Was Richmond's season a pass or failure?

Time is a funny old thing, whizzing past at reckless speeds for some, while for others it seems like the grinding gears of the universe move at a snail’s pace.

For the wider AFL community, it seemed like Richmond’s time in the spotlight would never come to an end, with every media outlet singing the praises of one end of Punt Road for the better part of 18 months day in and day out.

For Richmond fans, their status as the undisputed ‘masters of the universe’ went by in the blink of an eye – kicking off one brisk August night with a qualifying final win against Geelong and exhausted without a second thought in a preliminary final defeat to Collingwood just 12 months later.

After finishing the 2018 season on top of the ladder and ahead of the pack, Richmond’s quest for back-to-back premiership glory came to an end at the hands of the Pies at the MCG – crushed by 39 points last Friday night.

But how does Richmond’s attack at a second flag really stack up? Can we give a pass for making it to the final four seedings? Or is anything less than perfection a step backwards?

Let’s start by taking a look at how every premiership defence of the modern era has unfolded.

The tale of the tape should be pretty obvious – only the most elite, dynastical teams ever manage to go back-to-back. There’s a lot of reasons why that is, and I’ll leave it up to the audience at home to decide which one they think is most important today.

Personally, I think the issue is hunger. It’s very difficult to replicate that drive to succeed for the very first time. In the AFL, you’re the talk of the town for a full year. It’s easy to take a step back when everyone’s singing your praises already. But there are a lot of other factors too.

So where do the Tigers sit?

Since the year 2000, we can find nine examples of sides whose premiership defence has been better than Richmond on paper. Essendon, Brisbane, Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong and Collingwood are all sides that managed to go deeper into finals than the Tigers following a grand final win.

Richmond are in a special class as preliminary finalists, with Sydney (2012-13) and Geelong (2009-10) being the only teams to finish in a similar vein.

(Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Beyond that we have the sides that were worse than the Tigers. The Western Bulldogs (2016-17), Hawthorn twice (2015-16 and 2008-09), West Coast (2006-07) and Port Adelaide (2004-05) all failed to make a comparable impact.

So as far, as premiership defences go on paper, the Tigers are pretty firmly in the middle of the pack. But does this give them a pass for 2018? Absolutely not.

At the end of the day, the Tigers finished the season on top of the ladder with 18 wins and just four losses, well clear of second-placed West Coast by points and percentage.

Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt won the Coleman Medal, playing the best individual season of his career, and with the likes of Dylan Grimes, Alex Rance, Dion Prestia, Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards, Kane Lambert and Josh Caddy all enjoying stunning runs of form during the regular season, to miss out on a premiership from this position is simply a waste.

The preliminary final loss to Collingwood was a perfect storm in order to sink the Tigers Titanic – or perfect iceberg, I should say; that works better.

David Astbury, Dustin Martin, Kane Lambert and Daniel Rioli were all under injury clouds. There was the tactical error of leaving Jordan De Goey poorly matched in the first half.

(Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Then there was Mason Cox, bursting out of a form slump and playing the best game of his career. Toby Nankervis outgunned in the ruck every minute of the match after being double-teamed. Steele Sidebottom and Jack Crisp were ruthless.

The loss of the MCG advantage at the hands of a Victorian rival, playing one game in 26 days as a result of the new fixturing system and the bye week – the excuses go on and on. And I believe all of them. But it might be another three decades before Richmond get a chance this good at a premiership, and you’ve got take your chances when they arise.

It’s not a hard failure for the Tigers by any stretch of the imagination. The yellow-and-black won the minor premiership and landed eight names in the All Australian squad.

Josh Caddy cemented his name as a quality medium forward. Dylan Grimes finally has the sterling reputation he deserves a medium-sized lockdown defender.

Jayden Short has become one of the competition’s very best rebounders. Ivan Soldo, Jack Higgins, Jack Graham, Ryan Garthwaite and Liam Baker all got the chance to spend some quality time at the top level.

It looks like premium forward, and the team will be only better off once Gold Coast captain Tom Lynch and, if the rumours are true, Adelaide inside midfielder Brad Crouch arrive in Tigerland.

But holding up that premiership cup is the aim of the game and the Tigers had a very real chance to do it all again and blew it, and that shouldn’t be a passing mark in anyone’s book.