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 Dick Clay (or Will Thursfield) suddenly had emerged to take his place at full-back.
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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