Round 1 – Richmond v Carlton: The Running of the Bulls

 

 

 

The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain is an experience prized by adrenaline junkies, mostly foolhardy young men, from all around the world. Every year on one day in July, at least six fighting bulls are released from the Corrales de Santa Domingo to run in a corralled zone through the narrow streets of the town. These streets are filled to overflowing with thousands of fearless, often inebriated revellers whose goal is to run all the way with them without being gored or trampled. More sedate spectators choose to watch the carnage from the safety of balconies or through the open shutters of windows.

 

Surely following the fortunes of your favourite AFL team is akin to the Running of the Bulls. No need for a return air ticket to Barcelona for us. We experience it all for seven months of the year right here at home. The tension before the race begins, the jostling for position on crowded trains, the moments of wide-eyed terror in close finishes and the dread of being overtaken by opposing teams and lying bloodied and bruised on the cobblestones at the end of the season.

 

Not for us the option of being casual observers. We’re in the thick of it. Runners in Pamplona traditionally wear red and white, the colours of the Sydney Swans. But here in Australia the thrill-seekers form a multi-coloured, unruly mob representing all the teams of the AFL. Tigerland fanatics in yellow and black take our chances amidst the mayhem and run for our lives along with the rest of them.

 

Yet this time it’s significantly different. Richmond supporters aren’t seeking to run ahead of the bulls. Instead, we’re sprinting behind a pair of young tearaways as they surge, lower their horns and cut a deadly path through the heaving masses. Bodies flying everywhere!

 

Our fortunes are entwined with a pair of contested-possession beasts in the form of former GWS marauders Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper. They’ve moved south from the stockyards of Sydney’s west to solve the problem of Richmond’s centre clearances, an area in which we were put to the sword in a number of costly defeats in 2022.

 

Can they lead us all the way to the MCG, our own Plaza de Toros, on that last Saturday in September, the bullring where the 2023 premiership will be decided?

 

Tiger fans are hoping that the acquisition of Taranto and Hopper will lift the fortunes of the club just as the recruitment of Prestia, Nankervis and Caddy proved so decisive in 2017.

 

With up to 90,000 expected at the ‘G tonight for Richmond’s traditional opening-round clash with Carlton, I’m fortunate that I manage to squeeze into the last train carriage at Clifton Hill station. There’s a festive mood in town and fans of both teams are elated to welcome the footy back. I meet my son, Matt, in our reserved seats. He married last December and this is the first time we’ve arrived at a  Richmond game having travelled from our respective homes.

 

I never tire of the build-up to the opening bounce of the season. The players move into position, the umpire glances round and raises the ball in the air. The noise in the stands rises to a crescendo. Nerves and exhilaration. The siren sounds and we run with the bulls again. A goal each in the first 50 seconds! First for Richmond, when Nankervis receives a free kick after the bounce, McGovern spills the mark, Dusty gathers, accelerates for a metre or so and slots it to the blood-curdling roar of the Punt Road army. Then Carlton reply. This time Nankervis’ opponent De Koning is freed, Fisher receives the handball and drills it home. The Tigers apply intense pressure, punch the ball clear of Carlton’s dangerous tall forwards and attempt to attack with waves of rapid-fire handball along the midfield freeway. But they feed their chances through the office shredder. Jack Graham misses twice. Bolton, Lynch and Taranto follow his example and Prestia floats one out on the full. Richmond advance with fearless abandon but their disposal in key moments is chaotic. Lynch and Short deliver short passes into the waiting hands of their enemies. Dusty has the opportunity to roost a team-lifting major after the quarter-time siren, but his kick wobbles in the night air and falls well short of the sticks. The Blues enter their forward fifty on fewer occasions, but make far more of their time in attack than the wasteful Tigers.

 

The second term sees more of the same. Ben Miller lines up for goal and nervously considers his options before slicing the ball into the crowd. Then Bolton conjures his nomination for mark-of-the-year in which he leaps, hovers and clutches the ball to his chest over ruck giants Nankervis and De Koning. Carlton lead by 14 points at the end of the first half in an intense, low-scoring struggle.

 

In the third quarter the Tigers reduce their speed by a few notches and use less handball. They adopt a more controlled approach to their ball movement and seize the momentum with three goals in the first seven minutes. Lynch boots two, Riewoldt momentarily breaks free of Lewis Young’s fetters, Maurice Rioli snaps truly and his nephew Daniel majestically surges through the square to set up a mobile Shai Bolton for another. They register five goals to two to take a five-point lead to the final change.

 

Another close one. I have the awful sense that the earth is drifting once again into the black hole that is said to be at the centre of our galaxy; a strange dimension where the Tigers lose by less than a goal through a series of bizarre and inexplicable circumstances.

