One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on April 18, 2013, 01:31:49 AM
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The recruiting wars with Collingwood in the 1980s was the beginning of the Tigers' drought
Jon Anderson
From: Herald Sun
April 17, 2013 7:42PM
THE hatred between Richmond and Collingwood reached civil war proportions during their recruiting wars of 1983-84.
Tiger powerbroker, Graeme Richmond, declared war after the 1982 season when the Magpies lured Geoff Raines and David Cloke to Victoria Park.
The pair were key members of both Richmond's 1980 premiership side and its losing 1982 Grand Final team to Carlton, so the steely Richmond, who relished a fight more than a feed, was incensed.
Raines, who had won three of the four Richmond best and fairests between 1978-81, is aware that in the 30 years since no Victorian side has a worse finals record than the Tigers.
So was that the catalyst?
"We lost two club captains and multiple premiership players in David Cloke and Bryan Wood (Essendon) after 1982 and I went the same year," Raines recalled.
"I'm sure all us would agree that Tony Jewell should never have been sacked as coach a year after winning the 1980 premiership. It was very unsettling.
"Graeme Richmond did a lot of great things for the club but the fact was he had past his use-by date in the early 1980s. He had lost his grip on what was reality.
"It became crazy when the attitude was 'if they get one of ours then we will get one of theirs'.
"So Richmond recruited players from Collingwood like John Annear, Phillip Walsh, Wally Lovett, Neil Peart and Craig Stewart.
"GR (Richmond) didn't handle our 1982 loss to Carlton too well and blamed certain players for not reacting when the rough stuff started."
It was the most turbulent period in Richmond's history with nine coaches between 1983-99, and seven captains between 1977-87.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/teams/the-recruiting-wars-with-collingwood-in-the-1980s-was-the-beginning-of-the-tigers-drought/story-e6frf9mx-1226622930801
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Graeme Richmond was renowned for wheeling and dealing, and taking huge risks when it came to player recruiting and swapping. Sometimes it worked, like in the decision to offload club champion Billy Barrott for Ian Stewart. Other times it didn't. The John Pitura deal was a fiasco, and the club lost a bit of its 'soul when it traded Whale Roberts. But I've often wondered, to the point of torment, what could have happened if GR had sniffed the wind in 1981, and applied this ruthless savvy to our coaching situation.
Basically, after the 1980 Premiership, if only he'd taken Tony Jewell aside and given him a very generous golden handshake for his superb efforts, then installed Kevin Sheedy into the job, we may have been spared the pain and misery of the last 30-odd years. I know it's hard to move on a Premiership coach, but considering TJ was sacked the following year anyway, would it have mattered?
If we are to believe science fiction, then I'm sure that there are any number of alternative realities where all these possibilities are played out. But unfortunately we are stuck with this one, and that has been the Richmond supporter's curse.
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i think it richmond lost more than a little of it's sole when they duck shoved the whale.
i think perhaps in the twilight zone you may get rid of a premiership coach for an as yet untried coach, but i reckon if GR had tried to that he would have institutionalised.
hmm... actually, as it turned out that probably would have been the best result. ;D
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i think it richmond lost more than a little of it's sole soul when they duck shoved the whale.
i think perhaps in the twilight zone you may get rid of a premiership coach for an as yet untried coach, but i reckon if GR had tried to that he would have institutionalised.
hmm... actually, as it turned out that probably would have been the best result. ;D
:cheers
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i think it richmond lost more than a little of it's sole soul when they duck shoved the whale.
i think perhaps in the twilight zone you may get rid of a premiership coach for an as yet untried coach, but i reckon if GR had tried to that he would have institutionalised.
hmm... actually, as it turned out that probably would have been the best result. ;D
:cheers
The whole base of our shoe fell off. How dare you correct al. :banghead
:lol
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i wasn't referring to shoes at all, it was a fish ::)
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anyone remember the doug mulray song, You Are Soul ? :P
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GR got it all wrong.