TIGER ROMP SHOCKS LEAGUE

Monday, 29th September, 1980, The Age.

By Ron Carter - chief football writer

Collingwood was not the only big loser in Saturday's Grand Final debacle against Richmond. Football lost, too, and like the Magpies, could take years to recover.

Yet if Richmond coach Tony Jewell had had his way, the result could have been even more shattering.

"I'm sorry we didn't kick another 10 goals," said Jewell, as if the Tigers' record Grand Final winning margin of 81 points was not enough.

The terrible anti-climax to season 1980 shocked the VFL as much as it did the Magpies.

This Richmond-Collingwood encounter was to have been the Grand Final to end all Grand Finals, a magnificent televised spectacular that would win further support for the game around Australia, and perhaps overseas.

Instead by half-time it was time to turn off the TV and mow the lawns - unless you were a Richmond supporter, of course.

As Collingwood coach Tom Hafey said, all he could do at half-time was pray for the miracle that never happened.

Grand Finals should be a contest between two great sides - this one wasn't. There was one magnificent team, Richmond, and another which saved its worse game for football's biggest day of the year.

VFL president Dr Allen Aylett said: "I've gone on record many times this week in building up this particular game as the biggest Grand Final of all time. We have been let down."

No matter which other team had been on the MCG on Saturday the Tigers would still have won the 1980 flag in grand fashion.

The gap between Richmond, the top side for much of the year, and Collingwood, which labored to make the finals, was never more devastatingly obvious.

But Geelong would have got a lot closer than Collingwood which is why coach Billy Goggin felt so bitter watching Saturday's match from the grandstand.

Goggin firmly believes his players should have been out there and were more worthy of a crack at the premiership than Collingwood.

Already Richmond is being hailed as the power of the 80s, the side which will set the standards and style for the next decade.

The Tigers were the last league club to win successive premierships in 1973 and 1974, and they could well do it again in 1980 and 1981.

They have everything a premiership side should have - the perfect blending of team effort, strength, skill, pace and quick thinking.

The big difference between Richmond this season and last year's Premiers Carlton is its more direct method of getting the ball to goals.

Hand passing is part of the Tigers' flow-on game, but they don't do it just to build up statistics.

One hand pass, if it's needed, and a long kick is their way of winning the premiership.

Because of the lack of opposition from Collingwood they were able to indulge in more hand passing than usual on Saturday.

Football, of course, will get over the greatest premiership rout yet. But will Collingwood?

It's inability to win Grand Finals - this was its seventh loss since it last won the flag in 1958 - is the riddle coach Tom Hafey, his match committee and players confronted for 50 minutes when they locked themselves away after the game.

by Trevor Grant

Humility and victory have been an unfashionable double in Australian sport for many years. The likes of Ian Chappell and George Harris have seen to that.

Football, in particular, has bred a special type of ego, which extracts pleasure from the sight of a shattered opponent. There can be no better example than Harris's outburst after Carlton beat Collingwood in last year's Grand Final.

But on Saturday evening Richmond Football Club proved that it is not too hard to be humble ... even when you win a premiership by a record margin against Collingwood.

The reverly started in the dressing room after the game, carried on at the Southern Cross and then a Richmond hotel until 5 am. It adjourned for a couple hours and then started up again at the house of president Ian Wilson yesterday afternoon.

The party was everything you would expect. Except there were no wild boasts and loud-mouthing from officials and players.

Wilson, an outgoing man who enjoys the role of public speaker, set the tone when he made his first speech for the night. "I am not about to do a George Harris. I know Collingwood are sad, but better them than us."

Wilson then introduced the coach Tony Jewell as "the man who made it all happen." Jewell spent the next five minutes disclaiming that title.

"Coaches are nothing. They are the most over-rated breed of people in the world. I get sick of hearing the nonsense of coaches," he said.

"Without great players there would be no super-coaches. I coach because I still want to be as close as I can to the playing side.