 

Sam Docherty’s aim is true from 55 metres out after the resumption and he puts the Blues up by a point at the seven-minute mark. Charlie Curnow hacks it over the line in a mob of desperate defenders after 17 minutes of frantic action. There is a score review, but I lose all hope when I see the replay. It’s a goal alright and Carlton lead by seven points. Cripps is leading the way and their supporters are in full voice, gleefully anticipating a late surge to victory like they experienced in the corresponding round last year.

 

Bolton marks within range and lines up. He opts to kick the ball around the corner, in contrast to the ancient wisdom of kicking straight with a drop punt when you’re forty metres out and dead in front. He misses and there’s a goal in it. Then Taranto bursts clear and the Richmond crowd erupts. Win it for us in your first match in the colours, Timmy! But no! A Carlton defender intersects from the right, Taranto attempts to baulk and is pummelled into the turf.

 

I remark to my son that a draw will do me and he agrees.

 

In a last desperate foray, Jacob Hopper lobs the ball in the direction of Richmond’s goal mouth and Lynch hauls it in. He coolly kicks for six and scores are level with 17 seconds remaining. Tiger fans are ecstatic. Can the Tigers win the centre clearance? Cerra gathers the ball and sends a speculative kick forward for the Blues. Ex-Docker Blake Acres stands alone just outside the fifty-metre line and is right under it. Avert! We’re going to lose again through one of those kicks after the siren! But Acres fumbles the mark. Blessed relief! Lachie O’Brien burrows in for the ball but is swamped by Rioli, Grimes and Broad and the siren sounds.

 

And so we get out of the joint with two points.

 

Matt and I are philosophical. The Tigers didn’t lose this time by a single kick. They trailed for most of the match, were compelled to come from behind and Long Tom kicked the clutch goal under immense pressure. I mention the fact that it’s 51 years since Richmond and Carlton last played a draw. It was the 1972 second semi with a score line of 8-13 apiece, almost identical to tonight’s result. I was there at VFL Park that day as a youngster.

 

How did our new bovine beasts perform? There was a definite improvement in our stoppages and centre-bounce clearances. Taranto excelled with 32 touches. Hopper was more subdued with 18, but delivered to Lynch for the major that salvaged the tie. I’m convinced this pair is going to make a real difference to our chances in 2023.

 

I find out later that Jack Riewoldt has now played in more draws than any player in the history of the game. It gives new meaning to the bowls term ‘draw to the jack’.

 

The bulls are running and so must we.

 

Vamos!

 

RICHMOND     1.4     2.4     7.8     8.10     (58)
CARLTON        3.1     4.6     6.9     8.10     (58)

GOALS
Richmond: Lynch 3, Rioli jnr 2, Martin, Riewoldt, Bolton
Carlton: C. Curnow 3, Fisher, Silvagni, McKay, Owies, Docherty 

BEST
Richmond: Rioli, Taranto, Bolton, Lynch, Graham
Carlton: Hewett, Young, McKay, Saad, Cripps

INJURIES
Richmond: Graham (shin/calf), Rioli jnr (cut head)
Carlton: Nil 

SUBSTITUTES
Richmond: Jack Ross (replaced Marlion Pickett in the third quarter)
Carlton: Lochie O’Brien (replaced Lachie Cowan at three-quarter time)

Crowd: 88,084 at the MCG

 

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Comments

  1. We who wear the purple (and, for more and more of us, the old school red, green and white), left the Plaza Del Toros in the happy knowledge that a draw between contenders is actually a loss for both of them. If the Tigers hadn’t inflicted their most recent draw on us last season, we would have finished fourth, and who knows what would happen thereafter (the Cats being our finals bunnies and all that).
    So, tough break, Blues and Tiges – the battle for 9th and 10th spot is off to a great start!

  2. Good stuff John. When the final siren sounded my mind flashed back to the 2nd semi final of 1972.

    Both times Carlton seemed the better team early on, but unlike 1972 the umpires were able to leave the ground without being confronted by irate fans, as Ian Coates was that sunny spring Saturday. Nor in 2023 was there a repeat of Jezza’s attempt to ‘long bomb’ a winning score of the last kick.

    For the debutants in this draw how many will follow in the footsteps of champions like Peter Bedford, Tim Watson, & Ian ‘Mocca’ Dunstan who all debuted in a draw.

    Anyhow can Carlton follow the lead of long time rivals Collingwood in knocking of reigning premiers Geelong? Richmond cross over into SA to take on the ‘Crow Eaters’. Another season is underway.

    Glen!

  3. John Green says

    Thanks Glen. Yes, it’s wonderful that another season is upon us with all its glorious possibilities. It’s a pleasure to watch the other teams as well.
    And thank you for your comments, David. I’ll actually be in Perth on June 10 for the clash between the Dockers and the Tigers at Perth Stadium. I plan to catch Claremont V Peel Thunder in the afternoon.

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