Matthew Richardson, by the numbers

This story is lifted from the AFL web site thanks to Luke Holmesby for the inforamtion on the Tigers champion Matthew Richardson.

800
Career goals kicked

551
Behinds kicked

282
Games played

12
The number worn in every one of those games

140
Career Brownlow votes, the most by any Tasmanian-born player

464
Goals kicked at the MCG, the most of any player

8
Marks averaged per game

3
All-Australian selections (1996, 1999, 2008)

13
Seasons he was Richmond’s highest goalkicker

1
Club best and fairest in 2007

3
Career finals

20
Disposals in his first AFL game against St Kilda in 1993

6
Goals kicked in his fourth AFL game against the Sydney Swans, earning him an AFL Rising Star nomination

0
Number of games missed through suspension

96
Number of games missed through injury or being omitted

11
Number of games Richardson played in the reserves; 10 for Richmond in 1993-4 and one for Coburg in 2009

22
Games played against Geelong, the most of any team he played against

6
Number of coaches Richardson played under at Richmond: John Northey, Robert Walls, Jeff Gieschen, Danny Frawley, Terry Wallace and Jade Rawlings. He also played under six captains: Jeff Hogg, Tony Free, Matthew Knights, Wayne Campbell, Kane Johnson and Chris Newman

116
Richmond wins he played in

Say it ain't so Richo!

In some very sad news for all Richmond supporters Matthew Richardson has called it quits.

He has been forced into retirement after recent scans showed he required more surgery on his injured hamstring.

There will be more news at 10:30am tomorrow morning when Richo will hold a press conference down at Tigerland.

Richardson had said he would begin the pre-season and see how the hamstring would go, I guess it is pretty clear it was no good, and at 34 his body was not getting better quick enough.

This news now really does bring an end to the last era at Punt Road, come 2010 this is now Damien Hardwick's team.

The last of the cuts are in for the Richmond Tigers

Today the Tigers made their final or delistings cuts before the 2009 draft.

No Surprises here:
Graham Polak
Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls
Cleve Hughes
Nathan Brown
Mark Coughlan
Kayne Pettifer
Adam Pattison
Dean Putt
Jarrod Silvester

Also Gone:
Joel Bowden (retired)
Kane Johnson (retired)
Andrew Raines (traded)
Jay Schulz (traded)

Richmond general manager of football Craig Cameron said the club would attempt to take advantage of the AFL's new rules which would allow Polak to be added to the rookie list as a mature-age player.

Robin Nahas and Andrew Browne have been elevated to the senior list and Mitchell Farmer joined the Tigers via a trade with Port Adelaide.

In the 2009 NAB national draft Richmond will select at 3, 19, 35, 44, 51, 67, 72 and 83. The Draft will be held on Thursday the 26th of November.

Wash up of Richmond's 2010 fixture.

Well, the Tigers have been punished by the AFL for stinking up its competition last season.

The AFL sticking true to form has banished the Tigers to Sunday... where all bad teams are sent to like a naughty child to the corner.

Richmond will play 12 games on Sunday and 8 games on Saturday, the final two games are a Friday night game where Richmond will host St Kilda in round 11 at Etihad Stadium (just penciling in the loss now) and just like last year Calton will try to destoy all the hopes and dreams of Richmond supporters everywhere on Thursday night to open the AFL season.

BUT there are some positives:

12 Games at the MCG (Up from 11 in 09)
Only 4 games a Etihad (Down from 5 in 09)
Only one trip to Perth
Only play three top 8 teams twice (St Kilda, Adelaide and Carlton)
Five MCG games in-a-row (Round 16-20)
Most Road trips in First half of the season.

I am not sure if the past point is a positive or negative.... It could be all over by half way which means the softer finish to the year wont matter.

Either way Tiger fans get your Fox Sports subscriptions if you want to see the Tigers this season.

Richmond's NAB cub fixture.

Richmond will open the 2010 campaign against Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium on Saturday the 13th of February at 7:30pm. The game will be shown on 10 or One.

If Richmond get pas the Hawks they will take on the winner of the Western Bulldogs vs Brisbane Lions match.

Tigers want Ball and will Richo be back after all?

News out of Tigerland and new CEO Brendon Gale on SEN 1116 this morning is that Richmond would be interested in bringing Luke Ball to Punt Road.

BUT

Will not use draft picks to secure the services of Ball, the 25 year old will have to make it through to the pre-season draft for Richmond to have any shot at him.

In the same interview Gale said “As far as I know Matt’s yet to confirm whether he’s going to play on,

“I think there’s a role for him in the coach’s plans but really the decision is Matthew’s to go away and decide whether he has the capacity from a physical point of view and the conviction to go around another year.

“At this stage we’re confident he will, but we’re just awaiting final confirmation from Matt … my understanding is that he’s just reserving his judgement for a little bit longer.”

Hey Richo, Please get on the phone to Damien and give him the big thumbs up!

Deal done Richmond swaps Schulz for Farmer to Port Adelaide

Richmond and Port Adelaide have completed the deal to trade Jay Schulz from Richmond and Mitch Farmer of Port Adelaide.

