Round One ponderings
1:11:54 PM Mon 3 April, 2006
Paul Gough
Exclusive to afl.com.au
1. Groundhog Day for Tigers and Dockers
A cynic could easily say there are three certainties in life - death, taxes and that Richmond and Fremantle will miss the AFL finals every year.
That statement is no doubt harsh after round one of a 22 round season but for Tigers and Dockers fans, the opening of the 2006 season must have felt like Groundhog Day for the AFL's two longest suffering sets of fans.
The Tigers have made the finals just twice in the past 23 years and Fremantle has reached the September action just once since joining the competition in 1995 and are the only club in that time not to win a final.
But each year both sets of fans loyally keep saddling up, hoping that a new year will finally bring a change in their fortunes.
Yet Richmond began the season with a 19-goal loss to a Bulldogs side that, while tipped to be the big improvers in 2006, did finish in the bottom half of the ladder last year.
The lack of fight shown by the Tigers in the second half was most disappointing aspect of their performance while their lack of pace through the midfield and lack of skill when kicking the ball out of defence are two huge worries in a game that seems to become faster and more skilful by the year.
But as bad as Richmond's performance was, it might be the Dockers and in particular their coach Chris Connolly that has more to worry about following their four-goal loss in Tasmania to a Hawthorn side that finished 14th and won just five games last year.
After all Richmond coach Terry Wallace is starting only the second year of a five-year deal and even the most impatient of Tiger fans know what a big job he has in rebuilding a list that had lost 14 successive games and finished on the bottom of the ladder when he took over at the end of Danny Frawley's five-year reign.
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