Votes and notes by Sean Ross, founder of The Benny
It’s impossible to write about last night without mentioning the wonderful occasion the fixture has become. 85,000 isn’t just a crowd, it’s a bloody big crowd, and from my brief AFL Tables research this morning it’s the biggest home and away crowd Melbourne have played in front of since 1962.
Though the evolution of Anzac Day into Anzac round sits uncomfortably and our role in it seems more than a little like an attempt to cash in, you can’t ignore that kind of attendance on a rainy Melbourne night. It isn’t like it’s going anywhere and I may as well embrace it. The fact it seems to annoy Eddie is just an added bonus.
You can’t fault the time and effort that has been put into the pre-match ceremony and the points of difference that are made available in a night time fixture. There is something magic about that many people sitting in the dark in silence during the Last Post with only their thoughts and reflections for company. Deafening silence is a weird concept but that’s the best way to describe it. That the same 85,000 people spent the next two hours screaming deliberate whenever the ball went near the boundary only adds to the importance of the silence before it.
The game itself and, more importantly for this blog post, Richmond, finally lived up to the stage. For whatever reason we had stunk up games against Melbourne for the three years before, the first following Tom Hafey’s passing and then the two first chapters of this fixture. In three games we hit the fixture out of form, Melbourne hit the ball far harder and the scoreboard told the rest of the story. With an average margin of less than five goals, the collective scoreboards flattered us because we had never really got close to them.
In an era where players and teams are judged and analysed through efficiency, tackle counts and pressure acts the role of ‘bogey teams’ is under appreciated and if we dropped this one we were quickly headed to that area with Melbourne. Try and tell me Carlton weren’t in our heads for the first 4 years of this decade.
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So with all that water under the bridge, at three quarter time I sat in the Olympic Stand wondering why I’d put my hand up to do the TTBB votes against Melbourne of all teams. A team we hadn’t beaten for three years while they weren’t any good, and now that they’re OK it looked like we may never beat them again.
During the last break it was hard to see how we’d manage to roll over them. We needed to find four goals and stop them from scoring, to that point we’d managed only seven in 90 minutes and they’d had little trouble finding one in transition whenever we pressed up on them. Chatting to a mate I optimistically put the chances of us running over them at around the 10% mark, I figured something was up with Spencer given Watts had been rucking but I didn’t know Melbourne were two rotations down otherwise I would have bumped it up to around 25%.
What I hadn’t, nor had most Richmond folk on Twitter (by a reflective look at my Twitter timeline), factored in was that Melbourne, so incredibly chirpy until then, would shut up shop as soon we made a run at them.
How it progressed from there shows that sport is quite often not fair.
The (far) worse team for the first hour and half got a roll on and pinched it. Given the number of times we’ve been on the receiving end of that it shouldn’t have felt so good, but my goodness it did. When Jack kicked his last to put us in front and the heads of the Melbourne players dropped in unison there was an air of invincibility, that glorious feeling that you’ve just hit the lead and the other mob aren’t willing or able to grab it back. How many times have we been on the less fun end of that feeling?
I’m generally a pretty awful person when it comes to following sport. In most other aspects of life I’m perfectly nice, but the sight of thousands of MCC members heading for the car park after Caddy kicked the sealer provided enough warmth and joy to get me through a Siberian winter. Package up the video of that mass evacuation and put it on the club site and I’ll watch it more times than Dusty leaving Ted Richards sprawled on the turf at Homebush and flying into an open goal. Sit down and stick it out you pillocks, there was only two minutes left.
They’re an interesting team Melbourne. They have a lot of really good young players but more than a few stinkers still hanging around, while we have less really good players but mostly our players are OK enough to get you through. What they are stacked to the gills with though is front runners, Jones and Viney are everything you want when things are going right: chippy, confident, fierce at the ball, ruthless and effective. They terrorised us at the clearances for three quarters (to the point where I can’t have been the only person wondering why we didn’t pick Miles. But they must both have either ran out of puff from not shutting up all night or headed off early to get a jump on the MCC members because I can’t remember seeing either in the last quarter, and to think our skipper is the one who cops grief. What they do have though is a couple of young midfielders coming through who are eye wateringly good. If they can keep Oliver and Petracca fit and developing they’ve got a platform to really cause some chaos in the years ahead, so even though the tables have turned for now I don’t expect this one to be a Brisbane like winning streak.
