Tiger Fan of the Week

A funny thing happened on the way to September 2017.

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A little background first, if I may indulge. I’m a fourth-generation tiger, going back to my great-grandparents and their home on Richmond Terrace, just across the road from Punt Road Oval and the MCG. I go to the footy most weeks with Dad, my 80 y.o Nan, my great-uncle and cousins, as I always have.

I am also the daughter of a loud and proud card-carrying Hawk, who waves a flogger in the cheersquad and has missed only one Hawthorn Grand Final in her lifetime: 1989, where she stayed home with her 5-month-old daughter (me) and has never let me forget it.

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I’ve watched from the sidelines as my Mum and younger sister have revelled in Hawthorn’s success over the last 9 years, I’ve even gone as far as driving Mum to the G on Grand Final day, a strange, empty feeling it has to be said. I’ve been invited along too, after the third flag I think, but I declined politely. I can’t go without the Tigers there, it wouldn’t feel right. Mum has always been kind about Richmond, she watches when we’re at games, until it gets too close, she cheers for us and gets frustrated along with us, but at times I’ve marvelled at how she doesn’t quite get it.

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“We’ve had lean patches too,” she’d say, and I’d roll my eyes. It’s not the same pain.

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“Come on! We need the percentage!” she’ll shout, and I wonder what that’s like, to feel so comfortable winning, that you can be thinking about percentages and ladder positions.

Like Sam Mitchell’s kids, not quite understanding that Daddy doesn’t just go up and get a medal every year, that going on the ground with the streamers isn’t just a regular part of a footballer’s year.

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So, it came to our clash against the Hawks a few weeks ago, full of run and tackles and forward pressure, and another strange feeling came over me. I felt like we would win.

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I can honestly say, that even when we seemed to be a bit of a bogey team for Hawthorn, I had never expected us to win. Obviously 2017 wasn’t a great season for Hawthorn, but this felt significant, this year feels significant.

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2017 has been so vastly different to last year. In 2016 we languished, put in poor performances and suffered some shocking defeats. Our leadership, on and off, was questioned relentlessly (and at times, unfairly)

Our football is better, our attitude seems better. The players speak with more confidence, about family and friendship, and breaking down barriers between teammates.

So much seems to have changed.

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Now I confess, I wrote this next part a few weeks ago, in the lead-up to the Geelong game in Geelong. I was nervous, enough that I could barely sleep, and I began thinking about expectations. Richmond and expectations, Geelong and Hawthorn and expectations. I didn’t want to jinx anything, so I didn’t post it.

I’m not ready to expect a victory against Geelong. I was in year 11 last time we beat them, year 12 when we were destroyed by 157 points. My best friend, raised in a non-traditional (non-football) family was genuinely excited for ‘the other team’ she’s now engaged to a passionate Geelong fan. I still think I can swing her, she does still have a Brandon Ellis badge.

 Geelong has for so long felt out of our reach. Even though we beat Hawthorn in premiership years, there has always been something about the slickness of the cats.

 I’m trying to keep my head. I don’t want to talk about finals or ladder positions, though I’ve run optimistically through the predictor multiple times. I don’t want to hear about sure things or certainties, because in my time as a Tiger, there has never been such a thing. I don’t want to think about Dusty’s contract (He’ll stay, he’s grown up with this club, and he couldn’t disappoint Harper Cotchin) because the more people talk, the more I begin to waver in my conviction.

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“Were you stressed when we came back a bit in the last?” Mum asked, on the way home from the ground.

“Of course,” I replied, “We go for Richmond. Stressed is our default setting.”

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Expectations haven’t been our friend. There’s no denying this, in the past, we have stumbled.

Our Centenary game, the elimination finals, Tom Hafey’s tribute match, most of 2016.

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But I say in the past because there’s that strange feeling again, the feeling that things might be changing. We have truly exceeded expectations already this year, and who’s to say where that will end.

