The Benny

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The start of the season is always too early for me. March is the most beautiful month in Melbourne until footy comes along. A Long March, with fine weather and no men’s footy, would suit me fine.

It would suit the AFLW too, of course, and send the best message about the value of their game. We’ll make the men’s season a fraction shorter (our players are always saying it’s too long) and give you some more time and space. Now is the time for the AFL to announce this. Not in ten years’ time. Not next year. Now, after the Tayla Harris’ stand, after the AFL has trashed the women’s game once more.

And while they’re at it, now is the time for Toilet Equality at the ‘G and elsewhere. Make some of the men’s dunnies into women’s until our queues are of equal length. Only then will women and girls know that the AFL takes them seriously.

I digress, but I needed to. The first game doesn’t come out of nowhere. It comes into a glorious month trailing controversies real and contrived. Then the ball is bounced and a flip is switched and it’s on again.

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Our tickets in row Z in the Southern Stand cost us about half a year’s membership, but without them we might not have gotten in at all. As it was we missed Lynch’s first goal. From outside the ground, when we were still lined up, I assumed the roar was for Carlton. There was something about the sound that I didn’t like and it seemed strong at the Punt Road End where, at a Carlton home game, I assumed the crowd to be Blue-ish. But once we were in we learned Richmond had scored first. What did that teach me about tribalism? That, in fact, a crowd’s roar sounds much the same, whatever team it’s for?

We were in our seats when Lynch kicked a goal and were able to deduce, from the way all the Richmond players didn’t mob him, that it wasn’t his first. This was so much better than last year when the Blues killed us in the first quarter and it felt like round 1 at Waverley in 1981 all over again. This was footy the way it should be – a big crowd, Richmond with five goals on the board and Carlton yet to score.

The second quarter was footy as the AFL prefers it – more of a contest, but with the Tigers still in control. Higgins’ goal was the highlight, a quick snap from fair way out on a very tight angle. Has there ever been a player who loved playing so much? His celebrations make me feel young again.

But Carlton had come back a bit and worse was to follow. The third was footy as nightmare. A good lead being whittled away, the Carlton crowd roaring. The lead went down to four goals, to three and then to two. The Richmond defence was under siege. Finally, they forced a turnover and broke away. Dusty tore through the middle, wondering which option to take to set up our much-needed goal. Then he was caught, the Blues fans went nuts, the ball was turned over. He looked very cross with himself. But the counter-counter-attack was thwarted once more.

At a big marking contest Rance went down and play was stopped. We know it’s bad when they actually stop the game. Nobody knew that the problem was. From the scraps of replay we saw he was hurt either in the head or the leg or somewhere in between. All we saw was him falling. And now on the ground, un-moving and the surviving players huddled, discussing life without him.

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This could hardly have been worse. Carlton surging, the lead down to two goals, the quarter barely half over, the best full-back of all time on the deck. But Richmond really stood up then and gave Carlton nothing. It was a desperate end to the quarter but if anything, the break in play had settled the Tigers and all of Carlton’s attacks were blunted.

In the last, order was restored and the Blues were taken apart. What could be better than getting the jump on them early, teasing them in the third and then breaking their spirits in the last? Even after our third goal, with the lead at 28 points and the quarter not half gone, Blues supporters were leaving. This is something I will never comprehend, but I saw Richmond supporters do the same in the prelim last year, so this fickleness infects everyone.
Rance emerged from the tunnel on crutches with a bag of ice on his knee. The crowd roared in appreciation and in sadness.

The best goal of this quarter was Weller’s, a brilliant soccer kick from a good distance out and a similar angle to Higgins’ effort. The lead went out to 40 points before a late consolation goal to the Blues. We could get our breath back before we stood and sang the song.

I could see the smile on Rance’s face which was encouraging. But the way his mates went to him and patted him on the head said “season-ending injury” and so it was.

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Match reports have bemoaned this game as a spectacle. “Objective” writing often does. There were plenty of highlights though. Cotch and Riewoldt each took beautiful marks. Cotch kicked a behind from his but I think Jack split the big sticks. Many too-tall and too-skilful Blues players also took good marks. They have no shortage of good players, despite everyone running them down. I tried to learn their names and numbers but we were so high up in the Southern that we could only read the numbers when play was on our wing, which it often wasn’t.

I don’t know if the rules changes mattered that much. It chokes me to say it, but it did look nice and symmetrical to see everyone lined up, almost like the old days, at the centre bounces. I miss the dinky little kick-to-himself that the full-back had to do to play on. One of those little quirks that the AFL despises and so it had to go.

It looked a lot like the 2017 Richmond – often messy, often scrappy, but from one contest to another the ball herded between the big sticks.
Next week a sickening clash awaits – Book Club to discuss Brideshead Revisited or Richmond v Collingwood?

