Nathan Foley Biography

Nathan Foley has told his young teammates to "shop early and beat the rush" after a degenerative knee injury forced him to call time on his 154-game career.

Foley, who has not played this season after having arthroscopic surgery in May, told teammates of his decision to retire immediately in an emotional address at Punt Road Oval.

"To the young blokes in the room, be in a hurry to succeed," Foley said.

"It does go quick and it can end abruptly, so always make the most of your opportunities.

"I've got no doubt that with hard work and a steely resolve you guys can achieve something huge.

"The time is now though, and I love the quote 'Ivvy' (Ivan Maric) uses around the stoppages – 'shop early and beat the rush'. I think that applies to careers as well."

Richmond is hopeful veteran Nathan Foley can return this season after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday that could rule him out for an extended period.

Foley returned from a foot injury in the VFL six weeks ago, but has not played for a month as he battled the knee injury. The decision was made to send him in for surgery on Monday with the aim of getting him back this season.

"It wasn't an acute injury, it's more come about from wear and tear and a bit of degenerative tissue in his knee that's been troubling him," Richmond football manager Dan Richardson said.

"He's gone in for a clean up and we'll have to monitor how that settles down in the coming weeks."

Nathan Foley has undergone minor foot surgery and will miss the opening rounds of the home and away season.

"(He) had a bit of an issue with his plantar fascia and the bottom of his foot, so he needed a small release done to help alleviate that," Richmond's physical performance manager Peter Burge said.

"He should only be (sidelined) reasonably short term. We're thinking somewhere around the six-week mark, but we'll see how he goes."

Nathan Foley is in high spirits after having his first full pre-season in three years.

"'Axel' has probably had his best pre-season since I've been here," midfield and stoppage coach Danny Daly said.

"With 'Cotchy', he's been one of our best two players over the pre-season in terms of their performance and the way they've done their pre-season.

"He hasn't had a full pre-season the last three years so just the ability to be able to train every day has really got him up and going."

Nathan Foley will make his comeback against Port Adelaide in round 7 almost a year since he last played at senior level.

"He's trained incredibly hard over a long period of time and we have been what we feel has been cautious," Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said.

"We've held him back, mainly because of his importance to the side.

"Last week was his first full game and he played three quarters the week prior, so we're pretty confident that he's ready to go."

Richmond are confident Nathan Foley will be back playing football again as he recovers from a partially torn achilles tendon, but are unsure when.

"Obviously with the achilles, it does take some time," Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said.

"We're in no rush with Nathan, he's an important player for us and we've just got to make sure he gets the stability back in his lower calf and we'll work from there.

"We've got no doubt he'll come back and be a fine contributor for us."

Nathan Foley has ended speculation over his trade value by signing a new three-year deal with the Tigers.

"[There are]… some really exciting times coming up, so I was really excited to sign with the club," he said.

"They've been fantastic and I'm looking forward to the future."

Damien Hardwick says he was sickened to see midfielder Nathan Foley pull up with an Achilles injury at training.

"To see him pull up the way he did was sickening to the stomach," Hardwick said.

"It was so disappointing because he'd put in an enormous amount of work. He's a diligent young man.

"As you can imagine, he's pretty flat, but the positive is he can get it fixed and he'll be able to play for a number of years."

Richmond midfielder Nathan Foley will miss the rest of the season after partially rupturing the Achilles tendon in his right leg at training.

"It's disappointing because he's actually been going really well over the last couple of weeks. He's been feeling strong and running well, with minimal pain," Richmond's elite performance manager Matthew Hornsby said.

"He'll have surgery to repair the tendon, which means he won't play for the remainder of 2012, but we know there'll be no problems to be ready to go for the start of 2013."

Nathan Foley says thoughts of his career ending did cross his mind while he spent a significant amount of time on the sidelines due to injury.

"When you're injured for so long and dealing with it seven days a week there's no doubt those sorts of thoughts do creep into your mind, but all along the fitness staff were really supportive and assured me that I'd be back playing in time," Foley said.

"I suppose its [taught me a few things like] patience. I feel like I've always been pretty diligent over the journey in doing all the right training and all the right things. [You've got] to make the most of it while you're out there and playing and enjoy the journey."

Richmond midfielder Nathan Foley has continued his successful return from an injury interrupted season with an impressive 24-possession game against Hawthorn in round 3.

"The body's good, the body's really good," Foley said. "I've had a really good summer, and got in some consistent training. Now it's a matter of getting some game time behind me."

Richmond coach Damian Hardwick confirms that midfielder Nathan Foley will not play against this season due to a persistent leg injury.

"Yeah he's done," Hardwick said.

"He will have surgery this week or next week just to clean up some things. It's nothing too serious. It's just something that has been nagging for a little while. It's all about 2011 for Nathan at this stage."

Richmond's Nathan Foley has had minor ankle surgery and is doubt for the start of the 2010 season.

"Nathan had been progressing well with his rehabilitation program, but has experienced some soreness in the last week," Richmond elite performance manager Matt Hornsby said.

"The medical staff decided the best course of action was for him to have minor surgery.

"The surgery will prevent him from running for the next couple of weeks, and we will continue to take a cautious approach with his recovery."

An ankle injury will sideline Tiger midfielder Nathan Foley for the rest of the 2009 season.

"Nathan has been restricted with his ankle since the early stages of the season, which has made it difficult for him to train, prepare for games and recover each week," Football manager Ross Monaghan said.

Foley will undergo surgery for his ankle that has troubled him the entire season which will allow young defender Jarrod Silvester to remain on the primary list.

Richmond midfielder Nathan Foley is likely to miss three weeks with a calf injury sustained in the Tigers' loss to Adelaide on Saturday night.

Coach Jade Rawlings said Foley injured his right calf at training last week but doctors had cleared him on Friday to play.

He said the injury became sore as the game wore on. Foley is now likely to have scans.

Richmond will recall Matthew Richardson, Brett Deledio, Nathan Foley and Ben Cousins for Friday night's final warm-up.

Richmond vice-captain Nathan Foley is confident Trent Cotchin will be ready for the home-and-away season as the young star battles achilles soreness.

Richmond announces their leadership group for 2008 consisting of Kane Johnson returning as captain with Chris Newman and Nathan Foley the vice-captains.

Rounding out the leadership group for 2008 will be Troy Simmonds, Nathan Brown, Joel Bowden and Kayne Pettifer.

"It's a great sign for the club to see some of our younger generation emerging as leaders and wanting to take on more responsibility," Tigers coach Terry Wallace said.

"Both Chris and Nathan are very hard working, set great examples, and are very much respected within the group. We look forward to them helping shape the future of our club".