AFL Grand Final 2020: Tom Lynch says Richmond have done more than enough to silence the haters
Big name experts lined up to write Richmond’s season off following an early-season form slump, not long after came a global pandemic. While it threw the world into chaos, Tom Lynch says hub-life has transformed the team.
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Richmond spearhead Tom Lynch says the conga line of doubters forgot one thing.
From Kebabgate to Gropegate and an early-season form slump, the Tigers’ bid for a third flag in four years appeared to have gone off the rails.
Wayne Carey was the first to call it in the second week of July.
“Despite being just five rounds in, I’m prepared to write the Tigers off as genuine premiership contenders,” the Kangaroos great declared.
“I hope the Tigers can prove me wrong. But I just can’t help but feel the 2020 season might be a mountain too high for them to climb.”
Caroline Wilson went next, suggesting Richmond was “lacking leadership” in the Queensland hubs.
“The Tigers of this bleak 2020 winter seem negative, unprepared, unwilling to bring their trademark pressure and at times even searching for excuses,” Wilson said.
“The insidious creep of success,” Wilson’s Footy Classified co-panellist Ross Lyon chimed in, “you don’t even realise it’s happening when you’ve got two (premierships) in the back pocket”.
Even on the eve of last week’s preliminary finals, the AFL’s Damian Barrett trumpeted that the “Tigers will be eliminated ... the era’s finished”.
But Lynch said the COVID shutdown and subsequent evacuation from Victoria had rekindled the club’s acclaimed sense of “connection”.
“We know our strength as a group is how well we get on and how much we care for each other and the love for each other,” Lynch said.
“The hub has been great for us — to get away and spend so much time with each other again.
“Back in Melbourne, I wouldn’t say we were struggling, but we weren’t playing our best footy due to the fact that we weren’t sort of seeing each other.
“We were (training) in groups of eight, which every team was, but we probably just struggled with that and weren’t seeing each other as much as we would have liked.”
Lynch scoffs at claims his club lacked leadership.
“Definitely not. We have got amazing leadership. We are very blessed at the club to have such strong off-field leaders,” he said.
The blowtorch has since turned on to Lynch thanks to his series of inglorious on-field incidents.
Brisbane’s Mitch Robinson called him a “wanker”. Port Adelaide’s Hamish Hartlett declared that “plenty of people” wanted to see his season end, while a Power fan chucked a cup of bundy and coke at him in Adelaide.
“Nothing will surprise me anymore this year — it’s been a strange year for everyone,” Lynch said.
“I think Hamish Hartlett was probably taken out of context a bit, I didn’t read too much into that.
“I shook his hand and he wished me all the best for this week. Mitch likes to have his views and that’s fine. I’m not on Twitch or whatever it is he was talking about.”
Lynch and Jack Riewoldt have struck up a close friendship since the former Gold Coast Suns skipper joined the Tigers as a free agent at the end of 2018.
Riewoldt knows a thing or two about the sting of media scrutiny and has helped Lynch navigate the hate.
“From day one when I got to the footy club, Jack was the first bloke to come up to me and welcome me,” he said.
“I didn’t know him too much before I got to the club, but I’ve just learnt so much from him.
“He’s a great leader and a great person and so driven for the team to succeed and cares about his teammates.
“He’s been there and done it all before, so if I’m copping it a bit from the media he’ll just help me with a word of advice. He’s got great experience and is a great ear to speak to.
“We always talk through different things, how to play guys and tactics, but more off the field he has been an amazing support to me.”
Coach Damien Hardwick also had a quiet word.
“Dimma’ always says he likes my aggression — that’s when I’m playing my best footy — but he says, ‘Just be careful with it’,” Lynch said.
“Nothing of the incidents were that bad. Dougal Howard, probably no one will believe me, but I didn’t actually mean to do it.
“I can see how it looks bad, but I was just trying to get up.
“If you put them all together it looks bad, but if you put them in isolation it doesn’t look as bad.
“One of them was a fine for Jarrod Witts, who is a great mate of mine. I texted him after the game and said, ‘You owe me a few beers for that’.”
On the influence of Hardwick on the group, he said: “You know as a player that he is going to back you in. He just has that genuine care. He comes out and defends his players, which we love from our senior coach, because he really cares about us.”
Lynch, 27, has played alongside Gary Ablett Jr in his prime and a rampaging Dustin Martin — two key players in Saturday’s Grand Final.
Asked who he’d choose first at their peak, Lynch said: “Geez — that’s a tough question isn’t it? To be honest, I’m not sure. I’m very glad I’m running out beside ‘Dusty’ this weekend, but I’m sure the Geelong boys are glad they are running out with ‘Gaz’.
“I suppose it’s one thing I’ll look back on at the end of my career and say that I played with two of the modern-day greats.
“In my time on the Gold Coast, Gaz just played midfield and managed to hit the scoreboard and accumulated a lot of possessions, but Dusty can do as much damage with less possessions.
“There are differences with them — but they both do the basics so well. They are clean and hit the right targets at the right time.”
The Tigers accounted for Geelong by 26 points in Round 17, but a host of big-name stars from both teams missed the match.
“I’m not sure it is as drastic as they make out,” Lynch said of the two competing game styles.
“They make no secret that they like to control the footy and kick it around, and we play a bit more of that chaos game.”
Chris Scott’s repeated goading of Richmond in comparison to the great “dynasty” teams of the past provides another intriguing backdrop to the premiership decider.
“With the greatest of respect to them, they’re not Hawthorn in the multiple premiership years in a row,” Scott said in March.
“I don’t think they’re Geelong, St Kilda or Collingwood through that sort of 2009-10 period either.”
Lynch was diplomatic when asked about Scott’s assessments.
“He’s comparing us to Hawthorn and Geelong and they’ve obviously got the evidence — they’ve won three flags — so I don’t think you can say much, they were both amazing teams,” Lynch said.
But a win on Saturday might change the conversation.
Originally published as AFL Grand Final 2020: Tom Lynch says Richmond have done more than enough to silence the haters