The omens look good for Richmond. Cyril Rioli is missing from the Hawthorn line-up after his best afield performance against Melbourne for an indiscretion that cost him a week on the sidelines. Buddy Franklin was restricted to some kick-to-kick in runners at training on Thursday night with rumours rife of an ankle injury. Luke Hodge [Read more]
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY
April 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY It was billed as the clash between the formidable Riewoldt cousins; Nick for St. Kilda and Jack for Richmond. Established superstar Nick opposed to speeding comet Jack. While nobody expects Richmond to seriously challenge St. Kilda tonight, there is an intriguing subplot as to who will have the most influence [Read more]
Camerooned
March 26, 2011 by 1 Comment
My friend, Michael, is soon to rejoin the Aussie foreign legion. It consists of expats spread throughout the earth who need to rely on the internet to keep up with the footy scores. The connection is none-too-reliable in the far north of Cameroon in Africa. Michael barracks for Carlton and is working with his [Read more]
The good oil on the Tigers
September 1, 2010 by 2 Comments
by John Green Sometimes tourists return from third world destinations and marvel that the locals “look so happy!” It’s like observing Richmond fans. One wag recently labelled the Tigers as the “happiest bottom four team in history”. Supporters are convinced that the glory days are about to return on the strength of an exciting young [Read more]
Glitz and Glamour
July 6, 2010 by 1 Comment
by John Green Is it possible to be the glamour team of the competition and yet be sitting in last place on the ladder? Suddenly, after three wins in four games, Richmond is the flavour of the month. Ranked number one in clearances, scoring from clearances, individual clearance winner (Shane Tuck) and individual goalkicker (Jack [Read more]
TEN BIG ONES
June 15, 2010 by 2 Comments
Richmond enters this clash with West Coast as favourites. Now, that’s a novelty. How will the Tiger cubs handle the weight of expectation? The first five minutes of the match are consumed by constant ball-ups. Then WHAM! If the Tigers are striding into uncharted territory as the bookies’ choice, they now make a bold strike [Read more]
SOMETIMES WE WIN
June 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I make my way up the escalator at Southern Cross Station in a sanguine mood. The Tigers are no longer winless. All parallels with Fitzroy in ’64, the last league team to endure an entire season without a victory, are banished. Richmond may be on the bottom of the ladder, but hey, we win sometimes. [Read more]
DRESSING UP FOR THE RE-ENACTMENT
May 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I have always found those American Civil War enthusiasts a curious bunch. The fanatics who dress in the blue of the Union or the grey of the Confederacy and re-enact the battle of Gettysburg in some Pennsylvania field. It is as if they yearn for a time in history which they never lived through; some [Read more]
THE TIGERS IN UNACCUSTOMED TERRITORY
April 26, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The Tigers are in unaccustomed territory. A big Anzac day clash on the Sunday night with the focus of an entire state upon the match. As for Fremantle, perhaps it is fitting. After all, Western Australians from the tenth battalion were among the first ashore on that tumultuous morning back in 1915. The Dockers are [Read more]
AFL Round 4 – Richmond v Melbourne: Red letter day for Demons, not Tiger fans
April 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment
by John Green Richmond versus Melbourne 1:10pm, Sunday, 18th April Melbourne Cricket Ground This is the match pencilled in by Richmond and Melbourne supporters when the 2010 fixtures were released in the previous year. With the clubs freely tipped to fill the bottom two places on the ladder, this encounter represented the best chance for [Read more]
AFL Round 3 – Sydney v Richmond: Radical Surgery
April 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment
by John Green How safe is it to go on a long trip after undergoing radical surgery? Richmond took to the surgeon’s knife with wild abandon at the end of 2009 and excised an astonishing total of 13 players from its senior list. For some, like the redoubtable Matthew Richardson, their bodies could no longer [Read more]
AFL Round 2 – Richmond v Footscray: Beware of angry Dogs
April 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment
by John Green I can imagine a “Beware of the Dogs” sign displayed over Gate 3 of the MCG as I wend my way from Jolimont Station for the Richmond-Western Bulldogs clash. The Bulldogs had won the NAB Cup just three weeks before and were being lauded as premiership favourites. They seemed set to rule [Read more]
Round 21: Tigers are still doing time
August 25, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By John Green I have a cousin who spent most of his adult life in gaol. Try as he might, he simply couldn’t escape the culture. It all started when he was 17 and things pretty much went downhill from there. He was unable to make a fist of things outside the prison walls, invariably [Read more]
AFL Round 12: Richmond v West Coast: Tigers offer picture of hope
June 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By John Green I have a favourite footy photo. It was taken at a Richmond-Collingwood match at Punt Road in May 1933. It shows legendary Collingwood coach Jock McHale sitting on the bench by the boundary fence alongside his nineteenth man. McHale hasn’t noticed the photographer. He is glancing down at a fob watch. Spectators [Read more]
AFL Round 11: And that was that, for Tiger Terry.
June 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
by John Green After weeks of wondering when the guillotine blade is going to drop, Terry Wallace has left the scaffold and decided to go of his own accord. The Tigers’ clash with the Western Bulldogs is to be his last as Richmond coach. There is a curious irony in Wallace’s swansong. He is competing [Read more]
AFL Round 9: Field of dreams – all types really.
May 26, 2009 by 1 Comment
by John Green The MCG is a field of dreams. All types of dreams. For some, the vision of reconciliation between Australia’s original inhabitants and its newcomers. A resurgent Bombers under Matthew Knights are dreaming of creating yet another successful era borne on the wings of fleet-footed youngsters. Richmond, they may as well be dreaming [Read more]
Tigers continue to wander around the desert in circles
April 22, 2009 by Leave a Comment
By John Green It’s the game Richmond have to win. When supporters first perused the 2009 draw this clash with lowly Melbourne was pencilled in as a certainty. Humiliate those Bluebagger upstarts who were coming and we all knew it, fly the colours against the Cats and the Bulldogs in the following rounds, boost the [Read more]
Bulldogs Hold the Aces by John Green
April 15, 2009 by Leave a Comment
The mind games started the day before this clash at the Docklands. Opposing coaches, Terry Wallace and Rodney Eade, were once teammates at Hawthorn. Having since become career coaches, they had engaged each other in a battle of wits at various times in recent years. First it was Wallace with the Western Bulldogs and Eade [Read more]
Kardinia sojourn a rite of Tiger passage by John Green
April 6, 2009 by Leave a Comment
I felt it was a necessary part of my 11-year-old’s footy education to take him to see the Tigers play away at Skilled Stadium. After all, where else today can you have the experience of jostling for space on old fashioned concrete terracing and watching an AFL match? Where else can you walk not only [Read more]
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