Both Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers fans will remember him well, with Wigan Warriors coach Shaun Wane heaping a ton of praise onto the former NRL winger now in the ESL, as Wane thought the winger was his side’s best player in a 24-16 Good Friday win over St Helens.
Richards scored a double and kicked 4 goals to finish with 16 points for the game, with the praise flying through for the Australian winger post-game.
“I thought Pat Richards was far and away our best player. He’s been consistently fantastic for us this year.
“He’s in our leadership group and leads the team well. The way he played today was really impressive.”
Another player who received praise from Wane, was young prop Dom Crosby, who scored a try and will only get better as time goes on according to Wane.
“He’s a good kid and he’s only going to get better,” said Wane. “He’s a baby and, in three or four years’ time, we will see him at his best.”
There was some disappointment for Wane, however, as he thought his side should have led by more than 18 points, believing his side should have been more clinical.
“The 18 points didn’t register in my head,” he said.
“I wasn’t happy at half-time, we should have been a lot more clinical with our finishing.
“I said at half-time ‘it’s nil apiece’, because they were never going to be dead and buried.
“We showed a lot of character but we were far from at our best. We made too many errors.
“Credit to St Helens, they had a few missing, like us. Both teams were busted.”
St Helens Australian coach Nathan Brown had mixed feelings, praising his side’s commitment and effort, but he was left disappointed by some of their defensive efforts.
“The effort and commitment was terrific but we let ourselves down with our defence, especially in the first 15 or 20 minutes.
“I thought offensively we stretched them plenty in the second half but the most disappointing aspect was our defensive performance.
“But it was an enjoyable occasion and I was pleased with the way we handled some adversity.
“We had a lot of men in key positions not playing and we lost a few players to injury during the game.”