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Benny Votes

5 Grimes – as always, was great.  Never beaten, always there, always contesting.
4 Vlaustin – was good too. The way the defence stood up after Rance left will be written about for years to come.
3 Cotchin – played a classic good Cotchin game, with a memorable highlight being his mark over his opposing skipper Cripps.
2 Martin – was an important player for us too, even if he was caught a few times.
1 Lynch – great to see the new players get goals in Lynch, Weller and Balta.

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Hi everyone, its Chris here. Time has passed and I still feel gutted about losing the preliminary final to Collingwood. I ignored the first three quarters of the Grand Final, something I have never done before. And to be honest, it was a doozy. But we weren’t there. We were all so certain we would be – maybe we  “got ahead of ourselves” – and I still feel like it’s an opportunity missed, and that casts a shadow back over all our good work and the fun of being the top dogs all through 2018.
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But it was fun. We had fun in the sun as premiers, games clear on top of the ladder, with the reigning Brownlow medallist, coach of the year etc, we won everything but the Cox Plate. This year we got Jack winning the Coleman medal, Snags won the GOTY, and we broke the 36-year McClelland trophy drought. Winning stuff was fun. And that’s my analysis done.

Next year I am handing the baton of The Benny to Brendan O’Reilly whose excellent work you have already enjoyed here from time to time.  Thanks to Brendan for this offer at a time when we thought TTBB might be looking at a year off in 2019. I will continue to chip in photos and graphics and keep adding to the Richmond Virtual Duffle Coat. I am interested in trying to get a public display of the Coat happening somewhere in the Richmond 3121 vicinity so if you have any ideas about that, drop me a line.

Take care in the off season, and bring on 2019.

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Awards

• Congratulations to our great skipper Trent Cotchin who wins his second Benny.
• Josh Caddy had a breakout season and wins the Blair Hartley Appreciation Award for recruits from other clubs. He regularly dominated games playing beside a bloke who won the Coleman.
• Jack Higgins was the only first year player to poll Benny votes so he wins the 2018 Anthony Banik Award. Snags has given us all a lot of fun this year and shaken up the pecking order.
• A combination of a solid season and a lack of fellow lefties, see Toby Nankervis take out this year’s Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot. We love you Nank.
• Cal Moore and Liam Baker came off the rookie list this year but did not get votes, so the Tivendale stays in the velvet bag in the drawer.
• Jack Graham had a lot to live up to after his ’17 finals heroics. He never stopped tackling and wins the 2018 Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy

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Full Tallies

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There are some things about the annual Dreamtime Game that always impress me. I’ve attended a few of these matches over the years and loved encountering different Aboriginal mobs that have travelled from afar to attend the event. There’s a different kind of excitement amongst the crowd, with lots of people for whom a trip to the G is a very special event. One of the other things I admire is how the Dreamtime Round concept has worked to extend mainstream understanding of different Aboriginal cultures and identities. The fact that this land we call Australia actually encompasses a vast number of distinct Aboriginal cultures is still a novel concept for many people, so initiatives like the AFL’s indigenous players map are really valuable. (The 2018 edition can be accessed here)

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For this particular Tiges vs Bombers Dreamtime encounter I found myself in Perth, in the traditional land of the Whadjuk people. Parochial TV programming meant that the game wasn’t on free-to-air, so I was obliged to download the annoying AFL Livepass app. in order to watch the match on my phone. (Paying good money to listen to the boorish ramblings of James Brayshaw was too much to bear, so I watched the game sans audio.)
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Our boys in yellow jumped fast out of the blocks (a bit like Connor Menadue in last year’s Grand Final sprint), with manic ball movement and ferocious tackling that frequently caused panic amongst the mob in the red sash. It’s always exciting when our team is so clearly switched on right from the get go. Dan Butler’s tackle on Michael Hurley was a particular first-quarter highlight, as was Josh Caddy’s miraculous ability to repeatedly place himself in a dangerous position in front of goal.
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I didn’t mind seeing us concede a goal to the excellently named McDonald-Tipungwuti just before quarter time, but it was more alarming to see the Bombers stringing a few more sausage rolls together in fast succession in the second stanza. Happily, normal service then resumed and, from this point on, pretty much all the play ran in a Richmondly direction. The most exciting dimension of the Tiges’ game in 2018 is our ability to run in waves, moving the ball from one end of the ground to the other with breath-taking fluency. Titch Edwards is always one of the slickest cogs in the machine, and tonight he was simply magnificent. As usual, his handballs were lightning-fast, but in this game his foot skills were also exquisite. His deft soccer kick into the path of rampaging Josh Caddy late in the second quarter was truly spectacular – the play of the game, in my humble opinion. (Watching the replay on the AFL website afterwards, I was doubly glad to have watched the game without Bradshaw’s inane comments at this point.) It’s his ability to see opportunities and then to act in a split second that makes our Titch such an incredible player, often with the result that commentators are too slow to notice his sleight-of-hand manoeuvres. If he’s persistently underrated then this must be the reason why. Tonight though, there was no doubting his genius, and he was clearly best-on-ground.
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Menadue got to reprise his road-runner routine in the third quarter, sprinting down the corridor in open space and goaling on the run. Meanwhile, it was terrific to see Callum Moore playing with enough confidence to suggest he might actually be able to make the big leap from VFL to AFL footy. He looks to me like one of those blokes where the critical factor is all between the ears. If he really decides he belongs at his level then perhaps he can consistently play accordingly. The jury is still out, but tonight he was full of promise.
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Our back-end players were solid all night, and I was especially impressed with the attacking flair of Jayden Short and Reece Conca, both playing with Bachar-like dash. Coming into this game, the Bombers had looked like a resurgent team, but the match played out in manner where the gulf in class between our boys and theirs was just immense. It’s an exciting time to be a Tigers fan!
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Benny Votes
5: Shane Edwards, 4: Josh Caddy, 3: Alex Rance, 2: Nick Vlastuin, 1: Dustin Martin

