Round six ponderings
9:58:36 PM Sun 7 May, 2006
Paul Gough
Exclusive to afl.com.au
1. Is this the making of the Tigers and Dockers?No two teams in the competition have been as unsuccessful as Richmond and Fremantle over the past decade or in the Tigers' case two decades but could their stirring wins this weekend finally prove the making of these two success-starved clubs.
It wasn't just the manner of their gutsy last minute victories that was so impressive but which clubs they were achieved against given that Essendon and West Coast have heaped more misery upon Richmond and Fremantle respectively than any other clubs in the competition during their long periods in the wilderness.
The Tigers have made the finals just twice in the past 23 years and throughout that time have suffered mercilessly at the hands of Essendon during Kevin Sheedy's long reign as coach.
Incredibly Saturday night's stirring two-point win over the Bombers – coupled with last year's round 15 success – meant the Tigers have now won their past two games against Essendon for the first time since 1982 – the last time the club reached the grand final.
During that time the Tigers have won just nine of 40 clashes against the Bombers but the way the team was able to fight back in the final term on Saturday night when all looked lost showed the kind of resolve that has been missing for so long at Punt Road.
The Tigers trailed by ten points deep into time-on – after having squandered a 16-point lead when the Bombers kicked four goals in six minutes – but somehow fought back to level the scores.
Then the Tigers bravely withstood three minutes of sustained pressure as the Bombers had the ball inside their forward 50 but couldn't score before taking the ball the length of the field to win the game through a behind from first-gamer Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls.
What also made the Tigers' win so impressive is it was achieved without so many of their on-field leaders with captain Kane Johnson and vice-captain Nathan Brown and their most experienced defender Darren Gaspar sidelined while they did not have to rely on a big performance from Matthew Richardson to get them home.
Instead it was the Tiger cubs who proved to be the heroes with Oakley-Nicholls scoring the winning behind on debut, while second-gamer Cleve Hughes kicked two goals and first gamer Dean Polo was simply magnificent with his 28 possessions and three goals – including the goal that tied the scores in time-on – representing one of the finest debuts seen in the AFL for many years.
There is still a long way to go before Richmond and Fremantle emerge as genuine powers in the competition but if they do then both clubs can look back to round six 2006 as a major turning point in their history.
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