This deal was expected to go through after it was rumored earlier in the week that this deal might happen.

Still no news on Shane Tuck

No new trade news on Tuck or Schulz

It has been quite since we first heard about Jay Schulz being moved to Port Adelaide.

I think this deal will probably get done but Port need to sort out the star midfielder Shaun Burgoyne's trade first.

There has been no news what so ever on Shane Tuck, I have not heard his name mentioned so we might be seeing Tuck back in the yellow and black this season.

Richmond to trade Jay Schulz to Port Adelaide

There are reports that Richmond is set to trade forward Jay Schulz to the Port Adelaide Power.

The trade will be a direct swap for young Port Adelaide defender Mitch Farmer, who did not play a game in the 2009 season after making a solid debut in 2008.

I am guessing that Damien Hardwick has some inside knowledge about Farmer from his Port Adelaide days, stay tuned to see if this deal goes through.

Richmond's Andrew Raines traded to Brisbane Lions

On the first day of trade week, Richmond and Brisbane have come to terms to trade Andrew Raines from the Tigers to the Lions for their third round pick which is 44 overall.

23 year old Andrew Raines; who has played 56 games since his 2004 debut, was limited to just three games in 2009 by knee injuries. He failed to break back into the Tigers ' senior side after round nine.

Mike Sheahan end of season Top 50.

Mike Sheahan has released his end of season Top 50.

1 - G. Ablett
2 - N. Riewoldt
3 - M. Scarlett
4 - L. Hayes
5 - C. Judd
6 - J. Selwood
7 - J. Brown
8 - C. Enright
9 - N. Dal Santo
10 - B. Fevola

In the top 10 we get seven players from the two grand final teams no suprises there. Six players survived from his top 50 from the start of the year including number one Gary Ablett Jr.

The two Richmond players from the start of the year list number 15 Matthew Richardson and number 41 Brett Deledio are both out and have been replaced by no one from the Tigers. But on a par with Richmond was Melbourne, North Melbourne and Port Adelaide who also had not one player listed.

Good thing this list means nothing except for the people at 1116 SEN who can now take talk back all weekend from Collingwood supports who think there players snubbed, thanks Mike see you next year.

2009 AFL Trade Week

Next week will be the start of the 2009 AFL Trade Week.

Things we already know, Joel Bowden and Kane Johnson have retired and Nathan Brown, Kayne Pettifer, Mark Coughlan, Cleve Hughes and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls have all been delisted.

Also Shane Tuck and Andrew Raines are both been informed they will be traded, Raines is set to be traded to Brisbane for a third round pick, at this stage Richmond still need to find a partner to trade Tuck.

On a coaching front new head coach Damien Hardwick has given the marching orders to Jade Rawlings, Craig McRae, David King, and Brian Royal. The only coach that Hardwick has kept around is Wayne Campbell who has two years remaining on his current contract.

Both Ben Cousins and Matthew Richardson will be back next week season, Richmond also has extended the contract of vice-captain Nathan Foley and re-signed Will Thursfield and Andrew Collins.

The unavailability of 17-year-olds with the Gold Coast having access to the best 12 in the country, has AFL teams recruiters declaring the 2009 national draft to be somewhat thin after the first fifteen odd picks.

Because of this it is going to be one of the busiest trade week in history with many well known players around the league being thrown around as trade bait as all teams try to improve their list, players like Luke Ball, Leon Davis, Shaun Burgoyne and Chris Tarrant.

Then there is players like Bulldog Brian Lake who might go into the draft of a new contract can’t be worked out and of course the Blue’s Brendan Fevola who now looks like he may be on the way out, with his monster contract number there is only one or two clubs who could potentially trade for him. Don’t be surprised if he returns to Carlton.

Next week should be fun to watch.

Lauren Poulter from the 2009 Brownlow and 2009 All Australian Team.

As is the normal the 2009 Brownlow telecast was as boring as bat s#%t.

But it has given me an excuse to add more pictures of The Mighty Tigers blog’s favourite WAG Lauren Poulter, girlfriend of Richmond captain Chris Newman.

Here she is from the Brownlow looking sharp as always. Lauren also placed 5th in Triple M's 10 hottest Brownlow WAG's list, we think that is a bit low.


And here she is from the 2009 All Australian Team night, looking fantastic. One thing for Chris, mate you need to get that stupid grin off your face.


Oh and some guy from Geelong Garry Ablett JR won the thing.

Brown, Coughlan shown the door

Damien Hardwick has not wasted any time started the clean out.

Injury single handedly took care of Nathan Brown and Mark Coughlan and a clean set of emotions and loyalties in Hardwick finally said enough was enough, we can't carry these two players any longer.

I could spit all the information about how these two players were some of Richmonds best when they went down but you all know the story, as much as I dont want to see Brown and Coughlan go I can't see them being the difference as Richmond move forward.

This now falls to young players at Tigers land, I can only see Richardson and Cousins making it to next year from the older crowd.

It has been a pretty tumultuous year at Richmond one I am sure we would all rather put behind us.

Damien Hardwick has his work cut out as the new Tigers coach.

Damien Hardwick says he won't shy away from making the hard decisions when it comes to the Tigers' list....