Coming up next, the 2018 season wrap and the winner of the Benny is revealed.

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From our perfect seats, front row, top deck of the Ponsford, we could see that Dusty wasn’t right, even before the first bounce. He was lining up in the goal-square, which wasn’t a great sign, but could have been an interesting tactical move. If only he could move, which he clearly couldn’t. He was thinking about each step. And this was when he was walking. That he went on to have the worst game anyone could remember him having was not surprising.

Later Dimma would say, if it hadn’t been a final he wouldn’t have played. “But he would have killed me if I’d said he couldn’t play.” Well Dimma, that’s the coach’s job, breaking the bad news. And in what sort of shape would Dusty have been in for the GF if we’d won on Friday night?
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Playing injured players in finals is the sort of mistake our opponents made last year and paid a great price. I can’t believe we fell into the same trap.
But there it was. The game started well enough, with Riewoldt – can we still identify him as “Jack” now that we have three of them? – marking in a gettable spot. But with the Collingwood jeer-squad booing him he missed. I think we had another shot and missed that too. Soon enough Collingwood had a goal and then another and maybe another before we had our first. At quarter time it was 5.2 to 1.3 and we’d been killed around the ground. Not just on the ground, around the ground. The haunting chant of “Coll-ing….woooood” completely drowned out the Richmond chants.

Luckily our marketing heroes took care of this at the break and drowned out everyone with their loud and noxious tripe. I took the time to send an SMS to Patrick Keane at the AFL. He once told me that the loud music at the breaks and before the games “makes no difference at all.” How about now Patrick? I asked him. But he didn’t reply.

In the second quarter the world ended. I had said several times over the year that if Mason Cox ever played really well he’d be unstoppable. He did and he was. Three times he soared into the air, grabbed the mark, slotted the goal. Three times in about ten minutes. The Magpies behind the goals went nuts. So did the 60 thousand other Magpie supporters. And their “Coll-ing…wood” chant could get going and no loud music drowned it out.
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I think at one stage we were nine goals down and it wasn’t even half time. I thought we were going to lose the match by 100 points. But there was a faint rally and we went in at the break only 44 points down, the same margin Collingwood led by in the 1970 Grand Final.

What had gone wrong? The short answer was everything. Martin had been kryptonited. Astbury, who had destroyed Cox in round 19, appeared not to be playing. Later I heard he’d been really crook. Cox was too tall and was playing too well. Our defence was rattled, our forward line ineffective and our midfield battling but in retreat. I drew solace from the fact that we had come back a bit. But I’d have preferred a margin a bit less than 44 points.

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The third term was better and we trailed by 33 at the last break. Collingwood had certainly smashed us but much of this smashing was simply straight kicking – it was 12.7 to 6.10 at this stage. And the umpires, god love them, were not being kind. Dusty had taken a perfectly decent mark in the goal square and had the ball taken off him. For nobody-knew-what. Had that mark been rewarded and had it only been 27 points at three quarter time…
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The opening of the last term was our best stretch. We got two goals and the margin was down to 21 and another one or two and the ‘Woods might have panicked. But the next three goals were Magpies and the night was over and the “Coll-ing…wooooood” chant was unstoppable.
Our boys kept trying, which is more than I can say for our supporters. Well before the final siren at least three quarters of them had left. I could not believe this. These players won us a flag last year! They finished on top of the ladder! And you won’t even stay to the end of a Prelim Final?

