Richmond V Greater Western Sydney 04/07/2015 (MCG)

I'll start this off with a few words about the Greater Western Sydney Giants. I don't like them. Not because they're any good, they're fairly average, but more because they are a soulless corporate entity that the AFL are pouring money and time into in a shameless exercise to move into the western suburbs of Sydney. This made up club, that count themselves lucky if they can draw more than 10,000 people to their boutique stadium, has been given enormous draft concessions at the expense of the traditional clubs that actually made the AFL.

That's their logo and their colours. I'm not joking. They paid someone (probably an advertising agency) good money to come up with that. What a joke!

Despite my personal opinion that the Giants are no good, will never succeed and after having millions upon millions poured into them by the governing body will eventually cease to exist and join University and the Fitzroy Football Club as the only VFL/AFL teams to do so, they haven't had a bad season and were a threat.

Games like this bother me. It stems from years of disappointment as a Richmond supporter. We faltered against West Coast after the Fremantle win and would the same thing happen following the great Sydney victory?

People were seeing it as a lay down misere, and it wasn't. The Giants have fallen away a bit after their encouraging opening to the season, largely due to some unforeseen injuries, but they've still got a very talented young list.

Despite being a rather uninspiring matchup (the Giants would have to have close to the lowest membership in the AFL, if not the absolute lowest) it was still an important game with plenty at stake. The Tigers and the Giants were locked on the same amount of points from games won at 28 each, with Richmond being higher on the ladder courtesy of a superior percentage. The winner would go a game clear and climb a rung or two, the loser would possibly fall out of the 8. Once a team falls out at this point of the season, it's damn hard to get back in.

The entire round was rather sombre due to the tragic events surrounding the murder of Adelaide coach Phil Walsh. No songs before or after the match and no banners, each side marked the passing of the coach with a minute's silence before the game and a minute after where they huddled together in a circle.

The wet cold Melbourne day did nothing to lighten anyone's mood.

The first quarter was a scrappy affair, and the Tigers looked rather lack lustre. The quarter reached no great heights as a spectacle and the Giants eked out a small lead.

No panic stations, Richmond haven't won many first quarters and they've overcome bigger deficits to win some of their games this year. Kicking for goal was pretty awful though and both the umpires and the commentators seemed to be willing GWS on. A bit about the commentators here. It was one of the most shockingly biased calls I've ever heard. (I don't include the guys from the old 3GL and K-Rock, because they were Geelong based and only ever called Cats games, and I let the South Australians out of it, because half the time I'm sure they're taking the piss). There had to have been a directive from the AFL to make them talk up the Giants. The entire team should honestly be ashamed of themselves for that call.

The Giants also led at half time. I could even cop that, but despite Alex Rance, Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin, busting a gut to keep the Tigers in it, they still took a 15 point lead into the last quarter.

That must have been the final straw for Damien Hardwick. He's had the occasional dummy spit during a game. I've seen him throw water bottles and smash the phone on the desk, but he's generally fairly calm when he gives the address in the huddle. Not this time. He had a forehead vein going that would have done David Parkin proud, he shouted and even pushed a couple of players. This was some passion!

Trent Cotchin really took it to heart. For the second week in a row, the captain stepped up and said to his players 'C'mon boys! Follow me!' He was unstoppable. Alex continued to defend gallantly, and I have to pay some credit to the unfashionable Jake Batchelor. Cam McCarthy has been a handy and dangerous forward for the Giants this year, and Jake kept him to two touches for the game. Can't ask for much more than that from a second tier defender. Riewoldt remained dangerous and creative, but the guy who really took it away from the Giants was Shane Edwards, one goal was pure magic. Sharked the tap out in the centre, ran away from the pack, bounced once, got to just inside the centre square and then let go with a big bomb from outside 60 and it sailed through. It was like that was the catalyst and it broke the Giants. Edwards also kicked the final goal that put the Tigers up by more than a goal. This is what good sides do, they find a way to win.

Shane Edwards celebrates after his match winning goal.

Rd 1 Carlton V Richmond MCG 02/04/2015

The season started on Thursday night, and it kicked off with my Tigers up against the old enemy in Carlton. I think I tried to do this last year, and we played so badly that I gave up in sheer frustration. Then of course we got good, won the last 9 games in a row and played finals anyway, but I did miss the last 3 or 4 games of the regular season, because I was in England. I have no plans to go away during the home and away season this year, and hopefully I won't lose it when we invariably hit a rough patch, so I will endeavour to write up games from my own point of view throughout the season.

