Things that went right for the Tigers after the bye.

[mat073]

I don't want to say 2019 was easy , but in hindsight the premiership cup was handed to the Tigers on a silver platter.
Fair enough too , you make your own luck and we were clearly the best team last year.
 Here's a list of things that contributed to our success this year. 

1) Rd 19 Vs Collingwood... Richmond got to play a Collingwood side that still had Mason Cox in it. Sure he had a day out last year but he's really struggled in 2019.
The magpies look far more dangerous once he was ommitted because of injury.

2) The rain - round 22 against West Coast. It was an epic arm wrestle but the rain came and completely discombobulated the Eagles enough for us to grind out our best win of the year.

3) Unthinkable happens - Eagles lose last game of the year at their fortress, gift wrapping a top four spot to the much weaker Collingwood.

4) The team I wanted to play least,  our boogy team the Western Bulldogs are knocked out in the first week of finals.

5) The Eagles ( our biggest threat all year )start imploding from the inside thanks to a naughty Willie.
Bombshell news drops on the eve of their final against the Cats. It couldn't have helped.

6) Tomahawk has massive brainfade and whacks Scofield. Cops a week and misses Preliminary final. He probably still can't sleep thinking about how badly he screwed his team.

7) Collingwood go missing for two quarters and suffer the biggest boil over since Kenya beat West Indies in the 96 world cup.

We play a banged up interstate Grand final opponent at our fortress

Amazing how it all played out.

[Loui Tufga]

Forgot to add we played out last 7 H&A games at the MCG

[mat073]

I also forgot the most insipid display of goal kicking in a final by Brisbane.

[Slipper]

I disagree with point 2 Mat. The rain kept the Eagles in that game.

Sure, they started fast but really we had them by halftime and the rain prevented a second half belting.

[Dougeytherichmondfan]

I disagree with point 2 Mat. The rain kept the Eagles in that game.

Sure, they started fast but really we had them by halftime and the rain prevented a second half belting.

Agree 100% 

Eagles were saved when we couldn’t put our field dominance on the board.

[mightytiges]

In hindsight, we were a team on a mission after dominating for most of 2018 but ultimately missing out due to one bad game. The hard part was the first half of the season when we got hammered by injuries. Once we started to get our big name players back and were still a show nothing was going to stop us. We seemed to have another gear to go to after the bye that no opposition could match. It wouldn't have mattered who we played on GF day, we still would've won comfortably.

The Prelim was the nervy one but ultimately our best win of the year. It could be argued that Hawkins being out made Geelong unpredictable and we didn't know how they would set up and play forward of centre. It took us until half-time to work out a way of nullifying their attack in the second half. It helped of course when the opposition coach plays his best defender on the wing and moves his most damaging mid up forward after half-time. Thanks Scotty!  . 

The R19 Collingwood win was sweet. We knew they were vulnerable and it was pay back time. It would've been a repeat dose in the Granny too if they had got through.

The other thing that went right after the bye was Lynch. With Jack back alongside, Tom went to a whole new level as his body got fully right and AFL matchfit. Once he became more mobile he was unstoppable. He showed why we chased him hard as a free agent. Just a superstar!

[Darth Tiger]

All of the above, and I would add our VFL programme because without that QF comeback win at Punt Road, it could have been straight sets again.

That QF win maintained belief & form of Marlion Pickett and added to the club first narrative after the VFL GF win.

[the claw]

for sure a lot of things aligned or went right for us in the second half of the yr.
But for me it was the first half of the yr that won us a flag.
In a funny way copping injuries helped in a big way.

I for one and i know most tiger supporters were impressed that we won enough games with so many injured players including our better players  to stay in the hunt.
It also meant a fair few of the younger blokes got games and they put pressure on blokes coming back to earn a spot.
It has also set us up for next yr with so much competition for spots.

Who would be surprised if theres half a dozen changes for rnd 1 next yr from the team that played in the g/f.

[tdy]

I hope they rest players early next year and start slowly like Sydney used to do. Both our premierships we peaked late in the year.

[JP Tiger]

I just hope we finish the H&A season in third place!  Its our good luck charm!