"I'm nothing more than a frustrated player who wished like hell he was out there in the middle today." Earlier at the MCG he admitted that the 1967 Richmond premiership meant more to him than this one.

"Simply because I played in the 1967 premiership," he explained.

At the Southern Cross, Jewell nervously fumbled his way through his speech. He was shaking more through his fear of public speaking than the emotion of the moment.

He has always hated the public part of his job. When Richmond tried to get him to take a few lessons to smooth out the wrinkles in his image he simply asked "why can't they have me, warts and all?"

They don't mind the warts now. He finished off his speech by again taking the spotlight away from himself. "In front of me are 40 players who have made me the happiest man in Australia. Let us give them the praise," he said.

But the players wanted to left him know that he deserved acclaim. Peter Welsh, the former Hawk who joined the Tigers this season, explained that the players had given Jewell such firm support because he always kept himself at their level.

"When Tony gives an address to the team he doesn't berate players and try to embarrass them like other coaches do. He says what he thinks but then he asks what the player thinks," Welsh said.

"It is always a debate and the players are treated with dignity."

In keeping with the tone of the evening Jewell offered genuine sympathy to his opposition. "I feel sorry for Tommy Hafey. He's a great mate of mine and has been a big help to me," he said.

by Geoff Slattery

There was no sound. The middle of the MCG, minutes after the Grand Final, and there was no sound. Eerie, but exhilerating. Half the capacity crowd was crying its heart out for Richmond, and the players heard nothing. It was their moment, the 20 winners, and they weren't sharing it anyone. Just themselves.

They hugged, the whooped, they screamed. They lay on the turf, eyes closed. Kevin Bartlett, his mouthguard stuck into the stringed vest of his guernsey, was hoisted on willing shoulders, the familiar fists cutting the air in triumph. Still the crowd roared, but nothing could disturb the closed community of joy.

Even the coach was out of it. Relief more than joy covered Tony Jewell's craggy face. "It's the players' game," he said, "The players."

In the background was Collingwood, and misery. When will it ever end?

Now it was time for the crowd. VFL president, Dr Allen Aylett took the premiership dias. "And now," he said, "the 1980 Premiers, RICHMOND."

"You _____ beauty," said Emmett Dunne. Now they were acknowledged with cheers, willing to share the glory. Waving, fisting, flailing their arms. The Collingwood men took the stage to receive their losers' medals. Bruce Monteath and Stan Magro, the West Australians, embrace, exchanging wry grins. Bill Picken shook hands. All they wanted to do was disappear.

Now it was Richmond's turn. Bartlett had been in four premierships before, but they had these new-fangled medals. "What do we do." he said, "get in a line, I suppose?" Dunne was still shouting as he took the stage.

There was no doubt among the players who was to receive the cup, despite the fact Monteath had been afield for only 17 minutes.

The lap of honor. Francis Bourke, running as he did in '67. The cup flying from one to the other, and shared with the adoring crowd in the bleachers. The members were ignored, perhaps through oversight, perhaps through a link with the Tigers' working past.

Across the middle of the ground, Rudi Webster, the club's psychologist, watched them exchanging the Cup, watched them running on air. "It's what we programmed them for." he said. "What we planned. A total annihilation."

The game was the ultimate anti-climax. Despite the pre-match preamble, the clash of great rivals, the sellout, the $200 tickets, there was never any real tension in the match.

A shocking miss by Ian Low after four minutes was a sign of things to come for Collingwood. An even worse defensive error by Stan Magro a minute later allowed Dale Weightman in for a running goal, his bread and butter.

Then Richmond took over. Everywhere. Jim Jess was inspired at centre half-forward, Stephen Mount played centre half-back with a discipline drawn from 200 games, not his 18. Already Mark Lee was thrashing Peter Moore, and two Brownlow Medal enigmas, Geoff Raines and Mervyn Keane, were perfect link-men. (Keane has played in three premiership teams. He has never won a medal vote. Raines was the best centreman in the game this year. He did not win a medal vote.)

