Richmond fans have truly earned their stripes. For many, many years yellow and black was invisibleMatt Balmer
October 22, 2020 3:19pm
FOX SPORTSI had no choice.
Dad is a mad Tiger while Mum grew up in Richmond with her family. I was named after Matthew Richardson and my middle name Benjamin comes from the nickname for current club CEO Brendon ‘Benny’ Gale.
There is truly yellow and black in my veins.
At school, you’d almost be afraid to disclose your footy club at lunchtime. The Richmond jumpers were few and far between during games, given the St Kilda and Melbourne prowess in the lofty suburb of Brighton.
But such was my confidence having grown up in a full-on Richmond family, I remained loyal. But that loyalty would constantly backfire.
Before one Thursday season-opener between Richmond and Carlton, I had a bet with my Year 7 teacher, Tim Marshall. The loser had to don the other team’s jumper for an entire day.
In true Richmond style, the Tigers would get thumped by 83 points. Fair to say I stayed out of the limelight that Friday.
That was the first of 16 Richmond losses that season – a season that saw my club finish second-bottom and sack Terry Wallace at the halfway point.
A lot has changed in 10 years.
Every footy fan endures a rollercoaster ride. But surely none have endured one as bumpy and emotional as the ones long-suffering Tigers fans have ridden over the past few decades.
It felt like every non-Adelaide fan got a taste of that in September 2017 when they hopped on the Tiger train a few platforms before saluting at the MCG and breaking a 37-year premiership drought.
For long-suffering Tigers fans, it was a triumphant moment – emphasised by the insane scenes on Swan Street – after years of poor performances and continued embarrassment.
For me, that embarrassment hit a low point in 2009.
Then Richmond picked up two of the greatest recruits in the club’s history: Damien Hardwick and Dustin Martin.
Over the past 10 years, these two men have given Tigers fans hope and belief. Hardwick’s fortitude has been infectious, while Martin’s dominance – and haircut, come Grand Final day on Swan Street – has been inspiring.
With Martin and Hardwick leading the way, the Richmond rise began in 2010 … albeit with a few moments of hurt.
Selling home games to Queensland, only for the Tigers to suffer at the hands of Karmichael Hunt and the Suns, was certainly among them.
There were a few finals losses, too. Losing to the Blues, even though they didn’t finish in the top eight, in 2013 was a dagger to the heart. And even to this day, Trent Cotchin’s decision to kick into the wind against Port Adelaide a year later still burns.
After a poor 8-14 season in 2016, the Tigers just had to get 2017 right.
Yet Hardwick never lost faith. In an episode of Fox Footy’s On The Couch in August 2016, the Tigers coach declared: “I personally think it will be a quick bounce. I think we will be back in finals next year. I would be disappointed if we weren’t.”
He was right. A premiership was won 12 months later – and a Richmond legacy led by Hardwick, Brendon Gale and Peggy O’Neal, had begun.
It started off the field. The acquisitions of Dion Prestia, Josh Caddy and Toby Nankervis were crucial moves, while the support placed around Hardwick in the football department was vital. It all paid dividends.
Many wondered if 2017 was a one-off, like the Bulldogs the season before. But the Tigers became a benchmark, highlighted by the success of a game plan involving one key forward that seemed to be emulated by rival clubs.
Then a curveball: A second key forward.
They signed Tom Lynch, who walked out of the Suns to join the strongest club in the league – and on a big deal.
But he repaid the Tigers’ faith in September 2019, booting nine goals from three finals and earning a premiership medallion in his first season in the yellow and black.
Still, in between those flags was one night that doesn’t necessarily ‘haunt’ Tigers fans, but certainly makes us wonder ‘what if’. You know the one – the continued chants of “USA, USA, USA” by Collingwood fans as Mason Cox destroyed Alex Rance and put together one of the most remarkable individual finals performances of the past decade.
You try to erase the night. But you do wonder: What IF we’d played better in that first half? The Richmond ‘dynasty’ conversation the footy world is having right now would be very different.
But with the Tigers hunting a third flag in four years, the dynasty is alive.
Fox Footy’s Ben Dixon was laughed at ahead of the club’s 2019 triumph, declaring we are looking at “another three-peat with Richmond”.
“This is the first of three,” he said on Fox Footy’s First Crack ahead of last year’s Grand Final. “What they’ve got system-wise, who they’ve been able to get into that footy club and who they’ve held onto, they’re on a big ride here.”
“I’m not disrespecting the Giants in any way, but they are on another level Richmond.”
Richmond fans are feeling it, even with Victoria in a lockdown. The nerves are real.
The fact the Tiger Army can’t congregate this Saturday to celebrate, or commiserate, and ride another rollercoaster together doesn’t help.
But as Hardwick will fondly remember from his time at Hawthorn, it’s all about riding the bumps. And Tigers fans have ridden their fair share.
Come 10.30pm on Saturday night, a remarkable ride could hit its highest point. How sweet it would be.
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