We will see, the big problem Richmond has as I see it is we can only turn over so many players per year.

The over 30's will have to be the first looked at with under performing players next.

Hardwick has left Hawthorn where he was an assistant coach, but Jade Rawlings will continue as Richmond's caretaker coach for this week's game against West Coast in Subiaco.

From Monday it is Hardwick's job, I hope he knows what he is in for.

Graham Polak is back with Adam Thomson on Tigers debut and Rawlings wont be coach in 2010

Graham Polak is back for his first senior game since his dust up with a Melbourne tram and Adam Thomson is in for his first game for the Richmond football club.

A bunch of changes were made this week but most were forced rather than being dropped after the shocking effort last weekend against the filth.

The outs: Jake King (suspended), Tom Hislop (suspended), Joel Bowden (retired), Ty Vickery, Mark Coughlan

and

The ins: Thomson, Simmonds, Moore, White, Polak

The club said goodbye last week to one of the Tigers best servants in Joel Bowden, with a very lack lusted effort which looked like a club who no longer cares about the 2009. But who am I to blame them, I lost interest a long time ago.

The only thing worth talking about with the Tigers right now is the coach position. As every game clicks by I am more and more convinced that Jade Rawlings will not be the coach in 2010, with North Melbourne finding their new coach the Tigers are under pressure to make a decision and from the look of it they will not be rushed.

Whoever is appointed will have a big job ahead of them.

New CEO Brendon Gale returns to Tiger Land

AFL Players Association chief executive Brendon Gale is the new CEO of the Richmond football club replacing the outgoing Steven Wright who has health issues.

This has to be the best personnel move the Tigers have made in years, Gale is the kind of guy who would have been looked at for any senior role at the AFL.

One of the things I really enjoyed Gale saying was that "I think it's fair to say it (Richmond) is not a big four club at the moment." SO TRUE

Any Richmond fan who thinks we belong in the company of Collingwood, Essendon and Carlton are kidding themselves, Richmond has been a dumpster fire for well over 20 years.

I hope a new CEO a new Coach and a clean out of the old and non performing players will get the club going in the right direction.

Vickery to make his debut as Rawlings takes over.

The Tigers first-round pick Tyrone Vickery will make his debut for Richmond against West Coast on Saturday night.

This is clearly a sign of the new direction of seeing which players we should be keeping at the end of the year rather than trying to win football games, if the Tigers happen to win games on the way that will be all well and good.

According to richmondfc.com.au “At 200cm and 89kg, Vickery is expected to be used more as a forward rather than in the ruck – the position he will develop into over the coming years.”

On another note, Matthew Richardson says he's looking forward to having his brother-in-law as coach. No surprise here even if Richardson hated Jade’s guts he loves the Tigers far too much to say a bad word about the club.

So with the youth policy clearly installed down at Tiger land we will see what the rest of the season has in store of us.

Number one victim of the youth policy has been former captain Kane Johnson who has announced his retirement this week. He has been given a job as a development coach with the club.

Tonight a chapters ends

Tonight at the Docklands the Terry Wallace era at Punt Road will come to a sad end.

When Terry Wallace arrived at Tigerland most of us believed that he could take the Tigers in a new direction and would bring finals success to the many members who have been staved over the last few decades.

This of course was never to eventuate. Terry Wallace’s results were as bad as his predecessor Danny Frawley who also could not bring sustained success to the Tiger Army.

So where too from here we all ask.

The new Richmond coach will have to love a challenge because his work will be cut out for him; he will have to work with an ageing list and compromised AFL drafts over the next few years due to the introduction of the Gold Coast and West Sydney.

He will need to change the losing culture of the modern Richmond Football Club, just like winning teams can get used to losing and forget how to win, I fear this may have happened to many on the Tigers line up.

I have no real suggestions on who should take over as Richmond coach, in the short term or the long term. From where I am sitting it is almost impossible to see how good or bad any of the current coaches are.

All I want to see is the current list work their tails off for the departing Wallace as Saturday will be a new dawn for the Tigers.

Wallace reported fired… then not?

Early Tuesday morning the media reported that Richmond coach Terry Wallace would be fired that day. The Herald Sun were the first to report that sources close to Wallace had said he had been fired, then Craig Hutchinson went on SEN also claiming that he too expected Wallace to be fired later in the day.

As we now know this is not the case, Richmond held a press conference this afternoon where Tigers skipper Chris Newman and football manager Craig Cameron said Wallace would definitely coach the side against Essendon on Saturday night.

The Tigers claim there was no point where Wallace was not the coach of the Richmond football club, do I buy that not totally but I also don’t by the Herald Sun’s claims either.

All I know is this whole fiasco just keeps Richmond in the papers for all the wrong reasons as what seems to be the norm since around 1985.

Terry Wallace plans to see out Richmond contract.

Terry Wallace's coaching contract ends at the conclusion of the Richmond season this year. What everyone has been wondering is "Terry Wallace dead man walking?"

You would almost have to think so, Everyone at the Richmond Football Club were talking finals at the start of the season from president Gary March to Kevin Sheedy not to mention the finals starved members.

