Daniel Rioli can’t wait for Grand Final to start already as Richmond greats soak up atmosphere
HE STARRED for the Tigers in the preliminary final and young gun Daniel Rioli can’t wait for the Grand Final to start already as Richmond greats including Matthew Richardson soak up the moment.
Richmond
Don't miss out on the headlines from Richmond. Followed categories will be added to My News.
DANIEL Rioli, the kid with the famous surname and the cool temperament to perform on a big stage, remembers the days when he used to play in front of 50 people on the Tiwi Islands.
On Saturday night, as he fought his way through the crowded Richmond dressing rooms, underneath the MCG stands, the 20-year-old admitted he was still coming to terms with what had just unfolded in the previous two-and-a-bit hours.
He wasn’t talking about his own performance — which was worthy of the Rioli name with four match-defining goals — but about the ear-splitting roar from more than 94,000 fans that packed the MCG, as Richmond advanced to its first Grand Final in 35 years, and will now be chasing its first flag since 1980.
“I have never played in that (sort) of atmosphere before,” Rioli said. “I come from the Tiwi Islands, and probably played in front of 50 people up there.”
“To play here at the MCG, in a final, in front of that sort of crowd, is unbelievable. I had goosebumps. I am almost speechless, I can’t wait to get started in the Grand Final.”
The Tigers will take on the Crows — their first trip to the “Big Dance” since Rioli’s great-uncle Maurice (he called him his ‘grandfather’) won the 1982 Norm Smith Medal in a losing team.
In footy terms, that’s an eternity, as evidenced by the raucous roar of the faithful all afternoon on Saturday, with Trent Cotchin saying the “yellow and black” emphasis in the theme song was just as emphatic when the team ran out as after the final siren.
Think for a minute about what the world was like in 1982, when the Tigers last experienced Grand Final week.
DANIEL RIOLI: TIGER DESTINED FOR THE GRAND STAGE
MRP: IS THIS THE VISION THAT SAVES COTCHIN FROM GRAND FINAL BAN?
MARK ROBINSON: COTCHIN LOOMS AS HEARTBREAK STORY OF 2017 GRAND FINAL
LEIGH MATTHEWS: IS SLOANE IN MORE TROUBLE THAN COTCHIN?
JUMPERS: TIGERS TO WEAR CLASH STRIP IN DECIDER
PLAYER RATINGS: EVERY TIGER, GIANT ASSESSED
REPORT: TIGERS RIDE YELLOW AND BLACK WAVE TO GRAND FINAL
We had the VFL, not the AFL. The Swans had only just moved to Sydney, but most of the players still lived in Melbourne.
Lindy Chamberlain was about to be wrongly convicted of the murder of her daughter, Azaria. In the United States, Donald Trump was building Trump Towers, not a wall with Mexico, and, if you believe the North Korean propaganda, Kim Jong-un was about to come into the world.
Oh, and a bloke named Damien Hardwick was a 10-year-old with big dreams.
In the victorious rooms on Saturday night, a host of family members and friends, and some former Tiger greats rejoiced about the club’s resurgence back to the big time.
Dual Tiger premiership player Rex Hunt almost gang-tackled players with the same purpose and force that the Richmond players on Saturday did to their GWS counterparts.
“I’m in footy heaven,” Hunt said with his arms around Shaun Grigg, who can’t wait to take his son, Sonny, to Friday’s Grand Final parade.
That thought hadn’t even entered Cotchin’s head until he was asked about taking his young daughters to the occasion.
“They might be too scared,” he said. “One of them won’t sit for too long, so maybe I can sit next to big Dusty (Martin) and he can hold onto them.”
It was all about family in the rooms, with Jack Riewoldt saying the connection between this 2017 group and their families made this trip to the last Saturday in September all the more special.
Matthew Richardson, who toiled for years without success as a champion Tiger, and whose own late father ‘Bull’, was a premiership player in 1967, said the feeling was euphoric.
“It is hard to believe this is happening, but this group deserves it,” he said. “They have been incredible this year, but there is still another game to go.”
Richmond president Peggy O’Neal shared the moment with the players, their families and the wellwishers who squeezed into the packed rooms.
“The club exists because the supporters are there and without them there would be no reason to play football,” she said.
The players dispersed for a quick meeting, and when they re-emerged, the focus was already on next week.
Cotchin summed it up best when he said: “I’ve only been to a few Grand Finals before, but I’m looking forward to this one.”
So too, it seems, is half of Melbourne, and those around Australia, including most of the 2500-strong residents of the Tiwi Islands.
Rioli at centre of historic Tigers draft haul as rivals plot future raid
Rivals are planning to test the resolve of more Richmond stars in trade talks after this year’s Punt Road exodus. Plus, how many draft picks will the Tigers end up with?
Trading places? How the biggest AFL deals will get done
Almost every AFL club is poised to get busy this trade period. See who your club is looking at, who they should be chasing and how they will get their deals done in our ultimate guide.