Poison Gas only explanation for sick Tigers
07 May 2007 Herald-Sun
Mike Sheahan
IT BEGGARS belief that one AFL team can beat another by 25 goals-plus these days. More so when the teams were 10th and 15th going into the game.
Yet, just eight days after Richmond held West Coast to a 23-point win, it has been beaten by Geelong by 157 points. After trailing by 107 points at halftime.
It is a staggering result, one that suggests problems much deeper than manpower.
The Tigers might have been 0-5 going into yesterday's game, but their worst result was a 32-point loss to the Bulldogs.
You also may remember they ran Sydney to 16 points in Round 2. While the Tigers weren't finals-bound, they were competitive, with the promise of better to come on a steady basis in the next 4-5 years.
Terry Wallace offered as much on the eve of the season, outlining a gradual build-up towards prolonged success.
Last night, the plan stood exposed as nothing more than a fantasy.
Darren Gaspar and Greg Tivendale might have been more valuable than Wallace and company believed.
While neither player is or was part of Wallace's long-term plan, and understandably so, the omission of both, particularly the sloppy sacking of Gaspar, appears to have upset the dynamics of this group.
It is impossible to rationalise a decision to name Gaspar on Thursday night to play against Geelong, then usher him through a forced retirement announcement on Friday.
It wasn't as if idiot Clay (or Will Thursfield) suddenly had emerged to take his place at stuff.
It wasn't as if height wouldn't be needed against Geelong, either, with permanent or part-time forwards including Cam Mooney, Nathan Ablett, Tom Hawkins and Brad Ottens.
Only the players know whether the Gaspar situation had a meaningful impact, but there's no other obvious reason for the most embarrassing performance in years.
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