Above: There’s always next year … Tigers fan Kath Short watched her beloved Richmond lose and miss out on the AFL finals.When tickets to Sunday’s match between finals aspirants Richmond and Western Bulldogs became available, lifelong Tigers fan Kath Short snapped them up. Kath remembers going to the Punt Road Oval and watching legendary Tiger captain Jack Dyer lead the team with pride. She was hoping her successstarved side would take that spirit into Sunday’s match and play themselves into the September action.
WE drove down to Telstra Dome on a wild and windy Sunday. I was accompanied by my son Brendan and two grandchildren, Emma and Bryce.
We got there just in time to hear the most loved and best theme song in the league – ‘Oh we’re from Tigerland’ and we were amazed to see that they had left the roof open on such a windy and threatening day. The Bulldogs kicked the opening goal in the first minute, then big man Greg Stafford roved the pack, pushed aside several Bulldogs and snapped a beautiful leftfoot goal to put the Tigers on the board.
The Bulldogs’ foot passing was spoton and nearly every kick found a teammates’ chest. After an even tussle the mighty Tigers were one point up at quartertime. The second quarter was a hardfought battle with both teams running hard and putting on a terrific display. Richmond was up by 21 points at halftime.
Kane Johnson and Shane Tuck had a good first half and Matthew Richardson had his usual two or three opponents hanging all over him. This, however, didn’t stop him from kicking four firsthalf goals.
In the second half unfortunately Richmond didn’t show the same endeavour and tended to fade somewhat, as they have been doing in the latter half of this season.
Richmond wasn’t out of it altogether, but was starting to struggle and finished up losing by a mere two goals. Richardson kicked six goals in a great allround performance and battled hard like he always does, while Joel Bowden was resilient in defence and the consistent Mark Coughlan was impressive.
Wayne Campbell had announced his retirement earlier in the week and showed he’s still got it with a great performance.
Unfortunately Richmond has blown its chance to play in the finals, but one consolation is that we beat Collingwood this year.