The chance of the Tigers now making the finals is almost zero but Terry Wallace while speaking with Herald Sun chief football writer Mike Sheahan said he expects to be coaching the Tigers in round 22.

Wallace will be going in to see the Richmond board I am guessing to plead his case on Tuesday night to let him finish off what he started 5 years ago, by seeing out the season.

I really have no problem with Terry finishing out the season I think he is a solid coach but could not get the best out of the group he has but at the same time he has suffered with injuries to some key players this season and the Tigers do not have the depth to cover for any loss to the best 22.

I guess we will see how Terry goes with the board on Tuesday night, I would not expect anything much to change.

Alex Rance will be out for 3 to 4 weeks

Alex Rance's sickening collision with Troy Sellwood will result in the youngster missing 3 to 4 weeks after having some plates inserted into fractured jaw at the Epworth Hospital on Sunday.

Alex's father Murry Rance confirmed the surgery on SEN on Sunday afternoon and also said Alex would be released from the Epworth on Monday.

Murry mentioned that Alex had no recollection of the collision with Sellwood a clear symptom of the concussion he received in the incident.

We all wish a speedy recovery for Alex.

Richardson will not retirement.

Direct from the Tigers mouth,

"YOU CAN forget about retirement."

This is from an artical written by the man himself Matthew Richardson on www.afl.com.au

"Yes, I'm 34 years old. Yes, I've got an injury that's going to keep me off the park for most of this season. But I'm not even thinking about not playing football. "

Great news for Tiger fans everywhere.

Matthew Richardson out for at least 10 weeks maybe the season.

**** BREAKING NEWS ****

Tiger champion Matthew Richardson has had surgery this afternoon (5th of May 09) to repair his injured right hamstring.

The best case scenario would see Richardson back for Round 17 but worse case he could be out for the remainder of the season.

If this is the case, Sunday afternoon may have been the last time we ever see Richo in the Black and Yellow.

I very much hope this is not the case.

From Hero to Villain in 7 days flat

Poor old Jack Riewolt the hero of Richmond’s win over North Melbourne one week ago became the villain in the Tigers loss to the Swans in Sydney on Sunday.

The Tiger Train was tearing towards a win when Jack Riewolt had an open shot at goal to tie up the game and took a little to long to get his kick away and was mowed down by Marty Mattner.

I think the worst part about Riewolt getting tackled before he kicked was that he could have handballed inboard to a wide open Richardson who could have goaled. I hate to say it but I think Richmond would have run all over the Swans to a win if that kick had been a goal, the Tigers were all over the Swans like a cheap suit.

Speaking of Matthew Richardson he should not have played, he look hurt from the opening bounce. The one good thing about Richardson not playing this week is that fact we need Jack Reiwolt to put it all behind him and step up this week and take Richo’s place up forward.

Coburg has a bye this weekend so I would expect the Tigers will name Cousins, Cotchin and Raines you will probably see Simmons named up forward to replace Richo in the side.

Ben Cousins's return via Coburg

There was more media at Coburg's game yesterday than out the front of Britney Spears's place, all to see the second return of Ben Cousins to football.

The biggest news to come out of the whole game seemed to be the on field melee between the Coburg Tigers and the Casey Scorpions which Cousins kept to the edges of.

Coburg went down to the Scorpions but really who cares all that matters is that, Cousins, Cotchin and Raines all got through the game and should be pushing for selection next weekend.

The Tigers play Sydney this afternoon, this is a game that the Tigers really have a good shot to win. The Swans will be wanting a win after that Freo did to them last week so it will be by no means a walkover.

Kevin Sheedy on Footy Classified

How good is Kevin Sheedy? Last night he was on Footy Classified with Garry Lyon, Craig Hutchison, Caroline Wilson and Grant Thomas in the “Footy Classified Hot Seat”.

This seat is mean to be the symbolic hot seat where the four hosts grill the person sitting in the chair, Kevin Sheedy looked so comfortable he could have been on is couch at home being interviewed by a fifth grader.

The interview covered a number of issues like the bounce of the ball and the Collingwood vs Essendon ANZAC day clash but the key part of the interview was about weather Kevin Sheedy would coach again.

Craig Hutchison the proclaimed best footy news breaker in the business was trying in vain to get Kevin to say something he could later use but the wiser Sheedy was far to calm and collected to bite into anything Hutchison dangled in front of him.

Kevin Sheedy by the end of the interview showed why he is regarded as one of the best in the industry and will probably go back into coaching “if the situation is right” as he said last night.

I guess the real question is “Is the Richmond job the right situation”. Of course Kevin is too smart to throw Terry under the bus after 5 games.

Mark Coughlans back so it the Yellow and Black!

The Tigers get their first win of the season over North Melbourne.

Richmond was lead to victory by young Jack Riewolt with three goals and providing a target up forward. Coughlan got through the game with no problems and finished with 16 touches and 5 marks but put on great pressure with 5 tackles which was the second only behind White who had 6.

Mark Coughlan is back, not so for Cotchin, Cousins & Raines

Richmond has confirmed Mark Coughlan will play his first game for the cub since 2006. This is great news for a guy who was Richmond's best player when he went down and has suffered set back after setback.