When Cats fans left the qualifying final ten minutes from the end last year I was disgusted. Is this what a few flags does for your commitment? Well we’re just as bad after winning one.

Now I don’t think you should always, always stay. If you’re sitting in the rain and 90 points down at half time, maybe you could go home in good conscience. But what are we teaching our kids about dealing with grief and loss, about commitment, when we leave before the end of a final just so we can get out the carpark a bit quicker or catch that early train? Honestly.

So, a dreadful night for the Tigers. I didn’t quite see it coming but I was never as confident as all the media experts. When we beat Collingwood twice during the year they didn’t have Goldsack, Treloar or De Goey and Cox was tall, but quiet. Bring those three back in and let Cox actually play a bit and it’s a different game.

But as a Club when can learn from this game. We simply have to let our supporters sing! No more corporate crap at the breaks and before the game. Let’s get singing and chanting at least as well as Collingwood. We’ve got 100,000 members and only a dumb-as-dogshit club would try to shut them up.

Oh, I feel better now.
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Benny Votes (double for finals)
10 Jack Riewoldt
8 Jack Higgins
6 Bachar Houli
4 Trent Cotchin
2 Dylan Grimes

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We did not smash our way into September, we did not barnstorm … we cruised our way into September. Over the last month we collected the 4 points without too many thrills or spills. Injured players recuperated, we stayed on top of the ladder. There was no change to the season’s starting proposition – Richmond are the best team in it. This was unfortunate for journos, who have to work hard to try to spin a grander narrative.

I only made it to one roster match this year – the first. At quarter time of round one I thought, oh boy, Brendan Bolton’s boys are going to scare some good sides this year. But it was not to be – we went in radically different directions after that. That Sliding Doors bloke has probably done a really smart episode about it.

For New Richmond’s 4th final Marcus and I settled in to watch in the spare room, decorated for the occasion. Ellis dropped! Didn’t quite see that coming.

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Q1

Such an intense beginning. I love footy like this, a mad scramble with intense desire for the ball trumping systems and even skills. The great thing is it is widely available in September all over the country.

Richmond were on top of the Hawks and dominated the quarter. One of our many forward thrusts fell into George’s hands and he, presented with many options, chose very well, chipping it across to Kam McIntosh. Immediately after this kick I saw Sheds coaching Dan Rioli who was fully tuned in to the voice of experience. Shortly afterwards Dan crumbed a ball at his ankles and scored an opportunistic goal.

We were killing ’em really. The one shot they earned was shanked badly by one of their leaders, Burgoyne. Our composure was superior but we gave away a couple of 50s which resulted in goals, keeping Hawthorn in the game. They started to show glimmers of fight late in the quarter.

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Q2

Again it was our quarter early before Hawthorn gave themselves some hope late. Nank marked and the TV producer clearly knew what would come next although the Hawks didn’t. He dished to Shorty who missed. A fight broke out and the same TV producer decided to focus on that while the game went on in a little window. Now listen old mate. This is a final at the MCG with everything to play for. This isn’t a dead rubber at Metricon in the Sunday graveyard shift. If you must show the fight you pop THAT in the window while we watch the game.

Breust missed a soda and any small apprehension I had felt melted away. Shortly after that Dusty thumped a wonder goal from the boundary; we are doing the impossible while they are stuffing up the probable. Wonderful to see Kamdyn hit the scoreboard and he seemed to be bobbing up everywhere.

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Dusty threaded the needle on the boundary to find Prestia. Mitchell seemed to have gone quiet. Our best in the first half are Dusty, Sheds, Rance, Cotchin, Kamdyn and George. Our backline was impenetrable. I called the game for us at half time.

Q3

Kamdyn in defence took another great stopping mark then set off on a brave run that came off. So many of our next tier are playing with boundless confidence. Moments later up the other end he nailed his third. Our defensive marks are winning this game. They can’t get an inside 50 for love or money. Grimes is having a great quarter as Rance did in the first. Astbury is quiet. Dion goals again – ours are just coming so easy compared to theirs. Rioli goals. We are simply too good for this mob. They fell into the top 4 and we owned top spot, and it looks like it. You’ll have to do better than this, rest-of-the-AFL.

Now Higgins goals. The Hawks have 5 majors – we are just crushing them with pressure. Edwards magnificent. It’s like we are playing a different game. Never in my life (apart from 2nd half of 2017 GF) have I felt so confident that Richmond is on its way to a flag. As Joe suggested last week, Dusty was playing August footy in August and now he’s unveiled his September footy, and its something to behold. Congratulations on your 200th, to the best player going around at the moment and probably one of the all-time greats.

