Gritty Tigers prove they are not dead yet
Rohan Connelly | April 14, 2008 | The Age
AXES. Chopping blocks. Heads rolling. There was some vivid imagery afoot in the lead-up to Richmond's anticipated rout at the hands of Fremantle at Subiaco yesterday, but given the Tigers' mediocrity last week against Collingwood, it seemed obvious enough.
Funny how a slashing 10-goal win on the AFL's toughest turf will make you think again.
It's a pity the last game of round four, unseen on free-to-air TV and lost in the wash of the Barry Hall controversy, won't get anything like the run the predictions of more rough times for Richmond did.This was a sensational performance by an embattled team.
Twenty goals. Eleven individual goalkickers. A near career-best game from skipper Kane Johnson. A rampant Matthew Richardson, but this time from a wing. Great games from Troy Simmonds, Nathan Foley, Brett Delidio and a welcome return to form from Jake King.
There was also a second half from Richard Tambling which showed at last some evidence of why he was such a highly-rated draftee. Badly needed class shown by recruits Mitch Morton and Jordan McMahon. And so on. This was far from the talentless, unskilled rabble we'd been sharpening our knives to spend the rest of the season slashing.
And it was a different sort of Richmond win. Not the feisty, scrappy, backs-to-the-wall type triumph which the Tigers have turned in before only for the bubble of emotion to be quickly pricked and harsh reality revealed. This was one full of genuinely skilled, efficient football, one more about poise and precision than mere passion.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. But beleaguered coach Terry Wallace and football director Greg Miller know better than anyone that if Richmond is to create a team of any real value and with any sort of staying power, the Tigers have to go way beyond the cliches of "eat 'em alive" and getting a tribe of greats from the golden days of the 1960s and '70s to show themselves around Punt Road.
Yesterday's win was just one step in that process, and the next fortnight offers big challenges to say the least in the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn. But at least the previews of those games should remain free of dire metaphors.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/gritty-tigers-prove-they-are-not-dead-yet/2008/04/13/1208024993097.html