The Tigers have also said that Cotchin and Raines will play in the VFL for Coburg on Saturday as a part of their return to AFL football. Richmond are taking the safe path with Cousins giving him another week of rest before he has a hit out with Coburg.

The axe has thrown down at Hislop, Simmonds and Connors, Brown was also left out due to a groin problem but some people are claiming he was dropped.

Added for the weekend are Pattison, Tambling, Oakley-Nicholls and we already know about Coughlan. If you read my blog you know I am no fan of Tambling or Oakley-Nicholls but I guess we have to give them a run to justify dumping them at the end of the year.

The thing to watch this weekend will be to see if Pattison can give the Tigers mid-field first use of the ball.

Terry given until mid season…

The Richmond board looks like it will not bend to outside pressure and give Terry the opportunity to turn the Tigers season around.

What I don’t like is that they have given him until round 12 to do it. I see no point in giving Terry Wallace the boot mid-season, Richmond is famous for firing coaches during the season.

I really don’t like the message it send to the future coaches of the Richmond Football Club, why would the best coaches ever come to Richmond? There is going to be a coaching merry-go-round at the end of the 2009 season due to the fact of so many coaches coming to the end of their contracts.

We have to make the Richmond head coach roll look like the best job available in the AFL, because right now it looks like the worst. The best coach will take the best job which right now as much as I hate to say it looks like the Collingwood job if Mick is not back next season.

Richmond don’t fire Terry mid season give him a chance to coach! If he does not improve don’t give him a new contract at the end of the year, show him the same loyalty he has shown you over the past 4 years.

Please vote in my worst song in the AFL poll.

Push The Button!

Week 3 in Review

Here is my take on the weeks headlines

1. Richmond Tigers board challenge

RICHMOND faces a board battle this year on top of its on-field and coaching woes.

My Take : Wow there has never a board problem at Richmond before ;-)

2. Tigers stand behind coach Terry Wallace before D-Day game

AT FIRST, Richmond captain Chris Newman appeared to be in denial about the predicament of his footy club and coach. "We're three rounds in. I don't want to get carried away. I think everyone should just take a deep breath and just relax a little bit," Newman said.

My Take : I agree there is no need to lose our heads…. Unless we lose to Melbourne then you will see a stampede at punt road like a boxing day sale at MYER.

3. We're all to blame - Nathan Brown

RICHMOND star Nathan Brown said the Tiger players were behind embattled coach Terry Wallace and equally responsible for the side's poor start to the season. Brown also revealed he feared he would not play again after breaking his leg in 2005.

My Take : I agree again, you are all to blame but let’s not forget the scouting and recruitment departments they are to blame as well.

4. Tiger trio offers a spark of hope

Cousins, Cotchin, and defender Andrew Raines are all likely to play for Coburg in the VFL against Box Hill next week.

My Take : We really need these three back, they are all in the best 22.

5. Richmond v Melbourne

In: Collins, Connors, McMahon, Nahas, Oakley-Nicholls
Out: Jay Schulz, Richard Tambling

My Take : Look we drop one bust (Tambling) for another (Oakley-Nicholls). If Tambling did not play well last week because his mind was on other things (having a baby and lack of sleep) what is his problem this week? I am sure he got some sleep during the week.

6. Nathan Brown turns his hand to fashion

MOVE over Karl Lagerfeld. Fashion-designing footy player Nathan Brown has turned his attention to the girls.

My Take : I get to put a photo of cute girls on my blog and claim it is Richmond related, nice work Brownie.

Lindsay Lohan eHarmony spoof ad

At least Lindsay Lohan can still take the piss out of herself, this is really funny and if you are looking for love be sure to give Lindsay a call. :-) Lindsay is kinda like Richmond, her life is a train wreck as is the 2009 Tigers season.

If only we could look away.

So much for all out attack….

The Tigers are a mess, no identity no intensity.

Terry Wallace must be wondering if his players like him or not due to the effort his players are putting in each week. Yesterday’s loss was due to shocking decisions and disgraceful hand and foot skills, I lost count how many goals were conceded to poor disposals across the face of goal.

Players who now must be on notice:

Richard Tambling did nothing but jog backward and forward between the 50s and got the Bronx cheer when he finally got a kick, the hardest he ran all day was to the bench during the third quarter.

Brett Deledio seems to be unable to break a tag this season, if this is the case move him forward or down back where he might be of some use.

Jake King looks like he has the biggest heart in the Richmond team but struggles to hit the broad side of a barn by hand or foot.

I could keep going but I would have to list most of the team. To show I am not a complete Negative Nancy let’s take a little look at who is playing well.

Second gamer Alex Rance who looks like he is playing for his life every time he is in the action did well, maybe some other players could take a leaf out of the Rance book. Richo was good after quarter time and Newman was good early but faded in the second half.

Now watch me put a colourful spin on the season so far.

The Tiger’s three opponents, whom we have lost to, have combined records of 8-1 and of course are all in the 8 and will probably stay there for the rest of the season.

Our next three opponents are Melbourne, North Melbourne and Sydney have a combined record of 2-7 and none of them are in the eight. But we would want to win at least two of these.