Up forward David Cloke was already using awesome bulk, strength and skill to great advantage, despite a month's absense from the game.

The second quarter was the same - a wipeout for Collingwood, a great victory for the Tigers. At half-time, Richmond was 43 points up, but Tom Hafey was still hoping. At the break, Hafey told his men to keep trying at it. "We are seven down," was his message, "but if we can whittle it back to three or four, we are still a chance." Half way through the third quarter, he knew it was all over. The kids in the members were making paper planes with their Records. Not an "Age" liftout was to be seen.

Despite the 60-point lead at three-quarter time, the sense of urgency was still part of the Richmond group. "The ball, the ball, go at the ball," said Bourke.

The Magpies stood looking at each other. Only Magro was alive, urging them on. Hafey, and the match committee stood apart, consulting. "We were trying work out some moves." said Hafey later.

There was no hope for Collingwood, despite a few moves. But when Jess goaled sensationally after a minute, there was even less. All that was left was Bartlett's final glory, Monteath's appearance, a run for Daryl Freame, and seven more Richmond goals. Even Freame's late run was tossed around by Jewell. "When we put Daryl on," he said later, "I said to Alan Cooke (chairman of selectors), 'can Collingwood get up?'" Freame appeared at the 25 minute mark of the last quarter. Richmond led by 69 points.

Richmond's premiership was won at half-time in the match against Collingwood at Victoria Park on April 19. The Tigers came in 9 points down, after a dismal first half. Jewell walked into the room, threw his jacket into a corner, and let fly.

Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Jewell's mouth frothed with anger. His eyes were white. He spoke quickly, physically. He named players, questioned their motives, their courage, in front of their peers. He kept going until the warning siren sounded. The Tigers mortified, dashed out and booted 12 goals to Collingwood's three in the next hour, winning by 52 points. It was the first of Richmond's 11 straight mid-season wins. A man who saw it all, said on Saturday: "That half time address was the turning point for the Richmond Football Club for season 1980.

Jewell is the unknown coach, a man whose public image has been tainted by his poor presentation at World of Sport. Part of that comes from Richmond's Sunday morning training, usually held around the keg, part from Jewell's fear of public speaking. As he said on Saturday: "World of Sport is uaually a wipe-out." But there is more to the man. Much more.

There is a power to him, a strength, a confidence, an ability to fire the best and worst of them. The confidence and emotion of winning this year has seen him physically toss out politicians, assistants, and the club president from the rooms.

But his screaming is rare, doubtless because he remembered how much he hated it as a player. Jewell gets away with it because he has a genuine feeling for his players. He would still love to be out there with them. On Saturday he said: "I'd rather be playing any day,"

Jewell works closely with is match committee Cooke, Paddy Guinane, John Robertson, Eric Leech, and Richmond's great shadow, Graeme Richmond. "Believe this," said a match committeeman on Saturday, "Tony has an acute knowledge of football. He's always first with the moves, and he takes notice. There is a crude, basic earthiness about him, but it works.

The Richmond preparation was tuned by Jewell, using Webster and Richmond (the man!). Jewell and Webster spoke in tandem at Richmond on Tuesday night, Webster on positive purpose, Jewell on Collingwood, and how much better the Richmond players were. It was rousing stuff. He finished with three words: "Oh ____ 'em!"

On Thursday night, it was again the reinforcement of Richmond's strength, this time by Jewell. A player said: "We thought we could win by six goals if we could match them with desperation. After Thursday night's meeting, I knew we could."

On Saturday, Richmond spoke as the players limbered up before the game. "It was a gem of a speech," said a listener. Richmond spoke of the Tigers' great history, the good times, the bad times. Jewell finished off, with the classic message of a Grand Final coach: "We have worked hard for this all year. We are a better team. We must win."