To begin this we need a bit of a history lesson. In their infinite wisdom the AFL decided to open the 2008 season with the Tigers V the Blues. You can see the thinking behind this. Both clubs have large followings and they're traditional rivals. The matchup should guarantee a good crowd and healthy TV ratings. If it worked, then it could become a regular opening round fixture. Because that year, as with this year, Easter coincided with the opening of the season, they could play the match on Thursday night (the AFL don't schedule games on Good Friday for a whole bunch of reasons, but that could be another post in its own. I personally don't see the need for a game on Good Friday. I'd probably be on board if I was confident that they'd give up the Thursday night game, but I'm not, and they won't, so that's the end of the argument for me).

Making a big thing out of a Tigers V Blues match makes sense. The two clubs have a serious rivalry that really became intense in 1967, when Carlton ruck man John Nicholls claimed that his opposite in Richmond's Neville Crowe struck him during a finals match, and Crowe was rubbed out. This caused the much loved Crowe, who was also the captain of the side at the time, to miss the Grand Final against Geelong. Richmond won the game, their first Premiership since the 40's. Crowe never played again and Nicholls later said that he was never hit, but played it up for the free. Richmond and Carlton hated each other from that point on. It probably reached its zenith in 1973, when Richmond won a spiteful game, avenging Crowe and the 1972 Grand Final loss. A lot of that hatred has passed, but the supporters still don't like each other and always like to beat the other.

That first opening round clash was a success and led the AFL to keep scheduling the two teams to open the season, and oddly enough still on a Thursday night, whether or not it was a holiday the following day. Richmond won that first clash, but after that it was all the Blues until 2013. 

For some reason Richmond drew the Gold Coast up there in the first round of 2014. Carlton played Port Adelaide. Both sides lost. The AFL have since admitted that the 2014 fixture wasn't particularly fan friendly, and one of the first things that the new head of the league Gil McLachlan did when assuming office, was reinstate the traditional opening round clash of Carlton and Richmond. He was lucky that the season started on the Easter long weekend, and he could have the game on a Thursday night.

It was an odd game from a Richmond point of view. We came out rather flat. Brett Deledio got reported in the opening seconds and Carlton's Dale Thomas dislocated his shoulder and spent the rest of the night on the bench, forcing them to activate their substitute earlier than they wanted to. Despite that the Blues settled better and went into quarter time 16 points ahead.

After about 5 minutes of the second quarter Richmond flexed their muscles, first gamer Kamdyn McIntosh made Carlton's Brownlow Medallist and veteran Chris Judd look fairly ordinary and the Tigers took control of the game. Half time saw a deficit turned into a 7 point lead.

Richmond went on with it in the 3rd, but couldn't establish a match winning lead, although they were on top all over the ground and Carlton had trouble finding scoring options and getting it out of their back half.

The Tigers were all over it in the final quarter. The lead went up to 33 points late in the quarter, but Riewoldt's 4th goal had the fat lady warming up before that. The Blues got a late goal to make the margin a respectable 27 points, although they were comprehensively beaten.

The Tigers celebrate a goal.

The injured Dale Thomas and a team mate commiserate. Not the best opening to a season. Lose the game and a key player to injury.

Now the Tigers just have to keep a lid on it until next week when they meet the Bulldogs. This has been a problem in the past, but there's a sense of purpose and professionalism amongst this group that I haven't seen for some time, and it's evident both on and off field.

Easter, Autumn and AFL

There three reasons for this post, and I'll cover them in turn.

Easter - I love Easter. I can't really tell you why. I just do. It's such a special time of year in Melbourne, and that may tie into the other two parts of this post.

Autumn - due to the hemispheres Easter always falls in Autumn. Easter is actually a Spring celebration in the northern hemisphere, that's why rabbits and eggs feature heavily in the mythology of the celebration in the season. Both are symbols of spring and rebirth. Autumn however is a time when the harvest is gathered and people ready themselves for the coming Winter. The leaves turn and start to fall from the trees. However down here in Australia early Autumn is a little different. The weather is still quite pleasant and not too cool, it is almost like early Spring. While some trees have leaves that fall, we have plenty of evergreens (gum trees for instance) that don't lose their leaves and provide a nice contrast.

AFL - this is the time of year when the Australian Rules Football season starts as well. It runs for 6 months and covers 3 seasons: Autumn, Winter and Spring. I have a passion for the game, especially the Richmond Tigers. I was born into a Tiger supporting family, and have followed them all my life. They've tested me sorely over the years, but at the start of the season every supporter is filled with hope, and that makes it an exciting time of the year. Depending on how they go tonight in the season opener against the old enemy Carlton, I may post more about that over the Easter break.

Happy Easter!

Football Round 2 Richmond V Carlton

I put a few things that are important to me here, so football was probably always going to find it's way here. This isn't a standard game review and I doubt I'll talk about every game in the season. I already missed the opening round, but that's got a lot to do with it's very odd scheduling and the fact that the entire thing (split over 2 weeks) seemed be more of an extension of the pre season competition rather than the opening round of the home and away season.

