Forever indebted: Why Grimes is eternally grateful to Richmond

Richmond defender Dylan Grimes will be forever indebted to the Richmond Football Club.

Drafted at No. 2 in the 2010 Pre-Season Draft, Grimes arrived at Tigerland without much fanfare.

While he was rated internally at Richmond, things didn’t start all that well for the speedy defender as he failed to reach double figures in games for his first four seasons as injuries plagued his development.

It was during his third season in 2012 that he was sent to Germany to be treated by renowned soft tissue expert Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. Part of his treatment involved injections of calf blood extract Actovegin directly into his injured hamstring, together with 200 injections into his lower back over the course of a single week.

That huge investment by Richmond to get Grimes right clearly paid off as he’d return late in the 2013 campaign before playing in at least 15 games a season across the entire next decade.

In that decade, Grimes would become a three-time premiership player, All-Australian and club captain, but the now 35-year-old will never forget what the club did for him when both he and the organisation were at a low point.

“Think about where the club was in that stage where we were,” Grimes told This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.

“I don't know if you remember the Fighting Tiger Fund; it was basically we were in huge financial debt, as a footy club, and they're sending this 20-year-old kid that doesn't have any runs on the board at all to the other side of the world to see a world-leading doctor.

“Richmond had just sort of really given me probably more than I had felt I deserved, at least. There's a huge part of me that just feels super indebted to the club and to the people at the club.

Even the way that they'd encouraged me to find a career post-football at the same time as playing, that sort of stuff is bigger than footy.

Dimma always said, you always want players, no matter how many games they play or how long they’re there for, to leave the club a better person.

“His other philosophy was you got to be a great club before you can be a great team, which I loved as well.”

Grimes spoke about the entirety of his career and much more on this week’s episode.

Listen to Grimes' full chat with Sam Edmund below.