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It will be left for others to dissect the first three quarters so please forgive me for solely focussing on the final stanza and a few names jump off the page.
Houli provided clean hands and poise that had been lacking from anyone in a Richmond jumper. Hardly an effective line of possessions was strung together without his involvement. Dusty looked more than a little hobbled for the first three goals but either pushed the pain out of his mind, played through it or got an injection that I want in on and produced some of his finest bollocking when it was needed most. In defence Rance and Grimes owned the back half of the ground, let very little past and only let Hogan hit the scoreboard through intervention from officialdom.
Jack was the difference, and it had to be Jack, following three weeks of double time playing both full forward and centre half forward. It’s very rare that a 22 person team walks off the ground victorious and you can point at one person and say ‘they wouldn’t have won without them’. A few times a year Jack gets into a zone where he can do no wrong and it doesn’t matter who he’s playing on because he knows he is better than them. When Jack is in that zone it doesn’t matter how the ball comes in, he’ll zig and bring the ball to ground or zag and get it on the second grab. Not only would we not have won without Jack, we likely would have lost convincingly, because it would have been a whole lot more than a four goal margin at three quarter time to overcome.
When he’s in that zone he doesn’t miss, and that last set shot was kicked with ice running through his veins. I love him.
We are quite spoiled as Richmond fans to play in front of so many big crowds despite a lack of success that rivals the French military, in just one of the last 11 years have we failed to have a game that has drawn more than 70,000 people. When Richmond kick a goal to the Punt Road end in front of a big crowd it’s like a drug, you want to tap that feeling and never let it go. If it’s that good from the stands I can only imagine what it’s like on the ground and, though I have nothing empirical to base this on, I can’t help but suspect that feeling is why we’ve managed to keep players over the years. You only have to hear Prestia speak to realise it’s a drawcard for those from elsewhere.
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So where does all that leave us now? I think it’s pretty clear that this isn’t a superstar 22 but they’ve committed to a game plan that, after years of schlepping 18 months behind Hawthorn, just might be ahead of the curve. For now we’ve beaten who we should and there isn’t a heap more you can do than beat the five teams you’ve been fixtured against in the first five rounds.
To me, it’s the first time since 2013 we are fun to watch. Winning lots of games in 2014 and 2015 was fun, but how we played wasn’t. Collectively the forward line is attacking the ball like men possessed and the mosquito fleet are mopping up anything that Jack misses. The midfield is a group again instead of just Dusty and Cotchin. The backline, who would have been within their rights to set up a picket line, start singing Solidarity Forever and refuse to go to work last year, are no longer constantly under siege. They have the time and space they need to defend but also attack.
Watch the club highlights from the last quarter, the five goals are the result of build up play up the ground. It may not have seemed it at the time given we were all emotional wrecks but they’re fun goals to watch. In the back half of last year every goal seemed to be a result of something resembling the suffragette movement. We had to beg, borrow, plead and fight for everything.
Now Shaun Grigg is palming off volleyball taps to Dusty as we peel off a four goal deficit in the last quarter in front of 85,000 people. More of that please.
Of the new guys, neither Caddy or Prestia has set the world on fire but their impact is felt across the 22, as they release Dusty forward, Cotchin doesn’t have to be at the bottom of every pack and Caddy in particular has a very happy knack of kicking goals at important times despite Luke Darcy bottling the call.
Big Nank was a cult hero before he played a game because he attacks the ball with a ferocity we’ve lacked. His rucking is a developing art and bigger tests from opposition will come. When he gets touched up by more established players, and he will, it will be important to remember that he is yet to click over 20 games.
These three arrivals combined with the emergence of Butler and Castagna mean there is also something resembling depth at the club. Not so much in the key forward stocks but we have midfielders, half back flankers, half forwards, small forwards, rucks and defenders ready to go if and when called upon. It’s a long season and we’ll need them.
Chances are that Adelaide will get away from us and the ‘who have they beaten?’ chorus will quickly transition to ‘reality check’.
And you know what? You can’t really blame the media. The big four sell papers, deliver traffic and for a good while now we’ve been the only one of the big four you’d walk across the road for if they were playing across the street. It’s better to be talked about than ignored.
We are 5 and 0, and we aren’t going to win the flag but we’ll have some fun trying.
Embrace it, thrive on it, enjoy it.
Go Tigers.
