Richmond has gone from an AFL basket case to the biggest football club in Australia
In 2010 Richmond was anchored near the bottom of the ladder and Damien Hardwick was a struggling first-year coach. Fast forward nine years and these Tigers are a very different beast.
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Richmond began the decade as a football basket-case and the butt of countless jokes, but ends it with a remarkable two premierships from its past three seasons, making it the biggest club in the land.
In the process, the Tigers have quenched the thirst of their passionate fans who waited impatiently for 37 years for the 2017 flag — and only two for its 2019 companion.
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Yesterday’s 12th VFL-AFL yellow and black premiership came with an relentless 89-point victory over Greater Western Sydney that was every bit as ruthless as Tom Hafey’s teams of the late 1960s and ‘70s.
Fittingly, it was Hafey’s widow — Maureen — who presented the 2019 premiership cup to coach Damien Hardwick and captain Trent Cotchin.
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Back in 2010 the Tigers were anchored near the bottom of the ladder with only past glories to dwell on. Hardwick was a first-year coach who lost his first nine games and Cotchin was a talented young player in a team that could only win six games.
Hardwick is in rarefied air now as one of only three Richmond coaches to win multiple premierships. He sits alongside Dan Minogue (1920-21) with two, while he still might draw closer to Hafey’s four flags in the coming years.
The old Richmond might have sacked Hardwick after a disastrous 2016 season; the new Richmond stood by him and watched him grow as a coach.
Cotchin has now won as many flags as captain as any other Richmond player — joining Minogue (1920-21), Percy Bentley (1932 and ‘34) and Royce Hart (1973-74) with two.
The 2017 flag was a relief; but this 2019 flag might yet provide the script that could be turned into a movie or a Netflix special one day.
It’s got all the ingredients.
There’s the redemption story — and Marlion Pickett’s tale might be one of the greatest in the history of our game.
As a young man he went to jail for two-and-a-half years for offences including minor burglary charges. But he found solace and salvation in football, and yesterday did his family proud, including his four children, Marlion Jr (9), Latrelle (7), Shaniqua (4) and Levi (4).
As the first man to debut in a Grand Final in 67 years, Pickett has won two premiership medals (an AFL and a VFL) in the space of six days.
His blind turn in the second quarter brought the crowd to its feet. His goal in the third quarter brought every Richmond player on the field to him to celebrate.
Even the man who helped provide “the gift” of a slot on the Richmond playing list by retiring mid-season — Shaun Grigg — screamed his lungs out in the stands. In a nice touch, the pair embraced in the middle of the MCG after the game.
Cotchin said of Pickett: “Dimma said he (Pickett) was born for the big stage ... I can’t wait for more of his story to come out.”
There’s also the struggle theme.
Alex Rance was lost as far back as Round 1, Cotchin’s hamstring seemed as if he was hanging by a thread for much of the season, Jack Riewoldt had injury issues, Sydney Stack’s late season injury cost him a chance, Jack Higgins cheered on from the sidelines after brain surgery ended his season and Jack Graham’s shoulder injury came at the worst possible time.
In the process of that struggle, the Tigers found six new premierships players — Jayden Short (so stiff to miss in 2017), Tom Lynch (the boom recruit made for big MCG finals), Shai Bolton (wearing Kevin Bartlett’s old No.29), Ivan Soldo, Liam Baker and Pickett.
There’s the club’s matinee idol — Dustin Martin — who now needs to find space to include another premiership tattoo to his already covered body and space for a second Norm Smith in his already bulging trophy cabinet. He’s joined Gary Ayres, Andrew McLeod and Luke Hodge as the only multiple winners.
His $8 million seven-year-deal, signed before the 2017 premiership, looks like a bargain right now.
Martin said on Channel 7: “They laughed at the board 10 years ago when they said we were going to win a premiership and 75,000 members. Now we’ve got 100,000 and we’ve got two (flags).”
Part of the club connection of what Cotchin terms “blood brothers” showed when the club’s VFL victorious side ran out onto the ground at the final siren with their jumpers on.
Fittingly, there’s also the ever-growing Tigers army who roared yesterday as loud as they have since the 2017 Grand Final — and did so long into the night in Swan Street and elsewhere.
There’s also CEO Brendon Gale — who embraced president Peggy O’Neal in the stands — who boldly launched a five-year plan at the start of the decade that provided some laughs for the rest of the competition.
It contained four pillars: a debt-free club, three finals appearances and a top-four finish by 2014, a target of 75,000 members and — wait for it — three flags by 2020.
A decade on, most of the targets have been ticked off, including more than 100,000 members — and growing.
Back then, that last pillar looked about as likely as man landing on Mars in that same time frame.
Not anymore.
With a fully-fit Rance to return next year, with Pickett to have a full pre-season under his belt, with some of the club’s most experienced players still at their peak, the Tigers might yet tick off get to tick off that third flag by the end of 2020 — and that’s no joke.
Originally published as Richmond has gone from an AFL basket case to the biggest football club in Australia