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Richmond: The sleeping AFL giant that just won't wake up

24th July, 2016
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Trent Cotchin leads the Tigers off the field.. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Expert
24th July, 2016
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St Kilda did not get off to a good start, losing their first 48 VFL games on the trot. That was just the beginning.

The Saints were one of the foundation clubs of the league in 1897 and waited until 1966 for their first premiership – and are still waiting for the second. Glory seemed within reach in 1991-92, and even more so in 1997. In 2009, a cruel grand final loss. Then the following year – worse still, a draw and then ignominious defeat in the reply.

Footscray have had their almost ups and completely downs, taking home the cup just once since joining the league in 1925 – and not featuring in a grand final since 1961. This puts them behind the Saints in at least one category. The Dogs faced extinction in 1989 and fought back from the brink. They’ve played in a respectable number of finals series since but an appearance on the big day remains as elusive as Harold Holt.

What can be said about the Fremantle Dockers that hasn’t already been said about Boris Johnson? In 2013, after almost 20 years of almost defiantly mediocre football, they finally made a grand final. They played the first quarter as though even they were surprised to be there, then staggered through the rest of the game like a punch drunk boxer. In 2015 they were the least convincing minor premiers in history – stuttering to a narrow home win against a wildly inaccurate Sydney before being sent packing by the Hawks two weeks later. They’ve now returned to their natural habitat near the bottom of the ladder.

But of all the long-suffering fans, there are none who suffer like those who support the Richmond Football Club. The worst thing about the past 34 years has been the relentlessly inexplicable nature of the relentlessly disappointing results.

In an earlier piece, I compared the Dockers 2016 fall from grace to that of Richmond in 1983.
Between the Saints first and last flag in ’66 and the end of the 1982 season, the Tigers won five premierships from seven grand final appearances. In 1983 they collapsed spectacularly, and didn’t play finals again until 1995.

In fairness, the 1980s were a politically – and financially – turbulent time for the club.
By 1995 there was stability, and a wonderfully talented side. They made a preliminary final against their bete noir – Geelong – who duly delivered a caning. However, there was much promise.

In ’96 the Tigers missed the finals on percentage, and the Club staggered a little before a top-four finish in 2001. The Tigers made the preliminary finals again, losing to the Brisbane Lions as the merged entity marched to the first of three consecutive flags.

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2002?

Richmond fell ten places – to 14th on the ladder. To quote the fake reporter who found Clayton Bigsby: “How could this have happened?”

Similar to the 1983-1995 drought, after the 2001 prelim it took the Tigers until 2013 to make the finals again.

The agony didn’t stop there. Richmond had had a great season, finishing fifth on the ladder with 15 wins and seven losses. In the first week of the finals they faced Carlton, a team that had finished ninth with 11-11, who were only in the finals by virtue of Essendon’s creative chemistry. Carlton won by 20 points.

One Richmond fan said to me: “Of course we lost. Of course. Only we could find a way to be knocked out of the finals by the team that finished ninth.”

This time, though, the Tigers held their nerve and made the finals (8th) the following season. For a week.

The Tigers finished fifth with 15 and 7 again in 2015, and again were eliminated in the first week.

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In stark contrast to 2013, they were eliminated by a very good eighth-placed side, a North Melbourne team that had faced a tough draw that season.

Fans had a right to feel confident about the future, if they’d not been weighed down by three decades of history. They had a core of excellent players entering their prime – and almost all of the pieces of the puzzle were on the table.

And so here we are. The Tigers are 7 and 10, and will be 7-11 after this coming weekend. On form, they will likely finish 8-14.

Yes, this season is hyper-competitive, but Richmond supporters have a right to ask why this keeps happening to them.

It’s no use flogging the coach. Robert Walls, Jeff Gieschen, Spud Frawley and Terry Wallace aren’t holding them back, and it’s not Damien Hardwick’s fault they couldn’t take a trick for a dozen years in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Richmond is the sleeping giant of the AFL. At the end of March this year, the Tigers had more members than any club in the league. More than Collingwood. More than Hawthorn. More than West Coast or Adelaide. Miles ahead of Geelong, North, Carlton and the Dogs. They also have the best club song – no contest.

Napoleon said of China: “Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.”

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What is the missing ingredient that will wake the Tigers?

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