Scars and stripesJake Niall
August 14, 2011DAD is a 49-year-old Richmond tragic who worked hard and successfully indoctrinated his four children in the yellow-and-black cult.
The Richmond club song is a powerful anthem, with the capacity to convert kids to the cause, but the problem this father faced is one that many Tiger parents confront - his children seldom sang it after games.
The kids, aged from five to 13, tired of supporting a losing team. Unlike dad, they'd never seen the good times of the 1970s and early '80s, when the outlaw Tigers were a powerhouse. They'd known only defeat, draft mishaps and Jordie McMahon.
Worn down by the complaints, dad made a painful concession. ''You don't have to follow Richmond any more,'' he said. Given permission to quit a tough inheritance, all four kids bailed and began barracking for teams that demanded less stoicism.
This true Tiger tale isn't the norm. Most passionate Richmond people manage to keep their kids in the fold, despite the despair. The resilience of Richmond's supporter base - the fact that it remains large, loud and proud after so long in the gutter - is one of the wonders of the football world.
Richmond is still the competition's dormant power, a beast that doesn't need to win too many games to bring people to games and eyeballs to television screens. The Tigers, for all their repeated failings, are a charismatic church. They stir the emotions like few clubs, which is why radio stations call on Tiger fans to ''have their say'' after a bad loss. Rousing Richmond folk to anger is the easiest trick in the talkback playbook, footy's answer to flailing Julia Gillard on the carbon tax or Andrew Hilditch on the Test team selections.
The past two months have been trying for the Tiger faithful because, once again, expectations have been raised then dashed. The intoxicating win in the ''Dreamtime'' game and early season promise has given way to familiar floggings, as a lack of defensive personnel (injuries not helping) and strong bodies have seen Damien Hardwick's kids brushed aside by more mature sides.
Hardwick has been given a mandate to take the long course and ensure that this latest rebuild is done properly, avoiding the short cuts - such as McMahon - that have consigned Richmond to serial failure. Under the leadership of Brendon Gale and general manager of football Craig Cameron, Richmond has erred heavily on the side of youth.
The Gale regime's game plan is sensible. It will draft the best possible youth, topped up with the odd free agent or seasoned player who fills a specific need - starting with a ruckman. It will be patient and give Hardwick as much time as possible. Simultaneously, it is putting its hand out to the (mainly) well heeled to lift the club's spending on football and whittle down the debt.
The plan has two prospective obstacles. One is the impact of the new teams on the draft. Last year, the Tigers finished second bottom, but instead of pick No. 2 - the normal entitlement - they received pick No. 6 and choose Reece Conca. This year, it seems likely they'll finish 14th with five or six wins and, due to Greater Western Sydney's ownership of early picks, will have pick No. 10 - six places worse than the standard.
Given that the draft also is compromised by quality 17-year-olds handed to the Suns and GWS, the Tigers really had the equivalent to pick Nos. 9 or 10 last year and will hold a ''real'' pick Nos. 14 or 15 this year.
This columnist campaigned against this travesty last year, and was ridiculed for suggesting the Tigers were entitled to draft compensation. But regardless of what they deserve, there's no question the new teams have disadvantaged the Tigers. Even flatlining Port Adelaide will receive a priority pick if it can't win more than four games next year.
The second issue for Gale, Hardwick and Cameron is that while they are all recent appointments who are committed to the long road, the Tiger army is operating on a different clock. Friends, in their mid-40s, have been suffering for almost 30 years. They've seen several rebuilds and regimes, including the last and most dispiriting false dawn under Terry Wallace and Greg Miller. A 35-year-old Richmond fan has seen only two Septembers. Hardwick et al can stay the course, but how much more pain can some fans take before they give up and take up the Melbourne Storm?
Relative to Carlton, which had a terrible, undignified descent from 2002 until 2007, Richmond people have shown commendable resilience. Sure, there were some lamentable turnouts in the late 1980s, early '90s, when the club was a basket case, but the Tiger army has always remained on standby, ready to invade the MCG at the first sign of competence. There have been (relatively) few outright deserters.
Thus far, they're supporting Hardwick and Gale, recognising that short cuts aimed at appeasing them only exacerbate the vicious cycle. And the Tigers are slightly better this year. They just haven't improved by the margin their fans hoped.
What Gale and company need isn't finals next year, a big-name recruit or a sacrificial offering, but evidence that they're making serious progress. The faithful will take more hits so long as they believe that it really will be different this time.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/scars-and-stripes-20110813-1is1g.html#ixzz1UxYZ4ZMa
