Former Richmond superstar Nathan Brown explains why he celebrated a draw against Western Bulldogs
Nathan Brown raised both arms in celebration and took four steps accelerating towards his teammates. At the same time Western Bulldog Bob Murphy charged towards Brown to unleash a mighty spray. Relive the hilarious moment.
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Richmond star Nathan Brown raised both arms in celebration and took four steps accelerating towards his teammates.
The final siren sounded at Marvel Stadium and the Tigers had led Brown’s old Western Bulldogs by 19 points in red time. There was only one problem.
The Dogs booted 3.1 in the dying minutes of the 2008 thriller, and Brown had rejoiced at a draw.
“For some reason I thought, obviously, that we’d won, and being an ex-Doggies player it means a bit more to win those games, particularly when they’re close,” Brown said.
“I got it wrong. The ball came out of the middle, it got kicked to me, went over my head a little bit and the siren sounded and I thought we were in front.
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“I turned around and (Bulldog) Ryan Hargrave looked at me and goes, ‘What are you doing?!’
“I realised it was a draw, put my arms down and then I see Robert Murphy, who was a centre half-forward at that stage, charging 100m down the ground to give me an absolute earful, as most Doggies players do.
“I can remember clearly what he said to me. He ran down and with a cheeky grin and said, ‘Ah, you just made a d***head of yourself.
“And I said, ‘Yep, I did’. He took the most joy out of it.”
Channel 7 panned from Hargrave and Brown, as Murphy was starting his ridiculing run, to Cameron Wight consoling Matthew Richardson.
“Now that’s interesting. I think (Brown) thought he was going to get the free kick,” commentator Denis Commeti said.
“Nathan Brown was celebrating, but it’s a draw. How did that slip away from the Tigers?”
Commeti was being kind. Tiger Jay Schulz’s kick just cleared Brown at half-forward, and Brown knew opponent Dale Morris hadn’t infringed.
“Nah, nah, nah. I didn’t think I got the free kick,” he said.
“We were probably going that bad at the Tigers that a draw was worth celebrating.”
Seconds earlier and full-back Brian Lake – who was known as Brian Harris just months earlier – clunked a contested mark in the forward line.
Lake got up clutching his hamstring and refused to take the kick, with the umpire giving Will Minson the set-shot instead.
“(Lake) faked the injury. Clearly, he was not injured,” Brown said.
“Big Wilbur came in and did the job. I knew that Will was a very good set-shot, having played with him.
“Obviously he didn’t do a lot of field kicking, but when it came to the set-shot business he was very methodical. Much like Mason Cox – kept them low and kept them good.”
Minson levelled the scores – Richmond 20.10 (130) to the Dogs 19.16 (130) – to keep the Dogs undefeated after Round 5, and Lake’s scan came back clear.
He played six days later, much to the Tigers’ frustration, and the Dogs haven’t played in a draw in their 275 games since.
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