The votes
5: Jack Riewoldt: Could it have been anyone else? Until now he has saved his very worst for Melbourne, but this was his very best.
4: Bachar Houli: A beacon of calmness and poise when everything around him was chaos.
3: Dylan Grimes: Last on the stats sheet but far from last in effectiveness, killed everything that came near him.
2: Alex Rance: He even started doing that thing where he beats forwards senseless and then out marks them for added humiliation, paired up with Astbury to brain Hogan.
1: Toby Nankervis: Wasn’t playing against much but that’s hardly his fault, his tap work in the last quarter was sublime and his silver service to Cotchin helped set up Jack’s sealer.
With thanks to the TTBB crew for letting me dust off the keyboard!
The Benny Leaderboard:
7: Conca, Houli
6: Riewoldt
5: Castagna, Nankervis
3: Grimes
2: Butler, Vlastuin, Rance
1: Prestia, Rioli, B. Ellis
Blair Hartley Appreciation Award:
for players who have joined Richmond from another club(Eligible 2017: Caddy, Grigg, Hampson, Houli, Hunt, Nankervis, Maric, Miles, Prestia and Townsend.)
14: Grigg
5: Nankervis
1: Prestia
Anthony Banik Best First Year Player:
for anyone who was yet to debut before round 1(Eligible 2017: Shai Bolton, Dan Butler, Ryan Garthwaite, Jack Graham, Ivan Soldo, Tyson Stengle)
Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot:
for left footers(Eligible 2017: Batchelor, Chol, Corey Ellis, Grigg, Nankervis and Houli).
14: Grigg
5: Nankervis
Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal:
upgraded from the rookie list during the current season
Potentially eligible 2017: Castagna, Chol, Moore, Stengle and Soldo.
5: Castagna
Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy:
The club’s top tackler, across AFL and VFL teams
28: Cotchin
22: Vlastuin
22: Prestia
21: Grimes
19: Martin
Brendan O'Reilly says
Thank you Sean, an excellent account of the night. Yes, Melbourne have been one of those teams we just couldn’t beat for too long. And it was a beautiful event. I’m very cynical about Anzac Day but it was done very well. And 85 thousand people being quiet all at once is something to hold dear.
Bloody hell that last quarter was sweet and being behind the goals at the Ponsford end and seeing those Demon supporters leave was a sight. But there were still FOUR minutes left! They were only two goals down! They were playing Richmond! I agree with you, sit down and suck it up. The players can’t leave, why should you?
Waking in the dark this morning, rain on the ginger lilly outside the window, no work today. And Richmond won last night…if there’s a heaven it will be something like this.
Brendan O'Reilly says
I must add a very unpleasant tale, however. For years now I have been tormented, along with everyone else at the footy, by the wanton destruction of crowd atmosphere by the AFL and RFC. Yes, our beloved club, with the most loyal and passionate supporters in the sporting world, actively shuts up its supporters at crucial times. Pre-match there is loud music and ads right up to the first bounce. At the break it’s straight into the facile spruiker, The Most Annoying Man in the World, shouting at us to tell us what we’ve just seen. The spine-tingling roar before the game begins and the warm hubbub at the breaks is a thing of the past.
Worst of all is at the last break when the Tiger Army try to get a chant going. Spruiker Man grabs the mike and drowns it out. You can’t hear anything but him unless you’re right there at the Punt Road End. Then the clown has the nerve – the bloody nerve! – to tell us to get behind our team and make some noise, right before the game begins again. What a knob.
All right, my point is made and I apologise for this long post. But last night I did as I have done before and I texted a complaint to the Anti-social behaviour hotline. This behaviour is, after all, very anti-social. If the teenagers next door did it we’d ring the cops. Anyway this time I was dealt with a bit harshly, you might say, with this reply:
“You may be liable for prosecution for the inappropriate use of this service. Vicpol are now monitoring your communications.”
Free speech anyone?
Andy says
I’m also in full agreement with Brendan. I arrive at games as close to game time as possible in order to miss all of the advertisements and spruiking that go on beforehand. The more noise that comes from the scoreboard, the more difficult it is to make our own noise and to engage in conversations with those around us. The MCG is overwhelmed with advertising.
The field too is little more than advertising space: the goal posts, the goal square, the wings, the centre circle…(let alone the players).
That being said, in standing room at the Punt Road End, the noise – cheering, chanting – is incredible.
Lapsed Tiger says
100% agree.