All Out Attack... we will wait and see

In today's Herald Sun the Tigers have pledged All Out Attack for today’s game.

For mine I will wait and see, Richmond are the Kings of going sideways and backwards to avoid turning the ball over, I just can see them changing over night and going forward and direct. As soon as we are down by 12 or more points we will fall into old habits and start kicking sideways.

The Dogs are huge favourites for today’s game but I give us a chance to get our first win of the season, we will have to be at our best if we want a win today and the boys have had all weekend to think about it.

I would much rather see a win today than have all the pressure on us against Melbourne next week looking for the first win of the year.

Should Coughlan be playing this weekend?

There had been a number of stories about Mark Coughlan over the past few days in a number of media outlets about how good an outing he had for Coburg last weekend.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25305815-19771,00.html

As good as this outing was it was still for Coburg in a practice game. Terry Wallace has named Coughlan in the extended bench for Easter Monday game against the Bulldogs. Do we really need to rush Coughlan back? The Bulldogs have looked good this season and were one of the best teams going around last season, even with a fully healthy Mark Coughlan I don’t know if Richmond can get it’s first win of the year. Our best option will be to give another game for Coburg this weekend and then bring him in for the Melbourne match in Round 4.

Betting Markets for the weekend: The Tigers are paying $3.30 for the win.

Week in Review

OK a Quick look at some of the Richmond Headlines from the week.

1. Tiger trio give Casey ultimatum

Richmond stars Nathan Brown, Matthew Richardson and Kane Johnson have told Casey they will take him to court next month if he fails to meet their demands that total at least $300,000, and could be much higher.

My Take : Casey, pay them the money this is bad press.

2. Umpires got it wrong

THE AFL umpiring department has conceded Richmond copped a raw deal with the contentious 50m penalty against Daniel Jackson on Saturday.

My Take : Makes no difference now, also the umpires did not cost Richmond the game last weekend.

3. Tigers need a win – Foley

NATHAN Foley says no defeat is "honourable" and Richmond is desperate to notch its first victory of the year.

My Take : Foley your right, go and get that win!

4. Tiger Mark Coughlan back from wilderness

MARK Coughlan, has roared back into contention for a senior call-up after a 41-possession, 10-tackle display for Coburg.

My Take : Lets hold the 2003 best and fairest for another week.

Lauren Poulter re-visit

Thanks to my readers who sent me through these two Lauren Poulter photos that had got under my radar. Chris Newman may not be off to the best start as Richmond captain but it must be nice to go home to this.

So where too from here?

The performance the Tigers but up against the Cats down at Skilled Stadium will keep the media and fans at bay for a week but have the Tigers really improved or was this just a blip on the radar.

Leading the Cats at three quarter time even if it was by only a point was a huge achievement, normally the Tigers are down by over 50 points at three quarter time against the Cats but we did fade in final term.

Let’s look a little deeper into the game before we get all excited and start buying our finals tickets. The Tigers still only laid 51 tackles which was 3 less than the week before against Carlton, Richmond simply don’t apply enough pressure to their opponents. Let also that a look at scoring shots, Geelong had 30 scoring shots (15.15) and Richmond had only had 20 (13.7) the score line could have been much larger.

It may seem that I am just bashing on my Tigers but I just don’t know if we have really come that far in a week. All the good work from the Geelong game can be undone with a loss to the Bulldogs on Monday who got over the top of the Kangaroos on Sunday. The Tigers can still finish up 0-3 with a loss this weekend and all the pressure will be back on Terry and his crew.

On a brighter note Daniel Jackson had another good day while tagging Geelong danger man Joel Selwood. I would also like to welcome back Brett Deledio to the AFL thanks for joining us this weekend.

My last note from the Geelong game, I really think we need to move Matthew Richardson to the half forward line and keep him there, the team structure just looked so much better in the second half with him there. It will also provide a tall target for our running back men to hit up coming out of the back half and his opponents will not be able to drag him down back which is where he is not as comfortable.

What a difference a week makes.

This time last week Richmond supporters everywhere were excited about what the 2009 season would bring… come 10pm Thursday night I felt like I had been a bad boy at Christmas time and Santa had left be a lump of coal.

So we look forward to round two Geelong.

This game is going to be lambs to the slaughter lets take a little look at some resent history with Geelong.

In the last four games Richmond has lost to Geelong a combined 594 points to 274! This includes the 35.9 (222) to 9.10 (65) annihilation of the tigers at the Telstra Dome in 2007.

Put simply this is mission impossible so I have placed a call to Tom Cruise to enquire about the services of Ethan Hunt to see if he will come out of retirement to save our skins. Falling short of that I will call MacGyver give him a football, twenty-two players and a paper clip and see what he can do.

Onto sports betting, as noted on an earlier post the prices you could get for Richmond winning the premiership were $23 now less than a week later the Tigers are out to $51! You can also get $8.25 for Richmond to beat Geelong this week and as much as $12 on betfair.

Save your money Kids.

Where do I start?

Let’s start off with why oh why does Richmond play a possession game style when we clearly have the worst hand and foot skills in the competition. Let’s just kick it long and straight, at least when we turn it over it might be 50 meters further away from our opponent’s goal.

