Richmond’s recent history is potted with false starts and self-inflicted wounds, failed campaigns and rash decisions. This time around, the Tigers decided to do it differently, and be better, and now they’ve won it all.
All the wash-up from the 2017 AFL Grand Final
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The roots of Richmond’s 2017 premiership established in their dark days at the end of last decade. After Terry Wallace was removed as head coach mid-season, and Damien Hardwick – the first of Alastair Clarkson’s disciples to leave the church – was installed, the Tigers set about renewal.
It was their fourth or fifth go at it since their last premiership in 1980. The number of attempts doesn’t really matter – the years do. By now the soil was saline, and it would take a different approach.
Damien Hardwick is Richmond’s second longest serving coach, behind AFL Hall of Fame member Tom Hafey who coached the Tigers to four premierships in 11 years. Between 1980 and 2009, the Tigers had 12 coaches, with an average tenure of just 57 games.
That takes in a lot of football that was played in the amateur days, but even so, it is less than three seasons each.
At the end of the 2015 season, another failed finals campaign, Hardwick had coached the Tigers in 135. With an expiring contract, the idle hands of the tabloid press wrung the neck of the club in the 2016 pre season.
Where previous administrations may have wilted, the regime helmed by Peggy O’Neil stood firm, and extended Hardwick through to the end of 2018. A two year extension, with a very clear end point.
Disaster struck. Richmond’s 2016 season was a rabble, and with it followed more calls for Hardwick’s time to end. The administration was similarly challenged, the “Focus on Footy Ticket” coming close to toppling the board and implementing sweeping changes across the club. Focus on footy indeed.
The club did not sit still. But where it may have previously lopped off the head of the football program and hoped the rest followed suit, a far more surgical solution was applied. Richmond decided to be better than history said they would be under the circumstances. And now they have won a premiership.
Even if victory had not followed today, Richmond’s 2017 season is a triumph of the steady hand, of faith in the process, of incremental improvement with an eye to the ultimate prize.
The season that was may have started with the decision to retain Hardwick as coach 18 months ago, and then hold firm to that decision when the early results did not materialise. But if it were as simple as re-signing a coach then Hawthorn and Alastair Clarkson would be toasting their sixth straight premiership.
Almost the entirety of Richmond’s assistant coaching staff was turned over in the offseason, an outcome of a wide-ranging football department review that also ushered in a new structure and the return of Neil Balme to the General Manager of Football position at the club.
There is little doubt the change in assistant coaches was the catalyst for Richmond’s overhauled game plan, which saw them lose just two games by more than three goals all season.
The Tigers got busy in last year’s player market too. They addressed two key sore spots with three additions: Toby Nankervis in the ruck, and Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy (who, it seems, fell into their laps) to play as inside midfielders. As it was Caddy became a more of a forward. The impact of these recruits cannot be overstated.
Nankervis played all but one game, eventually taking the full ruck load as Richmond went all in on small ball. He isn’t the best ruckman in the game, but has probably got the best defensive work rate amongst the league’s big men.
Prestia’s insertion into Richmond’s midfield was the move that allowed Trent Cotchin the freedom to rove and play aggressive football. Prestia wasn’t too shabby himself, particularly in the final stages of the year. Ditto Caddy, who is an unassuming player but adds so much to the Tigers’ structure.
And we can’t talk about last year without mentioning the departure of 2004 number one draft pick Brett Deledio. It may have been a difficult divorce, but ultimately the absence of Deledio helped the Tigers go smaller in their forward half.
The Deledio trade will also see the Tigers enter this year’s player market with a strong hand of draft picks.
Richmond’s better recruiting extends beyond their astute dealings last offseason. Wallace’s final gift to his Tigers was the delivery of the draft pick that secured Richmond Dustin Martin.
A prodigious talent, Martin bloomed into the player he always threatened to become this season: an unstoppable, tackle-breaking irrepressible force of football nature. His brash attitude and will, so long a knock on his game, became the defining trait once everything clicked.
Richmond’s draft record has been the butt of every joke imaginable. And when you look through the tape, it’s car crash material. Between the four gems of Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Alex Rance, Shane Edwards, there is nary a solid pick.
In more recent years, the Tigers have developed a knack of picking up players that have been able to provide value from day one. Richmond’s game day line up includes 11 players drafted between 2011 and 2016, including three rookies. Their VFL team, which fell a kick after the siren short of this year’s premiership, is populated with much of the remainder.
Where to from here? The Tigers’ list, which looked talentless and tired a year ago, has been rejuvenated by a fresh game plan and turnover in the right places. Its age profile is of that of a contender, and that may well be Richmond’s destiny for the next few years.
Regardless, the Tigers have won a premiership, the flag which has eluded them for more than three decades. Not for want of trying of course, but that’s never the issue.
Instead, Richmond decided to be better, and that will mean they are never again as far from the reckoning as they drifted over those long 30 years.
Peter
Guest
A champion team isn't necessarily a team of champions. As for the Swans, seriously? Walloped by Geelong who were walloped by Richmond.......yet Richmond are the team full of potatoes?
Peter
Guest
Ignorant twit! They're umpires, not referees. If you don't know that, how can you comment on the game with all its intracacies and nuances.
Peter
Guest
Sort of like what Adelaide get every time they play at home?
Peter
Guest
Maybe one can say that Adelaide got to the GF on the back of advantageous umpiring they receive when playing at home. A check of the stats should prove me right. No doubt the free kick differential, (for vs. against), between Adelaide and Richmond is easily to Adelaide's advantage.