Q4

Dusty the Great went quiet later in that term. Hawks inexperienced players have not stood up, some senior players have had mares (Gunston, Breust) and Clarkson has not fired a shot. Nankervis is such a key for us – thank you baby Jesus and the Blessed Oliver Plunkett for looking after him these last two years. Nank just does his job, it’s as simple as that. And we love him for it.

Sheds tries a few cute moves in this quarter that don’t come off. Riewoldt and Rance both have ankle/foot scares. At the end the vice captains come off arm in arm, sore feet forgotten for now, with a week off to sort them out. There’s Rachel Hofton in the cheer squad!

Oh we’re from Tigerland. What do you mean I have to go to work tomorrow?
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Benny Votes (double for finals)
10 Dusty – Just majestic
8 Prestia – Gained 626 metres for the night
6 McIntosh – Was everywhere, career-high 3 goals
4 Cotchin – 26 touches, was consistent all night
2 Rioli – Moments of genius

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Firstly, apologies to Chris, who single-handedly keeps TigerTiger up and running, for the lateness of this report – no excuses. I have given myself an uppercut, although I have subsequently been told I have the ‘full support of the board’.

Tiges versus Dogs was always going to be a hiding to nothing for the Tiges: win easily and it was because the Dogs had racked their collective cue, win averagely and we were getting ahead of ourselves, lose and we were suffering a Premiership hangover and limping into the finals. In any case, we had 1st sewn up – for the first time since 1982 – ergo, happy days.

My wife, Jill, is a Bulldogs supporter, so we sat down to watch the match together (on opposite ends of the couch) – me hoping we would suffer zero injuries, Jill hoping the Dogs could finish off their late-season resurgence with a competitive game against the reigning Premier – that’s us by the way…

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As it panned out, we both got what we wanted although Jill was less than thrilled that her Scraggers couldn’t finish the job, especially as they had been the better side for most of the match. Jack kicked his 600th and finished with 5 for the night – a great return considering he had the tenacious Dale Morris attached to him with a bungee-cord for most of the night – and in the process put himself in the driver’s seat to win a third Coleman Medal.

As far as the game went, yes, it was close but as a game it really wasn’t much. The Dogs tried really hard and nearly won, we did as much as we could to win without risking a bruise of any sort. The stats don’t lie: we lost the clearances, tackles, contested possessions and, this will surprise no-one, the free-kick count. In fact, we lost the free-kick count 10-20. 10-20!!! FFS. Every footy follower bemoans how poorly the umpires treat their team, but I can say in all honesty: we are being shafted by the maggots. I mentioned this fact during the game and my comment was met with disbelief from the other end of the couch – ‘All the frees have been there, we’re just going in harder.’ I tried a couple more times to get some sympathy from Jill but was met with rolling eyes and a request for a larger couch. I gave up.

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On the Bulldogs front, if they ever get sick of Jack McCrae, he’s more than welcome at Punt Road – he is a jet. And if there is ever a TigerTiger award for Best Ranga from Another Club, Ed Richards would be the shortest-priced favourite since Cam McIntosh won the AFL Player Who Looks Most Like a Pensioner award.

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In summary: we did enough to win, we will go into the finals with an almost perfectly healthy list and we’re a reasonable chance to go back-to-back. If anyone had told us this 2 years ago we would have told them, in the words of Darryl Kerrigan, ‘you’re dreamin’.

Go Tiges.

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Benny Votes
5 Jack – 5 in a tight game, used his work-rate to get on top of Morris as the game progressed
4 Nank – clearly won the ruck contest and covers as much ground as most mid-fielders – is pivotal to our success
3 Graham – very pleasing to see his form after returning from his shoulder – 8 tackles
2 Dusty – has plenty more gears to work through once the finals begin
1 Titch – he is like Shaun Burgoyne, only better

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It’s ironic that as Richmond barrels towards a likely 2nd successive grand final, TTBB is sputtering uphill on bald tires with practically nothing left in the tank. This is not a plea for financial support – we don’t cost much to run and that’s covered by our merch sales (thank you to everyone who has bought a little piece of Tiger Tiger for themselves). Spare time for blogging has been hard to come by of late, and even organising contributors takes time and energy. But the end is in sight!

To business – our unimpressive but competent dispatch of Essendon in round 22, about three weeks ago. We looked too good for most of the night but gave up the last 4 goals of the game. We went in without Cotch, Lambert, Prestia or Astbury, but brought back Nank and sent Ivan II back to the VFL.
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More was probably written about a handshake at the coin toss than was written about the match. Such as by the self-satirising Andrew Bolt. I don’t know Adam Saad very well but I do know Bachar Houli is a great Australian and if more like him are keen to come here, I will bake them a halal cake.