That being said Daniel Jackson did a half way decent job on Chris Judd, I also thought Mitch Morton and Nathan Foley did a good job as did Andrew Raines and Ben Cousins before they got hurt.

Terry Wallace is now fully aware if the Tigers are not headed for September action he could be fired mid season. I don’t want to see that but you don’t have to look back far into Richmond’s coaching carousel to see they have no problem give a coach the boot mid-season.

There are far too many pretenders in the current Richmond side, Jay Schulz, Richard Tambling and Jordan McMahon just to name a few. Richmond still can’t tackle laying only 54 tackles to Carlton’s 82, but we bring most of these problems on ourselves by handballing to players under pressure and going backward more than we go forward.

It is going to a long week down at Punt Road, the only good thing is today is only Friday let’s hope by Monday something else has happened to drive Richmond off the back page.

Oh and if all that was not enough we face Geelong next week….

Footy's Back

Richmond will hit the MCG tonight in front of the largest crowed they will play in front of all year unless they make the Grand Final.

I am not going to break down the games as it is not what I do with this blog. I will get behind Mike Sheahan's comments of "Richmond is close to full strength; the Blues have four first-gamers. The Tigers should win." Well Mike that sounds good to me.

Victorian Labour Premier John Brumby has picked against us which I am very excited about being he is almost never right about anything.

TAB sportsbet have the Tigers at $2.10 underdogs which I will be taking.

Last thing before bounce down tonight, did anyone see Richmond captain Chris Newman's girlfriend Lauren Poulter on page 4 of the Herald Sun today....

If you didn't see it here it is!

Season opening MCG blockbuster sold out

Shove that up your jumper channel 10!

Due to the fact that game is now a sell out poor old channel 10 will not be able to screw with football fans for the first game of the year.

The Biggest Loser and Bondi Vet both outstanding shows (vomit) will not bee seen tomorrow night.

I know I speak for football fans everywhere when I say thank you.

It is almost here!

With the 2009 season kicking off tomorrow, here are my tips for the season.

Final Ladder Standings for 2009

1. Geelong
2. Hawthorn
3. St Kilda
4. Brisbane
5. Bulldogs
6. Adelaide
7. Carlton
8. Richmond
9. Collingwood
10. North Melbourne
11. Sydney
12. Fremantle
13. Essendon
14. Port Adelaide
15. Melbourne
16. West Coast

2009 Premiership : Geelong
2009 Coleman : Franklin
2009 Brownlow : Abblet

Do you Like to Gamble?

The Tigers have not been the best bet over the last 20 odd years but here are the latest markets for the Richmond Football Club for those of you who can’t help losing your money on the Tigers each season.

AFL PREMIERSHIP 2009

Richmond : $23.00
Fav, Geelong : $2.75

To Make the FINAL 8 2009

Richmond : $1.75
Fav, Geelong $1.04

To miss the FINAL 8 2009

Richmond : $2.05
Fav, Melbourne : $1.05

AFL WOODEN SPOON 2009

Richmond : $31.00
Fav, Melbourne : $2.30

BROWNLOW MEDAL 2009

Richmond : Ben COUSINS : $26.00
Fav, Geelong : Gray ABLETT JR : $7.00

COLEMAN MEDAL 2009

Richmond : Matthew RICHARDSON : $67.00
Fav, Carlton : Brendan FEVOLA : $2.40

Now I would not touch any of the above Richmond markets with a 20 foot pole.

But here is some Richmond value bets I do like, have a dollar or two on each.

1. Nathan FOLEY for Brownlow $201.00
2. Richmond and Melbourne Storm AFL - NRL Premiership Double $138.00
3. Trent COTCHIN for Brownlow $151.00

I make no Guarantees! I know as much about betting as the Labour Party knows about keeping a budget in surplus.

Good Luck!

Way to Funny, I had to post this

Kevin Sheedy

Todays Sports Poll from the Herald Sun online sports sections

Kevin Sheedy says the Tigers can win the flag this year. Do you agree?

Yes : 16%
No : 38%

The only thing I am suprised about with this poll is that the "No" responce is not higher!

Mike Sheanan's Top 50

Monday's Herald Sun greeted us with the annual Mike Sheahan Top 50 AFL players.

Here is the top 10

1. G.Ablett - Geelong
2. C.Judd - Carlton
3. L.Franklin - Hawthorn
4. D.Cox - West Coast
5. L.Hodge - Hawthorn
6. B.Fevola - Carlton
7. J.Brown - Brisbane
8. N.Riewoldt - St Kilda
9. M.Scarlett - Geelong
10. M.Pavlich - Fremantle

See the rest of the list here http://mp3.news.com.au/hwt/Top_fifty_AFL/index.html

Here is the Richmond players who made it

15. M.Richardson
41. B.Deledio

That's it, not that I really expected any others to make it maybe Foley.

Since 1990 Mike Sheahan has been putting his list together and since 1990 we have been talking about it, SEN was full of fans ringing up and complaining their teams best players were left out...

Well who the hell cares the AFL wont give you a trophy for getting the most players into the list! It just give us something to talk about while we wait for next Thursday.