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Now it’s 3 weeks later and I’m ready to beat Geelong. I’m not calling it expectation, let’s call it confidence. I feel confident in our game-plan, in our pressure, in our attitude. I feel confident that on the MCG we can play some damn good football. We can do this.

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I went to Catland, with my best friend (in a Cats Ugly Jumper, shame) her fiancé and his Dad. Sidenote, fiancé’s Dad heckled Jack in the warmup as Jack took a shot from the pocket. Jack slotted it, grinned and gave Old Mate a thumbs-up. Best part of the day.

I left feeling ok. As I tweeted:

 

Tigers ’17 so far:

– 5 more wins than ’16

– In the 8 all year

– 2x 10+ goal losses (1 to top team) vs 5x last yr

 #Improving #Breathe #GoTiges

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We have come so far. This time last year we’d been smashed by the Swans and played a terrible, demoralising last round against the Saints. This year we finished the season by winning 2 games we should have won, one of them by 104 points! We played with swagger against Freo. Honest-to-goodness swagger.

Expectations might be high, but we’ve so far exceeded them.

I was wrong a few weeks ago. Not about Dusty, thankfully. There is a certainty at Tigerland, The Tiger Army will be there, in any weather.

2017 has been a strange season, a season of growth and learning according to Mum, who has handled Hawthorn’s journey this year quite well considering. Close finishes, moments of great joy and agony in defeat, Jarryd Roughead (because really, he is the story of 2017) and farewells to retiring greats – the players I’ve grown up watching, really. What’s one more strange happenstance?

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Why not Richmond, rising to further exceed expectations?

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In any weather.

Where born?	Adelaide
Age:	41
Where do you live:	Fitzroy North
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	I grew up in SA, so was in to the SANFL as a kid, and liked the South Aussie teams when they came into the AFL. I moved to Melbourne in my 20’s, and never really found my groove with support for a Melbourne club. Then we lived overseas for 5 years, and I got into the Tiges during that time. It was sort of a fun thing to share with friends at the start, and the passion grew from there. One of my best mates is a big Tiges fan, and another is a Power fan – and we would plan weekends where I would come home for a Tiges v Power game. There’s a big one of those this weekend!
Favourite all-time player?	Gotta be Richo! Pretty hard to go past Richo. He’s a card, alright. How can you not say Richo?
Favourite current player?	Big Ivan feels like he’s become the heart and soul – love his work. Rance too – he’s as solid as they come. Cotch, Lids, Ellis, Dusty – I want to say them all!
What do you most like about Richmond?	I’ve never had as much fun following the footy as I have since I started following the Tiges. Winning, losing – the Tiges always give you a good show. We’ve got a great playing group at the minute. And the fans are just awesome.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	Well, lately, it’s to take a sign that stipulates how many games the Tiges have won in a row! Yeah, I’m getting pretty superstitious about my signs… But be careful not to hold it up too early – don’t wanna jinx it!
When will we next win a premiership?	Four games time.

Where born?	Melbourne at the Royal Women’s Hospital. Mum and dad are from Vietnam, in the south.
Age:	26
Where do you live:	Mascot, in Sydney. I’ve been up here a couple of years. I grew up in Hoppers Crossing.
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	In primary school we had a footy day and I didn’t really have a team but I liked the Tigers so I started barracking for them. I think it was grade one or two at St James Primary School in Hoppers Crossing. Most of the other kids were either Carlton or Essendon.
Favourite all-time player?	Probably have to be Richo. He used to take those big grabs and kick a bunch of goals. He was great to watch.
Favourite current player?	Lids. He’s just got the pace. He burns off other players and kicks goals on the run from outside 50. It’s good to watch him all day.
What do you most like about Richmond?	Probably the noise the supporters make. There’s rarely a dull game at the G when the Tiges are playing. When I was down there I used to go to most of the home games. I’ve still been three or four times this year, and to the GWS game up here. All the family’s in Melbourne so when I go down in winter I usually tee up a game as well.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	I used to have a pair of boxer shorts I would wear on game days because of the colours, but they’ve fallen apart now.
When will we next win a premiership?	It depends how we go on Saturday. If we get over the Swannies, maybe this year. Why not?