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Q1: Loved Grimes attack on the ball to dead-heat Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti. And George’s one-two dance move for our third goal.

Q2: Our quarter but we lost our way in front of goal, kicking 1.6. A chain of passes out of deep defence ending with Bachar in the forward pocket was sublime. And Caddy marking on the point post while Goddard was busy pointing.

Q3: A frustrating night for stand-in skipper Jack although/because Josh Caddy just kept judging the pack marks better. Bruce McAvaney said “Caddy” like he was singing a death metal song about golf. Young Baker kicked his first.

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Q4: Cale Hooker who is a 7/10 footballer briefly looked like a 9 and Essendon gave their long-suffering faithful a bit of sunshine. We switched into cottonwool mode and coughed up some cheapies. Not Dan Rioli though, his late tackle on Adam Saad saved a few blushes. As Dimma said “It was a terrible game of footy, but I was happy with the win”.

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Benny Votes

With only the highlights clip as a refresher on the game, I am once again giving the Benny votes out just as the best players were listed in the AFL match report.

5 Martin
4 Caddy
3 Rance
2 Short
1 Edwards

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[This match report came to TTBB headquarters by satellite from the MCG via Pluto, hence the delay.]
Jottings from the Ponsford Stand 
Q1
‘We’re the pride of South Australia…’ Adelaide enter the MCG, the crowd is eerily flat. The media have the game billed as the Grand Final rematch. They are right I suppose, the two clubs that did battle on that glorious September afternoon last year will lock horns at the ‘G’ for the first time since. However, truth is the teams are quite different, we have four players running around tonight that didn’t play in the Grand Final whilst Adelaide eight. Nevertheless, when the two Grand Finalists from the year prior play it is never just another game.

The jungle drums are beating and it’s our turn to burst through the crepe paper.

‘Oh we’re from Tigerland…’ at this point I half expected the Adelaide players, led by Tex, to crawl up in the foetal position such has being the fanfare associated with the Crows infamous camp. The team bus, blindfolds, our club song on repeat. Whatever went down the players clearly didn’t take to it.

I flick through my twitter feed. I smile in approval. A video clips shows the boys walking out of the race and Grimesy taking the emergency phone off the wall and handing it to Rioli, “it’s for you mate”. This group seemed to have captured that illusive balance between fun and business. Long may it continue.

Rascal of the week…gold by Dylan Grimes just before running out! #AFLTigersCrows @7AFL @BobMurphy02 pic.twitter.com/0xzgddm0Nw

— Tamara Hyett (@tamhyett) July 6, 2018

For the first ten minutes of the opening quarter we bomb the ball into our forward line and Adelaide’s tall timber pick off the intercepts. We haven’t scored and don’t really look likely to. The Crows have yielded the first six inside 50’s and have four shots on goal to show for it, they look up for the fight. Sometimes I think we could put the ball to grass far more than we currently elect to, it would suit our mosquito fleet and give Jack a break from having to smash packs. I murmur under my breath, “Gee whiz boys putting it on Butler’s head isn’t going to get us anywhere”.

Moore, who alongside Corey Ellis is one of our ‘ins’ for the night, has started well. He has got on his bike and embraced the open spaces of the ‘G’. It’s a positive sign, I can’t help but notice his speed, for a bloke of his size, that could really set him apart. He looks a player.

A chiselling ball from Meatball finds Jack and 19 minutes in we have our first, moments later Rioli goals and finally we are on our way.

By quarters end the game was an arm wrestle with the ball pinging between the two arcs, which suited Broady who was doing as he pleased racking up intercepts marks and kicks at will. A player in the tricolours hadn’t gone near him, he had 11 possessions and should the trend continue he was on target for a 40 possession game.

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Q2
Dusty gets caught holding the ball, I swear he busted every one of those attempts in 2017. I can’t help but feel he is going to be crucified by his own standards such was the level he played at last year. There may never be another year like it. Early on our minds are working faster than our hand eye co ordination with all those little ‘flick on’ passes and deft touches not quite coming off with the bloke on the receiving half a step or second too late to respond.

Early in the second Rioli looks inspired. He is such a pleasure to watch. A Nank tackle on Jenkins results in a holding the ball decision. First gamer Moore takes the opportunity to play on and goals. A fellow Tiger in the crowd still isn’t pleased “We hate a set shot at Richmond”. She has a point, in 2018 we have tended to avoid taking responsibility in front of goal more than I would like.

A security guard strolls past me and heads to the front row. He asks a fan to pull his scarf back from over the fence. I miss the days of banners dangling from every stadium tier and cut up phone books filling the skies and goal squares. There is no doubt that some of the colour has definitely gone out of the game.

