Pete,s Report, Round 23 v D R Swans
Pete,s Report,
Round 23 2014 Mighty Richmond Tigers v D R Swans My take on the swans game.... For the whole week leading into the Sydney game I made a conscience decision that I was not going to be struck down with fear and paralysed with anxiety thinking about what might happen if we lose and miss the finals because we could not get over the swans who are chock full of billionaire players in their own pond. I had meticulously prepared all the answers for my non tiger mates….You know the ones….”Yeah but ninth is better than where we were after thirteen games and “Yeah but I’m proud of the boys because at least we won eight in a row and got back on track….” Etc…etc. You know the ones! More than that I wanted to rally as many other Tiger fans as I could so that we could bond and share our pain together and relaunch for next year. It’s why I started this Face book page only a month ago. I felt robbed this season, I felt cheated and I wasn’t ready for yet another disappointing season. I simply wasn’t ready for it to end and I needed to salvage something out of this season that had so earlier looked like a train wreck. Oh God…A Tiggy Train wreck!! After the ride of a lifetime last season? Please Tiger Gods, don’t do this to me…take pity….Have mercy on me…Why oh why is this happening?! But you think I should be used to it by now but hey…only you know what I’m talking about! During the first part of the season I went onto other so called Tiger sites to seek a way to ease my pain and quite frankly I was appalled to find the abuse, the bad language the aggression and the hopelessness of it all and quickly left them all. So I started this site for the serious tiger, the one that has endured heartache, the one that reveres names like Dyer, Hafey, Sheedy, Bartlett Hart, Richardson, Weightman, Rioli, Newman and Cotchin and a host of other too many to mention. I wanted to hang with the tiger that would never bag their team or players and the one that would never give up on their team….Ever! I also wanted to talk to serious tigers in a way that showed respect for one another and in a way that no other opposition supporter would understand. Then slowly I found so many like minded people who got what it is to be a serious tiger both young and old and the swapping of stories drove me to try and send the message as far as I could. I wanted to touch some of those people that were at the elimination final against the “dirty rotten blues” last year that when we were in front that made a noise so deafening, so moving and so inspiring that I thought the foundations of the ‘G would simply shatter! I felt a bond with Tigers so many of whom I hadn’t even met, yet I still called them family. The same ones who walked from the ground knowing and sharing the pain I was feeling after we lost. As the season rolled on and the wins increased and as the idiots out there that kept saying “Yeah but who have you beaten? And it’s all for naught because you are going to finish ninth” I comforted myself with the fact we had indeed turned it around and my smile and confidence returned. I am a tiger always and no matter what, just like family I will always love them. So the week drew closer to the last game of the season against the swans and the all too familiar knots in the stomach appeared and I could feel it through this page and the family I had started to know for just a few short weeks were feeling it too. I felt their pain and was consumed with happiness as I knew exactly what they were feeling. It made everything seem so much better knowing we were doing this together. Fairy tales? Could we write the ultimate fairytale, this from the club that wrote more horror stories than Edgar Alan Poe or Stephen King? Could this fairy tale come true even for our finals cursed Footy Club? Something told me deep down that it could. Okay so I decided to watch the game from home with my fiancée and as we settled in the news came through that Franklin was a late withdrawal. I felt cheated strangely because I wanted the footy world to see just how good Alex Rance had become and I knew he would keep him quite but then again no Buddy in the side was really a good thing for us I thought. Come on…Bounce the ball!!! Game time, umpire raises the ball and the siren sounds. I thought I would throw up right there and then! Reach for the scotch and take an almighty sip! God I am so sick!!!! I wondered what the players were thinking and if the Swans in doing exactly what they said they wouldn’t do by pulling out another of their stars in Buddy Franklin to rest him before the finals next week (who were already without Josh Kennedy, Ben McGlynn and ruckman Mike Pike) was giving them a sense of belief! I hoped it made the Swans seem considerably less scary and I hoped it put the scent of blood into the Tigers nostrils who would have sensed their opponent were much more worried about next week than the contest in front of them, and unbelievably that’s how it began. Just like we did against the Saints the previous week we dominated a lackluster Sydney early, kicking the first 5 goals of the game before the Swans had mustered up a yelp – Jack Reiwoldt kicking 3 of them.