David Parkin on Tactics

What a disappointment! That Collingwood capitulated so easily, having fought so hard for so long, really disappointed the huge crowd. Everyone expected more.

Richmond was almost perfect. They took the initiative from the start and with a well thought-out game plan: Cloke on Ireland in the pocket, Welsh on Barham, Mount on Stewart at left back and Bourke down back, were placements designed to exploit the Magpies' weaknesses and control their strengths.

Lee dominated the centre bounces and with the onslaught of Raines, Wood, Welsh, Wiley and Weightman, Richmond carried the ball forward from the midfield. Their dominance in this area enabled them to gain the initial ascendancy.

On the other hand, Collingwood appeared not to have anything up its sleeve. There was nothing different at the start and no attempts to change their structure until the eight-minute mark of the second quarter - Picken and Stewart swapped - when they were already six goals down.

McCormack was having difficulty with Roach's height, Ireland with Cloke's strength, Morris with Bartlett's speed and elusiveness - why Ireland or Byrne were not tried is a mystery - Carlson with Wood's aerial work, Daicos with Raines's dash, and the combination of a plodding Ohlsen with a spasmodic-running Kink trying to match the running talent of Keane and Rowlings.

In many ways though, Hafey's hands were tied. There was just insufficient height, speed, ability and form to overcome their deficiencies on the day. For what promised to be an electrifying finals finale, the lack of real aggression - not only at the start of play, but for most of what followed - was difficult to understand. The game lacked full-blooded runs at the ball, which have become characteristic of all Grand Finals. The only sign that Collingwood would not accept the inevitable was Magro's attempt to rattle Bartlett. It must have been one of Hafey's greatest coaching disappointments ... a day of total frustration and the ultimate in humiliation. His players had shown great dedication, application and raw courage to firstly secure a place in the five and secondly to fight their way into the Grand Final. Maybe the combination of those efforts, plus a four-day training regimen taxed his players beyond their physical, emotional and ability limits.

The fact they won the right to play Richmond, with a team which lacked the talented names of the other finalists, is a credit to Hafey's ability to extract the best from his players. Unfortunately, they could give no more on Saturday.

Richmond's approach throughout was excellent. It was fully tested by Geelong in the crucial second semi-final, but survived magnificently to go straight into the Grand Final. Premierships have been won throughtout the 70s by the best group of players "standing up" at the finish.

Despite injuries to top players, including Cloke, Mount, Malthouse, Monteath, Wood, Keane, Rowlings and Tempany, the depth of talent was such that the team's performance do not suffer during September.

Jewell has shown a willingness to try "something" in an effort to gain advantage. His field placements have shown flair, plus a good working knowledge of Richmond and opposition players' weaknesses and expertise ... In my opinion the sign of a good coach.

The game was a triumph for the balanced style of football; a balance between hard and fast and long versus short usage. It showed the problems of using moulded soles on lush grass. The number of players who slipped when accelerating was numerous. It showed how the onability to use both sides of your body can be costly - Magro's and Wearmouth's lack of left-foot kicking ability reduced their effectiveness. We saw good performances from so-called "rejects" in Malthouse, Rowlings and Welsh. All made significant contribution.

I was delighted to see Bruce Monteath lead the team out, get on to the field in the last quarter and eventually have the honor of raising aloft the cup. It was a fitting climax to a courageous battle against injuries and the confidence in his ability to do the job.

Collingwood have suffered disappointments in 1980 which could again provide a catalyst for next season.

