FOR the 10th consecutive year and the 14th time in the past 15 years, Richmond has failed to make the finals.
Nothing new there and for more than three decades the club has been a serial under-achiever since winning the flag by a then record 81 points in 1980. So it has become something of a cliche for the Tigers.
But this time, there is something different about the yellow and black. This time the Tigers just may be on the way to bigger and better things.
There is a freshness, a brashness. Certainly there is plenty to like about the Tigers' young list two years into Damien Hardwick's coaching tenure. This is despite a six-game losing streak mid-season.
That happens to inexperienced teams and the fact Richmond went within a couple of goals of beating North Melbourne in the final round when chasing four wins on the trot, plus victories against top-eight finishers (St Kilda, Essendon and Sydney), gives rise for enthusiasm about the future.
"There's no doubt we've improved," Hardwick said after Richmond's season ended.
"You've only got to look at the youth of our spine - (Tyrone) Vickery, (Jack) Riewoldt, and (Alex) Rance and (Jayden) Post down back. They're all 22 years of age or under, so that's exciting.
"They'll get another pre-season into them, and a guy like Dylan Grimes comes back into the equation as well. Then we've got Ben Griffiths, who we think is going to be a good player also.
"From last year, we've become younger, more inexperienced, but we've won more ball games."
The Tigers finished 15th last season with six wins and this year played the Kangaroos in Round 24 to see who finished ninth.
Eight wins and a draw is still modest, but Hardwick knows he has a great core group. "We spoke about the difference in feeling from 12 months ago. We used to go into games hoping to win; now we believe we can win," he said."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-sparks-to-fire-again/story-e6frf9jf-1226135208864