Was this real? What was I witnessing? Another gulp of scotch…bugger the sips now! My heart is racing! I knew the Swans would not let this euphoric start continue. Perhaps wary that a big loss could cost them top spot the Swans eventually mentally engaged and started to get the game onto their terms, kicking the last 2 goals of the first quarter to reduce what had been a 33 point Richmond lead down to a more manageable 20 at the first change and 13 at the half. Crikey I saw this movie last week didn't I!! But the Swans are no Saints…They would keep coming, will we get run down….yet again?! More scotch…more knots in the stomach!!! Half time and lot’s of pacing, Deep breathing….very deep breathing, confidence still there but not as strong, nerves starting to kick in…lot’s of them, off to the toilet…Is that four or five times? Can’t remember…I pray to the Tiger Gods that we come out of the blocks at the start of the third. When Gary Rohan kicked the first of the third quarter just a minute in, it seemed that the inevitable might happen and the Swans would roll over the top of our Tiges to win going away as my heart began to sink. But then I thought, not this Richmond group, they’ve got heart and fight and they displayed plenty of both in a pulsating second half, remember the Adelaide game and for crying out loud we have won eight straight! Oh God Adelaide, what a heart attack that was!!!!. But the siren goes for three quarter time and it’s a 5 point lead! We are still there! Thank the Tiger Gods that Lids, Rance and Ivan are having blinders! Oh what would our season have looked like if they weren’t injured at the start of the season I thought?! It doesn’t matter! The siren is about to go to start the last quarter!!!! I look at the telly and look at my fiancée and I squeeze her hand and say ”we can do this!” She leans over and kisses me on the cheek and says “Of course we can Baby, You’ll see!”. It’s on and the last quarter starts! In the end it came down to a few key moments deep into the last quarter to decide the September fate of the yellow and black. First, with the Tigers clinging to a slender lead in the last 10 minutes of the game, the Swans spent several minutes dominating the ball in their own forward line, they had multiple shots on goal but wasted all of them, kicking 4 points in a row to bring the lead back to 2 points. Oh God I can’t take it!!! As so often happens the Swans would be punished for their wastefulness, the kick out from the 4th successive point falling fortuitously for Shane Edwards who banged it on his boot to a one on one contest between Dusty and Swan Ted Richards on half forward for the Tigers.
Richards committed the cardinal sin for a defender and went to ground, Dusty ran onto the loose ball and bounced his way inside 50 before steadying and burying the goal, and with it the Swans. I jumped off the couch and yelled ADELAIDE!! Dusty’s done an ADELAIDE!!!
I knew we were going to win it from there!! Shane Edwards I could kiss you!!! The Swans got one back a few minutes later through Sam Reid, but the Martin goal gave us the breathing room we needed and only enhanced his reputation as a great one on one player in the forward half. I fair dinkum thought I am going to wet myself!!! But there is time for the Swans…plenty of time. Hell why did Reid have to kick that goal!!! As the Swans advanced relentlessly in the last couple of minutes there were more Tiger heroes, Alex Rance (is a GOD) and Troy Chaplain (Legend) both taking key saving marks, Ben Griffiths (surely a permanent fixture in the side now) a huge pack mark on the wing
and Brandon Ellis (there is a Brownlow waiting for him in the not too distant future) running down Adam Goodes (I don’t like him…Can I say that?) as the former Swans skipper ignored a teammate to try to get a shot on goal himself (And they call KB hungry…Egotist!). Thank goodness it wasn’t a great last quarter for Goodes, aside from being caught by Ellis, he also dropped a couple of relatively simple marks in goal scoring positions that could have made the difference and I could not have been happier as I abused him from the comfort and safety of my couch!. He had another poor moment earlier in the game when he blatantly overacted for a high free kick. Goodes is a champion of the game, a legend of the Swans and by all accounts a champion bloke to boot, but he stages for free kicks far too often, and he needs to stop. It’s why he’s so often booed in case anyone wondered. The last few minutes feel like an eternity and my stress level is now through the roof! And as the ball falls into Jack Reiwoldt’s hands after another repelled Swans attack the siren blows, which unleashed a tidal wave of emotion from the Tigers and our travelling faithful who went crazy!!! There were many heroes in yellow and black, but perhaps none were better than ruckman Ivan Maric and veteran Brett Deledio. Both were inspirational with Deledio amassing 29 disposals and kicking 3 goals, while Maric had an incredible 45 hit outs in a dominant performance against a weakened Swans ruck division. Skipper Trent Cotchin was excellent as was Shane Edwards, while Alex Rance halted several Swans attacks. Much was made of the early season absence of Deliedio Rance and Maric and it’s easy to see why, they provide much of the soul of this Richmond team.
We now travel to the Adelaide Oval to take on Port Adelaide in week 1 of the finals, and it would be a brave tipster to tip against us making it 10 in a row. I am sure Troy Chaplain wants to tell Travis Boak just exactly how our season is going and Boak may rue those words he spoke earlier in the season. I sure hope so!! I Check the face book page after I hear the song…..It’s gone ballistic!! Time to start talking to the family, as the posts come in rapid fire timing!! So this week my Tiger family…Be a proud Tiger….Be a confident Tiger….Be a strong Tiger….and be a bold Tiger!!!! Port Adelaide awaits and another date with destiny!! Get on board the Tiggy Train!!! And it is wonderful to share this ride with you!! I would love to hear your thoughts how you felt during the game...Pete.. RTSSG Members you can comment here