Philby
Guest
....it's called hook, line and sinker....
truetigerfan
Guest
Yeah, you're right Paul D. Very weird indeed!
Brayden Rise
Roar Pro
Philby, the one who I haven't seen mentioned here is Adam Treloar. Treloar infamously chose the Pies over the Tigers as he considered the pies had the better list. Can you imagine Treloar receiving those perfect handballs from Dusty and sprinting away? He would have looked amazing in this Tigers team and would now be a premiership player. My understanding is Prestia chose the Tigers over the Hawks, a choice that also nabbed him a medallion.
Brayden Rise
Roar Pro
Thanks Philby, It is one of the most gut wrenching, awful hollow feelings to lose a GF. As a supporter you want answers to your pain. What is more painful I wonder a 48 point belting or a 1 point loss? As we know, there are no guarantees both sides will be back in the big dance next year. The last three grand finals have featured Hawthorn, West Coast, Bulldogs, Sydney, Richmond and Adelaide. 6 different teams in three years. Richmond were magnificent but for me the greatest pain is that our coaching staff tried nothing to get us going. I'm not saying any coach could have got us back from 6-7 goals down but blimey Blighty would have at least swung things around and tried.
664 the neighbour of the beast
Guest
I ate pies is king of the negative!!! Your obviously not looking to hard mate. Also, nice negative comment!!! Irony is obviously lost on you....
Philby
Guest
Not sure how you conclude that Prestia fell into Richmond's lap. If you read the press at the time, it was quite a pursuit, with other teams also in the race.
Philby
Guest
As a Melbourne person and a Tigers supporter, I'd be fine with interstate GFs if there were other stadiums of 80,000+. Surely, the GF deserves at least that? Short of that, I've said this before here, but I wonder if people have factored in that even if a GF was at the Adelaide Oval, for example, an Adelaide team wouldn't have the near 100% of the 50,000 capacity going for their team - as happens with every home game they have. Instead, based on percentages for MCG Grand Finals, each competing team would get 8,500 tickets (17,000 for both teams), with the remaining 33,000 going to AFL members, other AFL club allocations, corporates and travel agent packages. I say that because I think it is uncertain what makes up the Adelaide home advantage. Is it the overwhelming crowd support or the ground itself? Perhaps a bit of both, but with crowd support being vastly diluted, you would expect the advantage to be also somewhat diluted.
Philby
Guest
My advice to you I ate pies, is get to know those on this website who only know the negative (it doesn't take long). Then, if you value actual reasoned footy discussion, just ignore their comments, as they'd rather talk about the chip on their shoulders than discuss anything. There are plenty others here worth responding to.
Philby
Guest
Kudos, Brayden, for not reacting hysterically, as so many others have here. As I said to a Crows fan on the train last night, it's a tough gig being on the losing side of a GF, and I can say that as someone who has been there (as the Crows fan said, it doesn't help when it's followed by a 10-hour drive). All the best - your time will come.
I ate pies
Guest
I was far more sober than last year! I'll stick to my original comment; I thought the game was umpired well. I'm not a fan of either team either; just watched it as a footy fan.
I ate pies
Guest
Are they what. NRL fans have taken ref blaming to a new level
Brayden Rise
Roar Pro
As a Crows fan who has waited 19 years for another crack at it I am devastated my team failed to perform on the biggest stage. This loss was not caused by any AFL conspiracy, by the umpiring, by Cotchin and Ellis escaping scrutiny in the prelim or by the venue. This loss was because we were beaten by a better team on the day. The questions the coaching staff need to address are: Why did Richmond outnumber our players at every contest? Why did our coaching staff not react to stop Rance doing as he liked in the back half? Why do just one or two of our players actually play like Richmond players in Sloane and the Crouch brothers? How can a kid playing his 5th game in a Grand Final kick 3 goals? Wjhy weren't we showing any physical presence at the start of the game? Where was the physical stuff on Dusty? Why, when you freeze frame stoppages were some of our players standing off to the side, flat footed? Why were some of our players hesitant, reactive, looking backwards instead of forward? Why on earth when we are 6 goals down in the last quarter didn't our coaching staff heed John Kennedy and "Do Something"? Surely that is the time to clear the forward line, put Lever on Rance, throw Cameron into the middle and instruct the players to go straight through the corridor? I would rather have lost by 70 than done absolutely nothing as the coaching staff did. For the Tigers, wow, what can i say but an amazing unbelievable finals series by an underdog for the second year in a row. The Tigers manic pressure is absolute. They play for teammates, look how often Dusty hands off to a teammate in a better position, Cotchin too, all of them. They are premiers after three finals in which they decimated the opposition. This wasn't a fluke, an injustice or an AFL conspiracy. The way they play and the way they beat us they would have won without Cotchin, Eliis, and even Rance and Dusty. They were too good and are etched in AFL history forever. It's Tiger time and may be for some years to come.
Maurice
Guest
Agree best Umpired game of the year . Sooks get over the MCG advantage it's the Grand Stage . Footballers live for it .
Mark
Guest
Indeed. Only ourselves to blame, though.
Mark
Guest
Perfectly summed up.
Al
Guest
What a weak competition the AFL has become with this Richmond team full of potatoes winning the premiership. Sydney are probably sitting back thinking about what exactly they did in the first six rounds.