This was an emotional night. I’ve become a teacher since I last wrote for Tiger Tiger which means I’m stupidly busy and preoccupied. I’m part of a program that lets unqualified people loose into secondary schools. Over their first two years they do a Masters in their spare time. So, I’ve been like a lizard drinking and have had a good excuse to lose interest in the footy.
But it’s been a false economy. For one thing, footy is a social currency, and having something to chat to young people about, who might otherwise want to tell you to f______ off, is invaluable. Footy time is time well-spent. Then my daughter went overseas just before the season began and my main footy friend was gone. Then the Tigers have had a shocking two seasons, so another good reason not to bother. Then, two defeats in a row by 100 points or so – who can bear to look? But then, just days before she got back, my daughter messaged me: “Do want to come to the Dreamtime on Saturday? We’ve already got tickets.”
Embed from Getty ImagesShe got back on Friday night after three months away. On Saturday, my siblings and niblings gathered to celebrate my Mum’s birthday – she would have been 90 last Wednesday. It was a lovely event and Mum would have liked to have been there. It’s been a family ritual for three or four years now and I’m very attached to it. Not least because it was at this lunch in 2022 that one of my nieces asked me about my work and I listed 10 things I loved about it. And then, a week later, I thought, I can’t do this job anymore, it will kill me. So I looked for a new job and got into the Teach for Australia program and my life changed.
I digress, but please bear with me. Following the emotional lunch there was another emotional gathering at a Richmond hotel of a dozen or more readers and contributors and friends of Tiger Tiger Burning Bright and I got to meet these beautiful people in person. This was really gratifying – people were even kinder and wiser in the flesh than on-line. But there was pessimism about the night ahead. Without mentioning any names of the faint-hearted, Dugald Jellie was definitely not going. “I’ve just got a terrible feeling that we’ll get absolutely smashed.” He was not the only pessimist at the party.
I had already decided that, given the bloodbath of our last two games, our roll-call of injured and the absurd fact that the Bombers were second on the ladder (must have had a soft draw and good supplements) anything less than a 10-goal loss would be something to be happy about. But there’s always that tiny, tiny, fragment of hope – maybe it could be better than a moderate thrashing? We beat Sydney after all. And everyone seems to lift for the Dreamtime…
The game started and we were still in it after several minutes. Essendon completely failed to overwhelm us. Midway through the quarter we were still in it. At one point we got in front. And when the quarter time siren went the scores were level. I said, “It doesn’t get much closer than this.” My daughter’s boyfriend, who is a good feller, although he barracks for the Bombers, said “Yep, if they kick one more goal each it will be all tied up.”
Quarter time score: Richmond 3.3.21 to Essendon 3.3.21
There were signs in that first quarter that Richmond might struggle. I could count only seven or eight of our Premiership players on the park. On the train I had memorised all the players with 40-plus numbers and I had barely heard of any of them. Sonsie, Green, Campbell, Miller, and someone else [McAuliffe? – ed]. Our forward line looked makeshift and bags of goals looked unlikely. But there was great effort when it counted and enough skill to match the Bombers.
Embed from Getty ImagesAt half-time, when we were still in it, I tapped out a little report on my phone, for want of pen and paper:
Still in it at half-time. Essendon kicked four in a row and went three goals up with all the momentum of a good team playing a bad one. But two marks and goals to Lefau put the Tigers back in it. The second was from an exquisite Baker pass after he charged through the middle of the ground. Dusty has two goals, the first was like 2020, the best goal I’ve seen from him in four years. Shai and Mac are playing very well. Can we stay in it? Could we be in it at the last break?
Half-time score: Richmond 6.7.43 to Essendon 7.7.49
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty ImagesThe answer was, yes we could. Of our three goals in that quarter, the best came from a scorching run down the wing from Shai, followed by a kick deep into the 50 that Martin juggled enough to win the mark or the free, it didn’t matter. It made me think of Dusty’s run from a little deeper in the Qualifying Final of 2017…
The trouble with being still in it at the last break is that it makes you think, we could win this. We really could.
Three-quarter time score: Richmond 9.10.64 to Essendon 10.12.72
And we could have. The quarter seemed to begin with a long Richmond attack and many points. Cumberland was having a bit of a shocker, but if his snap had gone through instead of missing by a foot or less, all would have been forgiven. We were still in the fight, but with ground to make up, when Shai was concussed in a marking contest. In the caring way of the AFL, he was allowed to get to his feet and jog off the ground with the trainers around him. I’ve read once, in a peer-reviewed neurological journal, that going for a little run after you’ve been doubly concussed will aid your recovery and future cognitive function.*
* Actually I made that up. It’s not a good idea to go for a light run after a head-knock.
Embed from Getty ImagesEven with Shai on the ground, a win was going to be against the odds. Without him, and a goal or two behind, it was going to be really tough. But still the boys tried. Again and again they attacked, but the Bombers defence had improved and Lefau and the others struggled to get clear. Then the Bombers rebounded and goaled and goaled again and their stupid supporters cheered and cheered, like they hadn’t won a Grand Final for 24 years. But the Tigers got one back and it was only two goals and maybe they could get a draw? But time ebbed away… and the siren went and we were out of our misery.
Full-time score: Richmond 10.14.74 to Essendon 12.14.86
And the margin was right. Any less and we’d be full of “if onlys”.
Embed from Getty ImagesAnd I’d met up with the Tiger Tiger people in person which was as good as winning a final.
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