Tom Hafey’s widow Maureen rimed to hand Tigers another cup
As Richmond prepares for a showdown against Greater Western Sydney in the AFL Grand Final on Saturday, Maureen Hafey, widow of Tigers legend Tom Hafey, is preparing to hand them the cup.
Richmond
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Tom Hafey delivered Richmond four premiership cups during its halcyon years and his widow Maureen hopes to hand over another on Saturday.
The Tigers on Tuesday announced Maureen — long considered Punt Rd’s matriarch — would present this year’s cup to coach Damien Hardwick and captain Trent Cotchin if they defeat Greater Western Sydney in the Grand Final.
It’s an emotional salute to the club’s most powerful era in which Hafey, who died in 2014 at age 82, coached the Tigers to flags in 1967, ’69, ’73 and ’74.
But it is also an acknowledgment of his wife’s considerable contribution to the yellow and black, as well as the impact of women on the club’s history.
Kevin Sheedy, the Giants’ inaugural coach and a Richmond great whose links to the Hafeys stretch back more than 50 years, will present the cup to Greater Western Sydney if the AFL’s newest team wins this weekend.
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale asked Maureen to present the cup almost three weeks ago, and she had little hesitation in accepting the invitation.
“I’m a bit overawed and feel very happy and humble at the same time,” Mrs Hafey said in the Tigers’ boardroom, which features a painting of her husband preaching to the Richmond Team of the Century.
“I feel very honoured to be a part of this great game.
“I am very lucky, I’ve had a lovely life.
“Football has been great to our family. Sure, you lose some games and it has been difficult, but mostly we’ve had a good life because we’ve won quite a few cups as well.”
She was photographed clasping the 1969 premiership cup, which the Tigers won 50 years ago. It was Hafey’s second flag as coach.
This Saturday’s game will take place 45 years to the day since Hafey won his last premiership as coach in 1974 — a game in which Sheedy was considered best afield.
Gale said: “Maureen is well known as the wife of Tom Hafey, our Richmond immortal and coach of our Team of the Century. But importantly she is here in her own right.”
When he asked Maureen to present the cup if the Tigers won, she told him: “I hope I do Tommy proud”.
Gale said: “She is an incredible servant of the Richmond Football Club and has been for many years.
“She was made a life member in 2015. She has been selfless in her service and she really coached the club in a partnership with Tommy in building connection with the players and their families.
“In that respect, she symbolises so many other servants and the great women involved in our football club who have worked tirelessly and selflessly over the years.”
She said Hafey learnt his coaching craft in Shepparton as a young man after playing 67 games for Richmond before putting it into practice at Punt Rd where he coached for 248 games from 1966 to 1976.
He later coached Collingwood, Geelong and Sydney Swans.
Hafey, who died three years before Richmond’s 2017 drought-breaking flag, would be delighted with the Tigers’ turnaround in fortunes, according to Maureen.
And she couldn’t be happier for Hardwick.
“Damien is a super person,” Maureen said. “He had to weather the storm before they went on and made their own history. It’s so great for him that he has done it.”
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She didn’t like to single out any current Tigers as her favourites, saying they all meant a lot to her, like “the boys” — many of whom are now grandfathers — who played under her husband.
“They are a lovely team to follow,” she said.
“Damien has them playing it hard to the end.
“It’s a different game to what it was when Tommy coached.
“It’s a pretty tough game and you have to be very fit, and he loved his fitness.”
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