Where born?	Ferntree Gully
Age:	50
Where do you live:	Somerville. It’s down past Frankston, in between Baxter and Tyabb.
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	Because of the colours. The black and yellow. I guess I would have been about six or seven when I first started barracking. At school at Boronia Primary our home colours for Ward house were black and yellow, too, so maybe it was meant to be.
Favourite all-time player?	Probably David Cloke. He was just a great team player. If he couldn’t get the ball himself he’d make sure he could feed it off to a rover, a smaller bloke like Weightman or Bartlett.
Favourite current player?	Trent Cotchin. Just because of his consistency. And he’s the captain, and he’s always shown great leadership.
What do you most like about Richmond?	The passion. The passion of the supporters. It’s been 32 years or so since we were in a Grand Final, and there are some groups of people I’ve been watching the football with all that time. It’s the passion we’ve got for the club.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	Not really. I usually arrive about four or five hours before a game and help get all the cheer squad equipment out of the container at Punt Road, and into the van that we bring over here. And then I help set up. This morning I left home at about 7.30 to get to the ground and get everything ready, and it’ll probably be about 7 tonight by the time we take everything back and put it away. There’s a band of us that do it week in, week out.
When will we next win a premiership?	[TTBB: I interviewed David at the Fremantle game. Like the rest of us, his views may have changed in the past few weeks] I think we might be ready for a new five year plan. Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later. The important thing is that we’ll be here week in, week out, showing the same passion. There’s a group of us who’ve been here since our last premiership. We’ve never given up on the club, on the players. We’ve been here 34 years and we’re not going anywhere.

Where born?	Heyfield, Victoria, in a bush nursing hospital. It was a logging town. I don’t know how many mills there were then, maybe ten, but certainly more than there are now. That was one of the main industries in town, the other was dairy. It’s good dairy country.
Age:	51. It’s my birthday today! [TTBB: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSANDRA! – and congratulations on another lap around the sun!]
Where do you live:	Narrabundah, Canberra. It’s an inner south suburb. In Aboriginal language it means ‘a small bird of prey’. There’s a bit of an Aboriginal community around here. It’s an older part of Canberra. It’s lovely.
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	My dad played for the Richmond reserves. It wasn’t for very long, just one season in the late 1950s. He went to school at Melbourne High which was in the Richmond area. Mum and dad barracked for Richmond and Kirsten and I fell into line. I think it was pretty early on. We were friends with the kids over the road and they were Blues, Carlton supporters, and there was always rivalry.
Favourite all-time player?	I just have to say Wayne Campbell. I did go and see the 80s teams with Francis Bourke and all those players, but it wasn’t until I grew older that I could relate to what was going on. For some reason I feel very connected to Wayne Campbell, so I was a bit disappointed when he left to be the umpire’s boss. I was hoping he would be around to help us to the next premiership. I thought on the field he was really quick and clever with the ball. He wasn’t a charismatic captain, but I think he did his best with what was going on at Richmond at the time.
Favourite current player?	Seeing I’m a Cotch Crew member, it would have to be Cotchy. He’s gorgeous. He’s quick as well, and he’s always thinking about what he’s doing. He seems a lot more at easy than Wayne was. I just think he’s a really nice guy.
What do you most like about Richmond?	The roller-coaster ride. You just get so low and you get so high. It’s the passion. We’re all absolutely bonkers, the fans. Facebook after last week’s win was just magic. But we also get so down when we lose.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	No, not really. I think I grew up on that kind of stuff. I’ve tried different variations of things, of wearing my scarf in a particular way, but nothing seemed to be a constant. I’ve got a little toy tiger that sits on my bed. That’s the only Richmond thing I have, now.
When will we next win a premiership?	Oh my god, there’s a never-ending question. Far out, I don’t know. When? I think when we field a team that’s stable, that’s been playing together for two or three years. We need to have a continuity of players. That’s when it will happen. When we’ve got a good group of players that have all been playing for each other for two or three years, that’s my answer.

