 60 goals on each occasion. He was made captain in 1991 for one season, before leaving the club in 1992. He had played 187 games and kicked 411 goals for the Lions. He was thought to pursue an NFL career in the USA after attending a training camp.

In 1993, Osborne was the no.1 draft pick in the Pre-Season draft, and began a short-lived 16 game career at Sydney. He suffered a bad head injury and was part of a scene you never like to see in football, taken off the ground in an ambulance. After 1 year, he moved to Footscray in 1994. He played 51 games there, including winning the Leading Goalkicking award.

He made yet again, another move very late into his career, this time to Collingwood, where he stayed from 1997-1998. He managed 29 games in the two seasons at his final club, and fittingly, Collingwood was the team he followed as a kid. Even in his two years at the club as a 33 and 34 year old, he had not lost any of his pace or skills, and ended his career on a high note. He played a different role at his last club, at time seen at Half-Back, where he was normally suited in the Forward Pocket, or on Half-Forward.

His goal tally of 574 lies upon the best in VFL/AFL history, currently lying at no.30 overall (end of season 2005). It is quite strange his tally considering Osborne had only kicked 16 goals after 40 games.

In 1997, he was a boundary rider for the Seven Network during the finals series, and continued that role until Seven lost the rights to AFL coverage in 2001.