A Caddy goal puts us two goals up and the contrast in game style is obvious. Adelaide are dominating the skies and we are loving the ground ball. Shorty kicks another to push the margin beyond 3 goals. The man has become a seriously important cog in the Richmond machine.
I see it coming straight for me. I jump to my feet and shuffle to my left, the two seats alongside me are vacant. I brace myself and let the momentum come to me. I clasp both hands around it and squeeze. Just as I thought it was secure it bobbles it. How the bloody hell did that happen? I did everything right. I pick up the footy and boot it back onto the turf. The ball felt distinctly flat.

Jenkins had responded with an Adelaide goal roosting it right into level 2 of the Ponsford Stand and, flat footy or not, I had dropped the perfect crowd mark. I was filthy.
By half time Tex had accumulated 3 touches, the footy Gods were with us.

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Q3
If you ever get a chance to watch a replay of tonight’s game cast the clock back to the 8 minute mark of the third quarter. It is quintessential 2017-2018 Richmond. Relentless pressure followed by all out ‘line busting’ offence that leaves the opposition gasping for air. Though truth be told hopefully by seasons end there will be little reason to go back to this game with bigger fish to fry and bigger stakes at play.

Shedder dominates the premiership quarter, a term that has new meaning when we are playing Adelaide. I spend three quarter time contemplating how good it would be to play football like him.
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Q4.
With the result in the book I put my notepad away and cheer my heart out. The win is capped off by Tex butchering a certain goal by bowling over his teammate 15 metres out from goal, turning a 2 on 1 for Adelaide into 0 v 1 in our favour. The crowd are in raptures and right on cue a bloke a few rows back who had been strong on the sledge all game chimes in. “Don’t you remember the bus Tex? the song? you know…the last tour. It’s coming again Tex, you’re gonna hear it”. He had saved his best for last, the siren went, the song blared out and it was sweet seventeen in a row at the ‘G’.
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The Votes [these unfortunately arrived too late to count – my very different votes can be seen here]
5 Shane Edwards – Shedder by name shedder by nature
4 Broady – did as he pleased until a facial injury ended his night early
3 Prestia – everything he touched turned to gold
2 Lambert – a running machine, the way he sustains top speed when collecting a ground ball is a sight to behold
1 Short – that leg…that glorious right leg
Until we share again,
Andrew Hamilton @_tigertime

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So it’s Wednesday night, I am writing a match report and the only thing I can remember about the Gold Coast game is Jack kicked ten. OK – I am prepared to say up front this one will be phoned in. I’ll watch the highlights again but that’s it. Very much feel we have bigger fish to fry.

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Q1

Fantastic Little Ivan soccer assist to Jack Riewoldt then

Silky hands of Dan Rioli stream out of the centre and a little chip to Jack Riewoldt 45 out and

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Q2

Little Ivan hands it to Josh Caddy who salutes with a lovely shot from an angle. Sorry Josh, no graphic for you.
Then a long kick finds Grigga who outsmarts a hapless golden coastal, flips it to Ellis via – Vlossy? – and Brando spots up Jack Riewoldt.

Suns jag one, Dusty Kicks Across His Body™ to Caddy for his second, followed soon by this 3rd with help from Jacks Higgins and and Riewoldt. At half time JR has 5, with Caddy and Gold Coast both on 3. It’s reasonably tight.

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Q3

Martin -> Riewoldt and he could have notched his sixth but instead lobbed it to Joshua ‘Cadds’ Caddy who now has 4.

Steven May and Pearce Hanley are both footballers but in the next few minutes they look like prize numpties, and thanks to them we get a) a rare goal to Brando and then from tight on the left boundary another …

200-game Milestone Man™ Shane Edwards gives the worst handpass of his career, but with no pressure being exerted anywhere, Dan Rioli goes and fetches it, hands it back and Shane underkicks a feeble little effort that nevertheless brings up two flags. It’s more than a cakewalk, it’s a potato cake walk.

Bachar looks from these snippets to have been moving well, he cruised through the centre and delivered precisely to the Riewoldt breadbasket area. Hard to tell from the abbreviated highlights if he got 50 or not but anyway with little trouble he notched another…

Right down the spine Prestia (hammy looking fine) finds Lambert (ankle looking fine at this point) who pivots and hits the man the French call Le Jaques Magnifique. One more…

Caddy and Vlastuin also scored in that quarter but didn’t feature in the highlights, sorry.

Scorecheck at 3QT: Jack with 8 goals has pulled away and left Caddy (4) and Gold Coast Football Club (3) squabbling over silver.