Where born?	Sale Hospital
Age:	8
Where do you live:	Sale
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	I’m not sure. I just picked it. I like the colours.
Favourite all-time player?	Matthew Richardson. The funny thing was he had a hammy and he had to come from the ground but he said to the trainers, ‘I want to stay on the ground for one more quarter’. I heard that that story on the telly.
Favourite current player?	Lids. Brett Deledio. He’s a very good Richmond player because he can kick lots of goals and he’s a good midfielder.
What do you most like about Richmond?	The players and the song, I think. I really like the song when we win and I like to sing it.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	I wear the same clothes to the game. We go by train or sometimes mum drives us. We get to see ten or 11 games a year.
When will we next win a premiership?	Four years. In four years time.

Name	Joe Crawford
Where born?	Queenstown
Age:	46
Where do you live:	Invermay, Tasmania
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	Local team was the Tigers.
Favourite all-time player?	Richo. Received more half-volleys than John Newcombe but never stopped trying.
Favourite current player?	Ivan Maric. Has a dip, a mullet and is surprisingly agile for a big bloke.
What do you most like about Richmond?	Supporters…we are a loyal, hardy bunch.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	Tell anyone who will listen that we are ‘no chance’.
When will we next win a premiership?	Hopefully, before I die. I’m not holding my breath.

Name	William Crawford
Where born?	Launceston, Tasmania
Age:	6
Where do you live:	Invermay, Tasmania
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	My dad barracks for them.
Favourite all-time player?	Jamie Elliot. [I know, I know…I’ve tried to change his mind but it’s very hard keeping him focused on the Tiges when other teams seem more glamorous/successful – Joe]
Favourite current player?	Jamie Elliot. [see comment above]
What do you most like about Richmond?	They are the Tigers and my dad goes for them.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	No.
When will we next win a premiership?	Not for along time.

Where born?	Women’s Hospital, Carlton
Age:	24
Where do you live:	Melton West
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	My dad barracks for Richmond. I actually started following the Sydney Swans and one of my sisters went for the Bears. I think it’s that we had a choice. I would have been about five when I switched, because of dad. Mum barracked for Richmond when we were kids, but she barracks for Collingwood now.
Favourite all-time player?	Matty Knights. It was just the way he played, and he sent me a birthday card, once. He was the best.
Favourite current player?	Brett Deledio. I have three, actually. Griggs and Morris and Deledio. I love the way Brett plays, his speed, he’s fast and he kicks goals from outside 50. And he’s good-looking, although not the beard, no. Don’t like the beard. But I like the long sleeves. He used to wear them when he was younger.
What do you most like about Richmond?	The fans. I have all my friends in the one place at the football. It’s a good atmosphere when we get up and going. It’s good to be a part of it when we get winning. I’ve been part of the cheer squad for five years, now. I met Lyn at training once and she told me to come down and I’ve been here ever since. It’s the fans that make it special. And I like being able to make the banner and go out onto the ground and hold that banner up for the players to run through.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	Not really, but if somebody’s not here at the football and we win, we tell them they’re not allowed to come next week. I guess I put face paint on each week. I’ve been coming to the football with face paint ever since I was a child. And I like to wear the jumper as well. I always wear it to the games.
When will we next win a premiership?	Next few years, hopefully. Before I die! I hope it is soon. They’ve just got to work on a few things, but they can do it.

