Tigers do not deserve the finals: club greatsMatt Murnane
The Age
July 16, 2012 RICHMOND'S most recent high-profile former players, Matthew Richardson and Nathan Brown, say the Tigers might have blown their chance to play finals this year after losing to Gold Coast, as the discipline of several players and the club's agreement to sell home games came under heavy criticism yesterday.
Richardson and Brown agreed the Tigers did not deserve to play finals this season after squandering a 10-point lead with just 30 seconds to play against the bottom-placed Suns, who recorded their first win in 22 games on Saturday night.
The Tigers would have been equal on points with eighth-placed St Kilda had they won the game in Cairns, but instead, Karmichael Hunt's after-the-siren match-winner has put now 11th-placed Richmond one game behind the Saints, North Melbourne and Fremantle in the race for spots in the lower half of the top eight.
It was the second time Richmond has lost to Gold Coast after selling a home game, and the Tigers still have one year left on their three-year deal to play one home fixture a season in Cairns - for which the club makes about $500,000 for every game played at the venue.
The Tigers also lost to Port Adelaide in round 10 last year after selling another home game to play in Darwin, but Richardson said the club's policy of selling matches was not the issue.
''When you are playing a team that hasn't won for 12 months and you have seven wins and are pushing for the top eight, the venue is irrelevant. You should be able to win that game.''
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick was shattered after the two-point loss, and Brown said the defeat had cost the team the opportunity to break the club's decade-long finals drought.
''I don't t know if they can make the finals now. They've still got a pretty good run; they've got to beat North Melbourne and Carlton on the way home,'' Brown said on The Sunday Footy Show yesterday. ''I hate to say it has cost them a finals berth but it looks like it might have.''
Former Richmond player and coaching legend Mick Malthouse said it was ''disgraceful'' that Richmond had to sell home games to help pay off club debt. He said the effect of travelling and playing in Cairns on the players could lag for several weeks.
Richmond went to ground yesterday, with several key club officials failing to return calls.
The Tigers were without one of their best players, dynamic midfielder Dustin Martin, due to a club-imposed two-game suspension for sleeping in and missing a training session after mixing alcohol with sleeping tablets the night before.
Midfielder Daniel Jackson was also out due to suspension, as was hard-nut Matt White, and Tigers supporters and commentators vented their frustration yesterday at a perceived lack of discipline within the playing group.
Richardson defended the club's suspension of Martin, but conceded the 21-year-old would be feeling ''horrible'' knowing he had ''robbed'' his teammates.
''They are trying to create a culture of excellence, the leadership group … I think they wanted [Martin] suspended for longer,'' he said on 3AW. ''Will it have an impact on Dustin Martin? Yes, it will. I think he would be sitting there today thinking to himself, 'If I had have played, we probably would have won that game'.
''I reckon he will make an impact in the next few weeks and show that he has missed it and that he is sorry for what he has done and robbed the fans and his teammates.''
Richmond was also missing several other key players, including Nathan Foley and Jake King.
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