Before getting into the post and the game itself I need to explain a few things. Firstly when I say football I don't mean the round ball code (that's usually called soccer down here), and I don't mean either code of rugby, either union or league. In Victoria when we say football, or footy, we mean Australian Rules Football. The game has been going for well over 100 years and regularly draws crowds in excess of 70,000 to big matches. Last year's elimination final between Richmond (my team) and Carlton had over 95,000 people in attendance, and I was one of them.

The origins of the game are lost in the mists of time. Some say it's a hybrid of soccer, rugby and gaelic football. Others believe that the man credited with being the founder of the game: Tom Wills, adapted a game of keepings off that he saw the local indigenous people playing with a possum skin, they called it marngrook. I think it may have incorporated elements of all of these sports.

Victoria was the most populous state that played the game (NSW, especially the Sydney area never really took to the game and preferred rugby, still do really) and became the headquarters. The first governing body was known as the VFA (Victorian Football Association), some of it's more powerful clubs broke away and formed the VFL (Victorian Football League). The VFL became a bigger deal than the VFA and the VFA became a secondary competition. Somewhere that people who weren't ready for the VFL honed their skills, and a place that guys who didn't cut it anymore at VFL level played their days out. In recent years it's changed it's name to the VFL and is a feeder competition for the AFL.

The AFL (Australian Football League) grew out of the former VFL when the decision was made to make the game national rather than have their separate state leagues. This happened when founding member South Melbourne moved to Sydney and the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears were introduced into the competition. Since then 5 more clubs have come into the competition (Adelaide Crows, Fremantle Dockers, Port Adelaide Power, Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney Giants) and one of the VFL's founding members: Fitzroy, ceased to exist and gave their lion emblem, colours, theme tune and a few players to the struggling Brisbane Bears, turning them into the Brisbane Lions.

Now onto Richmond and Carlton.

I'm a Richmond supporter. There are many reasons why someone follows a particular club. In my case I was born into it. Both parents followed the Tigers and I was unlikely to ever follow anyone else.

One of the Richmond Tigers greatest rivals are the Carlton Blues. Carlton were a founding member of the VFL. Richmond didn't enter the competition until 1908 with the now defunct University. Carlton, Collingwood Magpies and Essendon Bombers became great rivals of Richmond and the drawing power of the 4, especially during the late 60's, 70's and early 80's, saw them referred to as the Big 4.

The Tigers have always hated the Magpies, but Collingwood are like that, you either barrack for them or you hate them. I once tried to support the Pies in a Grand Final when they played Brisbane once. I lasted for about a quarter before I really wanted them to lose the game. It's just hard coded into me.

I think the Carlton thing (we really do hate them. They're often referred to as the Scum or the Blue Filth by supporters) started in 1967 when their ruck man John Nicholls took a dive in a final and claimed that Richmond ruck man and captain Neville Crowe hit him. They didn't have video technology back then. If they had they would have seen that Crowe did attempt to hit Nicholls, but didn't connect and the Carlton big man gave a performance deserving of an Academy award. Years later he admitted this. Poor old Neville Crowe was suspended, missed the Grand Final (which Richmond won) and retired at the end of that season.

The rivalry flared again in 1969, when Richmond beat Carlton to claim their second Premiership in 3 years and 7th overall. In 1972 the Blues took out the big game, with Richmond kicking what was then a record losing score. The rematch in 1973 was a vicious affair. Richmond's Laurie Fowler took out John Nicholls early in the game (it's never been worked out if this was a deliberate tactic or just an accident that happened to work out in Richmond's favour). Tigers ruck man Neil Balme launched an extraordinary attack on Carlton defender Geoff Southby. Players who played in the game still speak about the bad blood between the two sides. They didn't meet in a Grand Final again until 1982, which Carlton won, and the game tends to be more memorable for an appearance by a female streaker than anything that actually happened in play. However the stage had been set and Richmond and Carlton would forever be bitter enemies every time they stepped onto the field of play.

This was probably high in the minds of the AFL in 2007 when they scheduled the two teams to meet in the opening round and decided to make it a regular thing. That year the opening round was the Easter round and because they don't play on Good Friday the opening game of the round is played on the Thursday night. It drew a good crowd, so they always had it on a Thursday night regardless of whether or not there was a public holiday the following day.

They always seemed to have something to promote the game. Chris Judd's first game for Carlton in 2008, Ben Cousin's first game for Richmond in 2009, Damian Hardwick's first game as Richmond coach in 2010. Mick Malthouse's first game as Carlton coach in 2013.

Carlton have a huge advantage in terms of games won. They seem to have a strange hold on Richmond. It's not just the opening round, either. Up until last Thursday Carlton had won 11 out of the past 12 games against the Tigers.

