Flea milestone a catalyst
richmondfc.com.au
By Tony Greenberg
Wed 28 May, 2008
Match details
Richmond 4.4 8.9 15.10 19.17 (131)
Sydney 6.7 9.12 12.14 13.18 (96)
Goals – Richmond: Mitchell 5, Nichols 3, D. Ryan 2, M. Pickering 2, Free, Lambert, Goodwin, Weightman, Hogg, Pym, Honybun.
Goals – Sydney: Parsons 2, Potter 2, Davis 2, Henwood 2, Healy, Carroll, Mitchell, Bolton, Roberts.
Best – Richmond: Mitchell, M. Pickering, Lambert, James, Nichols, Palm.
Best – Sydney: Healy, Mitchell, Henwood, Potter, Parsons, Lloyd.
Brownlow Medal votes for the match:
3 – C. Lambert (Richmond)
2 – G. Healy (Sydney)
1 – M. Pickering (Richmond)
With Richmond venuring to Sydney on Sunday to take on the Swans in a big Round 10 clash at the SCG, it’s time to strap yourself into the Tiger Time Machine, as we head back to Round 14 of the 1988 season for a memorable Tigers-Swans encounter . . .
The match, which took place in the Harbour City on Friday night, July 1, wasn’t exactly a promoter’s dream.
Sydney, under the coaching guidance of the great Tommy Hafey, had dominated the home-and-away rounds of seasons 1986-87 (but bombed out in the finals), was a raging hot favorite to beat the bottom-of-the-ladder Richmond.
The Swans entered the game at home in ninth place and desperately needing the win to stay in touch with the final five, as it was back in those days.
The Tigers, under the coaching guidance of five-time premiership hero Kevin Bartlett in his debut season at the helm, ran out on to the SCG with only five team members who had played in more than 50 games – Mark Lee, Michael Pickering, Stephen James, David Palm and captain Dale Weightman, who was lining up for his 200th game of league football.
Richmond was giving away more than 1100 games experience to a Sydney side that contained seasoned campaigners such as Gerard Healy, Rod Carter, Dennis Carroll, Neil Cordy, Craig Davis, Merv Neagle, Bernard Toohey and Ian Roberts, along with a prolific possession-winning, 24-year-old centreman by the name of Greg Williams, and another gun midfielder, who was in his fifth VFL season – Barry Mitchell.
Not surprisingly, Mitchell, Williams and Healy gathered nearly 100 possessions between them throughout this mid-winter’s Friday night clash at the SCG.
Surprisingly, however, it wasn’t enough to lift the Swans to what virtually all the so-called football experts at the time were claiming would be a predictable victory for them.
With Richmond’s own “ball magnet” in Craig Lambert leading the way at the stoppages and around the ground, and the quick, slick Michael Mitchell dangerous around goals, the Tigers played inspired football after a slow start, to pull off a major upset, winning by 35 points – 19.17 (131) to 13.18 (96).
The man of the moment, Dale Weightman, didn’t have one of his best games from a statistical perspective (8 kicks, 6 handballs, 3 marks, 1 goal), but he couldn’t have been happier with the team’s display on the night.
Here’s how Patrick Smithers, writing in ‘The Age’ newspaper, reviewed the Tigers’ stunning performance . . .
“Richmond’s penchant for Friday night upsets continued last night with a stirring 35-point win over Sydney at the SCG.
A fortnight ago it was reigning premier Carlton which felt the wrath of the young Tigers under lights, and last night it was final five aspirant Sydney.
The Swans, one of five sides vying for fifth place on the ladder, had an enormous incentive last night, but it was not enough to topple last-placed Richmond.
Richmond staged a brave fight to bring up what was only its fourth win for the season. Significantly, three of those victories have come in its last five outings.
The Tigers appeared to be dead and buried in the early stages of the first quarter, when Sydney started at full steam.
It was this time last year that the Swans were winning games by astronomical margins on their home territory, and they started in a similar vein last night.
The Swans raced to a 29-point lead halfway through the opening term with Barry Mitchell, Gerard Healy and Dennis Carroll dominating the proceedings. Richmond’s only goal during that period came from Trent Nichols, and it was answered like a slap on the cheek as Sydney stormed out of the centre and replied in approximately five seconds.
But Richmond clawed its way back into the contest to lead briefly in the second quarter, and trail by only nine points at half-time. The Tigers regained their lead early in the third quarter and did not look back. Des Ryan, after coming off the interchange bench, booted two handy goals, followed by goals from Michael Mitchell and Michael Pickering.
Craig Lambert, who fought doggedly for the Tigers when they were not even competitive early in the season, was burning in the centre and, for once, his efforts were having positive results up forward.
Whenever Lambert gained possession, the other players seemed to stream past him like peak hour traffic as he weaved and spun his way out of trouble. He had plenty of willing allies, particularly in the ubiquitous Michael Pickering and busy wingman Chris Pym.
Richmond’s defence, led by Michael Laffy, was superb. Stephen James showed a safe pair of hands in the last line, while the vigorous pair of David Palm and Peter Wilson were enterprising springboards with their forays into the forward line.
Richmond opened the second quarter in a rush, with Andy Goodwin, Dale Weightman and Mitchell all breaking clear of their opponents to goal.
The Tigers hit the lead when persistent full-forward Jeff Hogg finally broke clear of Rod Carter and posted his first goal for the match.
The time was then ripe for Sydney to unleash its secret weapon in the form of Craig Davis, its 33-year-old forward brought out of retirement this season to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Warwick Capper.
After starting on the bench, Davis replaced Merv Neagle early in the second term and, lurking at the back of the pack, collected the ball, spun around and put the Swans back in front from only a couple of metres out.
Wayne Henwood followed up a few moments later after marking solidly on his chest. Henwood’s form at centre half-forward has been one of the major factors behind the Swans’ revival, but he was kept quiet by the long-haired Laffy for most of the night.”Champion Richmond full-forward, Michael Roach, who missed the memorable match due to injury, had no doubts about the motivation behind the Tigers’ bold showing under the SCG lights.
In his weekly “Inside Football” column, a few days after the triumph, Roach wrote:
“The Richmond boys really wanted to win last Friday night’s match against the Swans in Sydney for skipper Dale Weightman’s sake.
It was the 200th senior VFL appearance for “The Flea” and he desperately wanted to celebrate with a Tiger win.
We all know how much Flea loves to celebrate although admittedly he has toned it down a bit now that he’s a married man.
Anyway, the boys wanted to do their bit for their captain on Friday and make it a night to remember.
They did just that with a stirring 35-point victory after being nearly five goals down in the first quarter.
And you reckon Flea wasn’t rapt . .!
The players chaired him off the SCG after the final siren and then he gave a typical warts ‘n’ all speech to thank the boys in the rooms.
Congratulations to the little bugger on reaching the 200-game milestone ahead of yours truly.
Throughout our League careers we’ve had a neck and neck battle to reach that 200 game figure.
When Flea kept getting suspended I thought I’d get there first – until those dreaded injury problems hit this year.
Good luck to him.
I only hope he goes on providing the same sort of inspirational on-field leadership for many more years.”http://www.richmondfc.com.au/tabid/6301/Default.aspx?newsid=60390
