Tigers legend Royce Hart lends premiership advice to class of 2017JAMES BRESNEHAN,
Mercury
27 September 2017RICHMOND immortal Royce Hart says there is an uncanny resemblance between his 1967 premiership team and the Tigers who will take on Adelaide Crows at the MCG on Saturday.
Both are trying to break long droughts.
Neither went in as favourite.
Yet the Class of ’67 landed the club’s first premiership since 1943 and the present day Tigers hope to strike premiership gold at the MCG for the first time since 1980.
The four-time premiership Tiger (1967, ’69, ’73, ’74) and captain of two of Richmond’s past three premiership teams says his first flag was the sweetest.
“For me ’67 was the best because we were in the same situation then as they are today,” Hart said.
“It had been 24 years since we’d won a flag and we didn’t have one player who had played in a final, let alone a grand final, and we won the flag.
“It’s very similar to this year’s team.”
Hart, 69, of Hobart, had sage advice for the Tigers.
“Be yourselves, like Dusty was at the Brownlow. That’s what Richmond has got to be. They can’t be anything else but themselves,” Hart said.
He believes stats can’t account for what Richmond has got, heading into its first grand final in 35 years.
“The big thing for me is that these days footy is run by stats men and theorists,” Hart said.
“It annoys me that when a player kicks a goal he has to go straight to the bench for a rest.
“Who’s to say he won’t get on a run and kick three or four goals in a row.
“You can’t kick them sitting on the bench getting splinters in your bum. Stats can’t speak for what Richmond has got going into the grand final and that is momentum.”
Hart is one best players ever to pull on the boots, and his position as centre half-forward in the AFL Team of the Century and Legend status in the AFL Hall of Fame stand testament to the high-flying Tiger.
He was a superb mark and redefined the role of centre half-forward, and remarkably stood 187cm and weighed 86kg — the same dimensions as Dustin Martin who wears the No. 4 guernsey Hart made famous — yet terrorised opposition defences.
Unlike Dusty, who has an $8 million contract and a new car, Hart’s remuneration was meek.
“I got six shirts and a suit,” he said.
“That’s the way it was then.”
Hart says the money they pay Dusty is “chickenfeed”.
“They [today’s players] are not being paid a third of what they are worth,” Hart said.
“They are going to retire between 30 and 40 – they’ve got another 50 years to live.
“They are going to run out of money.”
RICHMOND ROYALTYRichmond: 1967 to 1977
Games: 187
Goals: 369
Premierships: 1967, '69, '73, '74
Captain: 1972-75
Richmond leading goalkicker: 1967, '71
Jack Dyer Medal: 1969, '72
All-Australian: 1969
AFL Team of the Century
Tasmanian Team of the Century
AFL Hall of Fame – Legend
Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame – Icon
Footscray coach: 1980-82
Hart lives a quiet life in an outer Hobart suburb. Around his home are reminders of his extraordinary status in the game — trophies, awards, a photo of him shaking hands with Prince Phillip and the pewter mugs he won as best afield in the 1974 grand final. And that is after the National Museum of Australia in Canberra took the pick of his collection, like his premiership jumpers, including the lace-up models of 1973-74, Richmond blazers, and Alex Jesaulenko’s Carlton premiership jumper from 1970.
“I swapped jumpers with him after the game. ‘Jezza’ got my No. 4 but we didn’t win the premiership, and I got his jumper that he took that big mark in and won the premiership,” Hart said.
Hart’s decade in the big stage, 187 games and 369 goals, took its toll on his body.
His knees are wrecked and sciatica taunts him day to day.
It’s the reason he doesn’t get out and about as much as he would like and Hart laughs when he hears people describe him as reclusive.
“Because I’ve got sciatica and I can’t fly and that’s a big problem,” he said.
Hart has tickets to the grand final but will he attend?
“If I can get medical clearance to fly, I will,” he said.
http://www.themercury.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-legend-royce-hart-lends-premiership-advice-to-class-of-2017/news-story/c0c1c9daa8fb84feb1e432b4ed784e7a