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Q4

Callum Ah Chee took a speccy, fair dos to him. Great ride on Astbury. Ellis kicked his second (even more rare). Just to show I did do a tiny bit of work for this, here are some people who played alongside Brando last time he kicked two; Orren Stephenson, Brett O’Hanlon and Aaron Bloody Edwards. Round 10, 2013. And have a guess who kicked 11 that day? Go on. Have a guess.

Classic outside of the boot goal to Dusty. Jack H marks, shows the ball and pops it over the top to Jack R who is giving S May an ocean-sized bath.

The team the Chinese know as 冷吐司 actually put a few things together in this quarter and nearly double their 3QT score, frankly running all over Josh Caddy.

With seconds to go the Tiges win possession on the back of the square then carry it bucket brigade-style to Jack Higgins who shovels a handpass on the bounce to the waiting dual Coleman Medallist who hoists his tenth.

So that’s Riewoldt 10, Gold Coast Football Club’s 22 players 7, Josh Caddy 4. Hard luck Josh, maybe you’ll get a priority pick or something.

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Benny Votes

I am just going by the AFL match report here, so let me know in the comments if someone has been robbed blind.

5 Riewoldt – not much more needs saying. I really hope he can put the Bombers and the Dogs to the sword and collect another Coleman.
4 Caddy – has just passed Nank in the Hartley (see below). It’s a measure of how bloody well so many of our blokes are going that he gets hardly any press.
3 Martin – point this fellow at September and light the blue touch paper.
2 Lambert – Hope he gets over his ankle op quick smart. A required player for us to be us.
1 Short – Would not have been my pick in March as the bolter of the year but clearly is.

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First and away
It’s interesting on the night to see the Cats kick away to an early lead, because you know this team has the ability to settle, control tempo and then accelerate when needed. Without a worry.

And it was Cap Cotch who lead the charge, literally. His pickup and dash on the corner of the square, then second effort following the ball upfield for another tackle was a sign that he was switched on, and that we would be too. Those efforts lead to Jack kicking the first. From the restart we snag another, and again it’s the Captain. A few minutes later, our third via a Jack flick over the head. This team. Seriously.

Letting Geelong get some space in the corridor late in the period was not good, and a sign of the play to come. So too letting them get the ball to Dangerfield when they’re struggling.

Despite all the gloom and doom about the look of the game and it needing fixing, we are a very entertaining footy team. How can you not love the run and chase of George when he took on two Cats from the back of the square and forced the ball to the forward 50? Hilarious to show up the Cats with speed and pressure. And Rioli and Shane were very creative with the ball as well.

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Steady second
“Kick not his best though” – BT summing up the Clangerfield cameos for the night. Not quite to QF level though. His hand skills also suffered and the only reason would be from our pressure.

Nank had a great quarter, with a sneaky goal after a goal saving mark a few minute earlier. And when he was off, well – we were exposed a bit.
Speaking of exposing, Titch went up a notch and had the best of the quarter, and Connor also had a few moments. Unfortunately for Connor, there were a few the other way too. Good to also see Rance play all over ‘the best key forward’. Played him completely.

A few more runs from the Cats through the corridor end up in goals… not good and no improvement from the first quarter there.

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On song in the PQ
George scored a steal and a goal early, plus some great pressure… all great George efforts, delivering the first 2 goals for us.
Shedda has a wonderful kicking style, and his vision, and that steal later ! Another long period where we were dominating the game, but the problem was that scoring was hard. Sharing the ball is great but sometimes it was overshared. Another thread of our play to be tightened up before the final.

Corridor Cats… again. Tigers oversharing again. Lloyd and Lambert could have goaled. But at least Towner did… too messy though.

Do like it when Nank gets grumpy and exerts himself. Yeah sure there should have been a free kick, but other physicality from him was great.

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Getting it done
When in doubt, go to Dangerfield… and they did, and they did again.

Its only when you see Selwood live that you can really see exactly what he does in tight and extracting free kicks.

Good to see Selwood and Danger handballing their teammates into trouble too. They looked better than we did in the last quarter, but we also did enough when needed, a 7-point play with Josh and Jack, Lloyd bobbing up for a goal, and then later his defensive effort with those tackles on Tuohy and Henderson.

And gain through the middle Geelong scored. All our good work sending them wide was then undone by open corridors.
Speaking of defensive efforts, Kamdyn, Grimes, Grigg, and Dave… all did real well in the last period.
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To The Benny’s…
So hard to give out the votes to individuals when a solid team effort is the feature of this team.
5 Brilliant early was the Captain, and powering the engine room all game.
4 You could notice when he wasn’t there, and a marked improvement when he was. Is running Nank solo starting to be exploited?
3 Mr Creativity shone all night. Loved Titch‘s game.
2 A welcome return to the George we all know he can be.
1 Jack kicked a modern day bag and presented all night. What a Tiger great

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