Where born?	Brunswick
Age:	Too old, 64
Where do you live:	Williamstown
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	Not really sure. When I was a kid I barracked for Essendon because my mother did. She had a cousin who played for them in the late 40s. His name was ‘Bluey’ McLean. He might have been a redhead. But dad barracked for Richmond, and in the late 60s I suddenly changed over. I’ve gone for them ever since.
Favourite all-time player?	That’s a hard one. Tuck, I reckon. Shane Tuck. He was always having a go. I think he was an underrated player. He was a scrapper, he was always at the contest. We’ve missed him this year.
Favourite current player?	Cotch. He gets difficult ball. And he’s got more skills than most of the others. Unfortunately he gets tagged out of it a bit, especially this year, but that’s more a problem on the coaching side. I think a lot of the coaching has been poor this year. We’d better have a better second half of the season.
What do you most like about Richmond?	The passion and the loyalty of the supporters who’ve been through thick and thin. And there’s been a lot of thin lately. I’ve been a member for 18 years now. I didn’t start going to the football until the early 90s. Before that I was living up in the country, at Malmsbury on the road to Bendigo, where I worked as a school teacher. I enjoy going to the games and seeing the game live. It’s so much better than watching it on the idiot box.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	No, not really. I do like to get to the game early, and I like to move around where I sit. I usually get there about an hour before the game starts. I’ve got a reserved seat but I don’t always use it. I usually like to be in the Olympic Stand, especially on a wet day. I usually find a seat under cover up on the top level.
When will we next win a premiership?	I would have said 2015 but I think that’s a bit out of reach now. I’ll say 2016. I think we have the cattle, although we could do with another good forward. Maybe that’s optimistic but you’ve gotta be optimistic. I’m an optimist.

Where born?	At Royal Melbourne Hospital, I think.
Age:	59
Where do you live:	Newport. They used to call it Newport West but we’ve dropped the west bit.
How did you come to barrack for Richmond:	My dad. My mum was South Melbourne but she wasn’t as keen on the game as dad. My grandfather on her side was Carlton, and all my cousins were Melbourne. I went with my dad.
Favourite all-time player?	I don’t know. I guess I’ve got to go for Royce. It was around that era I started watching and I loved all the players. Bourkey, and Dick Clay. But I think Royce was the one. He was great. He was just a beautiful player to watch. He was cat-like, he was graceful. He moved like how a lot of the Indigenous players move now. You know how they kind of float, he was like that. He was not only an aerialist, but on the ground he was clean below the knees. He was flawless, practically. You’d be listening on the radio if you couldn’t get to the game, and every time the ball went forward and they called out ‘Royce Hart’, you knew the ball was in safe hands.
Favourite current player?	There’s a lot of good, young kids coming through. Trent’s a star, and Lids. Alex down the back, I’ve never seen him give up. And Morris. And big Ivvy, we all love him. And Jack of course, even after last week. And Dusty. Oh, gosh. But I guess Trent would be the respectable face of Richmond, so I’ll choose him. I really admire him, he’s growing as a young captain. I just love everybody who pulls on a Richmond jumper and plays for them.
What do you most like about Richmond?	I love the colours, I love the song, and I love the fact that we’re Tigers. It’s also the kind of people who barrack for Richmond. They’re a type. The numbers never fall. They always hold onto hope. We’re eternal optimists. We just never give up. Not the team, but the people. Richmond people just keep turning up.
Do you have a match-day superstition?	I wear certain socks and then we’ll just start losing so I’ll give them up. I’ll even not wear underwear that’s the colour of the opposition side. I don’t know if that works, or not. I used to have a crystal that I wore, and I’ve had scarves and badges. But then we start losing. None of it works. They just don’t work, so why bother?
When will we next win a premiership?	I’m not counting the days. I’m not holding my breath. Not in the foreseeable future, not with the team we have now. We have some good young players, but we’ve just got too many holes. And with the way the draft is, and free agency, it’s really hard for the middle clubs to come up. You can’t buy a premiership but you can maintain one, because all the good players want to play for the top clubs. It’s going to take a miracle, but I’m not going to drop-off. You never know.