Also the game start, where everyone is making their last minute exhortations to the team is drowned out by the speakers and the silly countdown.
And after the countdown stops… there is not much.
Let the scoreboard countdown, but wind back the music and faux-mood enhancement.
Joe Crawford says
Brendan.
Couldn’t agree more. I have, a couple of times on Tiger Tiger…, had a rant about bloody stadium announcers. I HATE them with a passion. I remember being at a game a couple of years ago and trying to have a conversation with my mother-in-law about the state of the game at quarter-time and basically having to give up as she, given she’s 80 and hasn’t the best hearing, couldn’t hear me above the 1,000,000-decibel bleating of the tool with the microphone.
I HATE STADIUM ANNOUNCERS.
Maybe we should start a petition along the lines of; ‘We, the undersigned, pledge to boycott products spruiked by stadium announcers at AFL matches. Please stop this environment-polluting, eardrum-destroying rubbish so we can all enjoy the social aspect of a day at the footy i.e. having a conversation with supporters in our vicinity without having to resort to sign language.’?
I may be getting old and miserable but as the Coodabeens say: ‘Get rid of it.’
Lapsed Tiger says
Awesome write-up SR. SO many moments of last nights game that could be put under the microscope.
If I can add, one, I think Rioli was great at the small things and deserves some attention. Little jobs like links to others, defensive pressure and spoils, fwd 50 tackles, and a flick-on or two.
Not the Rioli the media wants – all high flying marks and goals kicked out of his backpocket – but the Rioli who is playing the team game.
That said, will welcome some Rioliñho brilliance any day of the week.
Also, on the Dees leaving…
1) at our end, they were serenaded as they left… but to be fair I was standing around the Grog Squad with Mr Fuller. The full chorus had those Dees lads genuinely, physically slinking away.
2) I had to walk past the MCC exits after the game to head home. The sadness on the long faces was a delight. As to the clipped tones as the MCC members ever so gently disected their own players’ performance (or lack of). Was a bonus highlight for the night.
Malcolm says
A comment, if I may, about the pre-game Anzac Day (which is apparently now Anzac Week) business. I’m a fan of the big flame that continues to burn on throughout the game. I enjoyed the slow lap by the fellow on the horse and also the sweet aroma of horse-shit that wafted up from the entry ramp at the Ponsford end throughout the game. But when the MC announces the ‘Royal Australian Army Band’ and what we actually get is one bloke with a guitar and a woman singing a pop song, I do worry about the state of things with our armed forces!
Joe Crawford says
Good work on your Benny report, Sean. I had the same three blokes in my top 3 but in a different order: 3 votes – Grimes, 2 votes – Jack, 1 vote – Bachar. Grimes did some amazing stuff that won’t show up on a stat sheet and he was fearless and relentless throughout the contest. Jack stood tall and delivered the game we all hoped he could. Bachar, who has been quiet this year, turned in a top-shelf game and really played a steadying role in that frenetic last quarter. In all honesty there were probably 10 blokes who could have featured in the votes. I love the fact we have a whole-team lolly scramble for votes now – gone are the days of 4 or 5 blokes being clearly our best and the rest being battlers.
I had intended going to the game but due to my ‘mate’ (Melbourne supporter) bailing on me, I didn’t end up going. I am spewing, and my ‘mate’ will never be forgiven for making me miss that epic. In my defence, I have to fly to games from Launceston and by the time my ‘mate’ had pulled the pin the cost of flights had tripled. Spewing…
Tommo says
Sean I can recall when the Punt Rd. end and the original grog squad crew made noise. The Southern Stand had one upper level only. Chat was the man man in the grog squad and a bunch of Tiger boys used to cheer for their mater Bernie Lowden who was a goal umpire. A few die hards from that era are still probably in the Punt Rd end crew now. My two daughters are now 19 and 21 and were brought up on footy and the noise of the Punt Rd end. My eldest just took a mate of hers from Kenya there on Monday. Your one line in your Benny article made me feel like I was there again
When Richmond kick a goal to the Punt Road end in front of a big crowd it’s like a drug, you want to tap that feeling and never let it go
Every trip I do to the MCG now I always end up in the Punt Rd mosh, I’ll be there for the Dreamtime game and if the footy gods let it be I will be there grand final day…………..I hope that Americanism of having announcers and crap music disspates for good and the Punt Rd end crew can do what they do best.
great read and well done on the votes.