Richmond played Carlton 3 times in 2013. They won the opening round clash narrowly, after leading comfortably, then freezing like a deer in the headlights, really only being saved by a last minute tackle from Richmond defender turned forward Luke McGuane. They blew what could have been match winning leads in a late season match up, and again most painfully in the elimination final.

This game was meant to be redemption for that final. Neither side had started the season well. Carlton came out of the blocks firing against Port Adelaide in the first round, but faded badly and went down by 33 points. The Tigers went north to play Gold Coast, were disappointing and lost by 3 goals. They were never out of it and if Dustin Martin had been paid a free late in the final quarter and reduced the margin to 6 points with not a lot of time on the clock, who knows what may have happened.

As usual Richmond V Carlton was hyped up. I'm still not sure why it was held on a Thursday night. The sense of that particular decision eludes me, but then again I don't understand the rationale behind the uninspiring opening round match ups at all. Fortunately disappointing crowds for that will probably ensure that the AFL don't do it again.

As they had in the past 3 engagements the Tigers came out ready to hammer the Blues. To help with this particular endeavour Carlton were awful early. They were 23 points down at the end of the first quarter and 31 in arrears at half time.

We all knew it was going to come. Richmond supporters have been conditioned by years of failure to hardly ever relax during a game. It's said we're the only people who can still get nervous when their team is leading by 10 goals at half time. It's even more true with Carlton in recent times.

They always seem to find a way to come back against us. They were without Chris Judd, the architect of the elimination final come back. Another of the Tigers villains was Brock McClean and he was a shadow of what he had been in 2013 and 2012 and was benched by three quarter time. Richmond young gun Brandon Ellis had held Blues playmaker Bryce Gibbs. Robbie Warnock was having his colours lowered by his old team mate, Richmond's off season signing Shaun Hampson (best known at this stage for being the partner of super model Megan Gale). The Blues had been awful, coach Mick Malthouse was throwing things at the window in the coaches box in a vitriolic rage. Yet we knew that they weren't done.

It started in the third quarter. Richmond kicked badly and the Blues were more accurate, generally goaling through one of Chris Yarran, Jeff Garlett or Jarrad Waite. They'd cut the margin and looked full of running.

We always thought it was going to be a tense final quarter and so it proved. Carlton now had belief. They're a confidence side, always have been, give them a sniff and they'll roll right over you. The Tigers were once again rattled, they got tight and they got ultra defensive. Rather than try to extend their lead or answer Carlton's forward thrusts they tried to protect what they had. I'm not at all sure why teams do this. It's a dangerous tactic and rarely ever bears fruit. It's not just footy either. I've seen cricket teams lose when trying to protect a lead rather than go for it and do what got them on top in the first place.

There's been a lot said about the Tigers fade out and people have attributed it to a lack of fitness. I don't actually believe that. Mental weakness and old demons come back to haunt them, yes, but not fitness. I can't believe that after shooting out to a lead against Port Adelaide and then losing in the second half the Blues brains trust said let's let the Tigers in early and then run over the top of them.

I haven't had many tenser final quarters. Thank God the Blues can't kick straight. They kept cutting the lead and their umpteenth miss had them level the scores with a few minutes left. I'd almost left the ground on a few occasions and I kept telling myself if they got ahead I was gone, because we wouldn't come back from it.

Then it happened. Ben Griffiths stood up and took a huge mark in defence, this was after hobbling by a tackle which never should have been laid in the first place. Then he unloaded one of his trademark big kicks up the line. We eventually scrambled that up forward. After a comedy of errors which included Shane Edwards taking a fresh air kick and falling over, Carlton tried to clear the ball, it fell into the hands of Ty Vickery and TV kicked a goal. Richmond hit the lead again!

I don't know how much time was left. Probably enough for Carlton to level, but maybe not to win. Enter Dustin Martin. The ball went towards Richmond goal. The mercurial Dusty fought off Carlton defender Zac Tuohy using his superior strength, surged towards the ball and the goals and kicked a major! 12 points up. 3 seconds on the clock.

Dodged a bullet. Lose this one to Carlton and we're rubbish and the successes of 2013 are just a distant memory. A lot of people say that we were lucky. I don't believe in luck when it comes to football. Yes, Carlton missed a lot of gettable shots, but bad kicking is bad football. If Richmond had kicked more of their own goals the game would have been over earlier. The final score was 14.12 to the Tigers and 12.12 to Carlton. Same number of behinds. It's also Carlton. They have some weird hold over us. Besides any win against them is good. As the bloke who sits in front of me said when we high fived at the end of the game: "We beat those Blue bastards!'

That little statement pretty neatly sums up the relationship between the two sides.