Maybe though the constant disappointments of successive Grand Final losses could have disastrous long-term affects on club and team morals. Like many clubs Collingwood will need players.

by Trevor Grant

Mark Lee does not have a fond recollection of a visit to Victoria Park in the middle of winter last year. His team was walloped, he got a thrashing and he had a run-in with the coach. Richmond was on the skids and Collingwood took full advantage. One of the instigators of that win was Magpie ruckman Peter Moore. Moore was the man who caused Lee so much trouble. Richmond coach Tony Jewell sent out a stream of messages to his young ruckman to play close to the Collingwood star but they were ignored. Harsh words followed. It has taken 21-year-old Lee more than 12 months to return the compliment to Moore. And he could not have chosen a better occasion - the day his team humiliated Collingwood to win the 1980 premiership. Lee, voted best player by "The Age" football writers on Saturday, said after the Tigers' triumph that he had gone out with one purpose. "I didn't go out to be best on ground. I went out to stop Peter Moore from being best on ground," he said.

"I knee that if I could stop Moore from getting the ball we would win." What was expected to be a duel between two of the youngest and best ruckman in the League flopped - like the game.

Lee out-ran, out-jumped and out-marked the 1979 Brownlow Medallist, giving him probably one of the most conclusive hidings of his career.

Lee says that one of the main reasons for his rise this year has been the realisation that he had to change his attitude. "I had a bad reputation," he said.

"I was always back-chatting umpires and throwing my hands around. I used to get into a lot of trouble and I know the umpires didn't like me.

"The club believed I was big-headed, although I didn't think I was. This was the reason I was put in the back pocket a lot instead of being allowed to run on the ball.

"This year, with the help of Tony (Jewell), Neville Crowe and Eric Leech (former Tiger ruckman now assisting Jewell) I have developed a new attitude."

Crowd: 113,461

Umpires: Dellar, Robinson.

1980 Richmond Premiership Side

      B:  M. Malthouse        F. Bourke             E. Dunne
      HB: G. Strachan         S. Mount              T. Smith
      C:  P. Welsh            G. Raines             B. Wood
      HF: B. Rowlings         J. Jess               K. Bartlett 
      F:  D. Cloke            M. Roach              D. Weightman 
      R:  M. Lee              M. Keane              R. Wiley 
      I:  B. Monteath         D. Freame
      

Quarter Scores

Richmond	6.5	11.11	15.17	23.21-159
Collingwood	2.6	4.10	5.18	9.24-78

Goals:

Richmond: Bartlett 7, Cloke 6, Wiley 3, Roach 2, Keane 2, Weightman, Jess, Rowlings.

Collingwood: Picken 3, C. Davis 2, Wearmouth, R. Shaw, Moore, Ohlsen.

Best:

Richmond: Lee, Wood, Raines, Keane, Bartlett, Weightman, Cloke, Wiley.

Collingwood: McCormack, Picken, R. Shaw, Woolnough.

Stats

	K	I	C	K	S	HB	FF	FA	M	G	B
	1	2	3	4	T
Malthouse	3	4	1	2	10	6	3	3	3
Dunne	2	1	2	3	8	6	1	4	4
Strachan	4	0	1	0	2	2	1	1	0
Welsh	4	2	5	2	13	4	4	0	4		1
Jess	3	3	0	3	9	7	4	0	5	1	1
Smith	2	2	3	4	11	6	0	1	2
Mount	1	5	0	1	7	8	1	2	3
Raines	8	2	6	3	19	17	2	1	4		2
Wood	2	1	5	3	11	12	3	0	7
Bartlett	4	5	6	5	20	1	4	2	9	7	4
Cloke	2	2	4	3	11	1	1	0	9	6	4
Keane	2	5	3	4	14	13	4	2	4	2	1
Wiley	4	4	7	5	20	6	2	0	8	3
Roach	4	1	2	0	7	1	0	1	3	2	3
Bourke	3	1	4	6	14	2	0	1	2
Lee	0	3	2	1	6	6	1	2	3
Rowlings	3	4	2	3	12	6	2	0	0	1	2
Weightman	2	1	2	1	6	14	1	4	2	1	1
Freame	0	0	0	2	2	2	0	0	1
Monteath (c)	0	0	0	1	1	2	2	0	1
Richmond	53	46	55	52	206	120	36	24	74	23	21
Collingwood	41	46	54	52	193	55	24	36	52	9	24