Richo Still Going Strong.

An article in the Herald Sun this week on Matthew Richardson made it clear he is the oldest player in AFL but is not done just yet.

Richo stated in the article he will be playing out the 2009 season and had not made a decision about playing on next season. He polled third in the Brownlow last season and had one of his best seasons of his career.

I know I speak for all Richmond supports when I say “Play On”. No one has given more to the Richmond Football club than Matthew Richardson over his 16 season with the Tigers both on and off the field.

Richardson has had his fair share of hatters over years and some of his on field antics did not help his reputation with Tiger and opposition fans alike but over the last few seasons Richo has cemented his place as one of the greatest tigers of all time, take a quick look at his record.

Games Played: 276 7th for RFC
Goals: 791 2nd for RFC
Club Leading Goal Kicker: 13 Times
Three time All Australian
Richmond Best and Fairest
Member of the Richmond Team of the Century
Life Member

The only place where Richardson falls short of the other Richmond greats is appearances and performances in finals, this of course is due to the fact our beloved Tigers have not made many appearances.

As Predicted

Well as I predicted in my last post Richmond was pumped by St. Kilda.

Now for the good news Polak got through and finished with six possessions.

The bad news Johnson's knee problem from the Collingwood game has required a knee arthroscopy at Epworth Hospital, he will be missing for a least 4 weeks.

Due to the fact the Tigers went into the match without 12 of our best 22 the score was no suprise.

St Kilda 4.1 8.3 12.6 16.13 (109)
Richmond 1.0 4.2 7.3 9.3 (57)

Polak's Back

After 8 months since being struck by a Melbourne tram defender Graham Polak will make his return to the to the Richmond Football Club.

Richmond tried to put Polak onto the senior rookie list late last season to try and make room for Ben Cousins and a draft pick, it really looks to me like the Tigers were trying to pull a shifty on the AFL.

It is good to see that Richmond tried to use the AFL rules to our full advantage even if the AFL did not go for it.

Polak has made a good recovery which all Richmond fans are happy about and if the AFL had gone for putting him on the rookie list he would not be playing this weekend but I guess it has all turned out ok, as we now have Cousins and Polak available be selection in 2009.

The Tigers are resting many of the team’s best players this weekend, namely Richardson, Brown, Cousins, Newman and Foley just to name a few so I would expect we will be smashed by St Kilda in Shepparton.

8:30pm are you kidding me

For how much longer are we going to put up with the commercial TV stations treating football fans like second class citizens?

This will be the biggest game of the pre-season, unless Richmond make the pre season Grand Final and instead of watching Cousins live tonight I have to put up with The Biggest Loser and Bondi Vet, thanks very much channel 10!

I also see that channel 7 is not going to be any better they will be bending football fans over and sticking it to us again each and every Friday night of the season.

Great to see Fox Sports will show their games live over the weekend god bless pay TV. I will be enjoying the Cricket LIVE tonight from South Africa thanks again Fox Sports.

Oh and by the way 10 try not to run overtime tonight... we all hate you enough as it is, you would not want to make is worse.

C-Day

Today is the Day.

Cousins is allowed back into the AFL's world thanks to the last minute life line given to him late last year by the Tigers.

Even thou the entire football community will have its eyes on the Dome tonight the game goes not really mean much. Terry Wallace has already announced that Richmond will rest some of its stars. Wallace is clearly saving the full strength Tigers outfit for the first game of the 2009 season against Carlton.

I am sure every AFL newspaper reporter worth their weight will have a column for their paper / tv station / radio station for the Friday editions. I am also sure that the stories by those reporters will start at one end of the scale and range all the way to the other.

See you all at the Dome!

Countdown to Thursday Night

The countdown to Cousins day was announced yesterday at the Richmond FC family day by coach Terry Wallace. We now only have three sleeps until Ben Cousins runs out onto the Docklands with his new team mates.

Cousins won’t be the only new face to pull on the yellow and black on Thursday, youngsters Tyrone Vickery and Alex Rance will also be pulling on the boots but I like most Richmond and football supporters we are only looking at the number 32 jumper.

Like a Britney Spears record Ben Cousins will be in the centre of the ring come Thursday’s media circus at the docklands. Every media outlet will be down at the dome to cover the story and we are still in the pre-season! We are still many weeks away from the start of the season proper when all the story lines will be the former team mates Judd vs Cousins facing off at their new clubs.

A New Season

As the old saying goes "Oh well there is always next year" this is a phrase I have been uttering as a Richmond Tigers supporter for a long time. Born in ’79 I have only been alive for one of Richmond’s premiership and of course I don’t remember sitting in front of the TV to watch Tony Jewell and his crew lift the cup.

The addition of Ben Cousins to the playing roster for the 2009 season has created a new hope for all Richmond members and supports alike.

I guess I am one of the many Tiger faithful who fell in love with the idea of getting a player with the skill of Cousins, basically for free as we did not have to trade any players to pick him up. But as if Ben Cousins did not have enough pressure on him to stay clean and out of trouble he now carries the hopes and dreams of Richmond supporters everywhere. I am a huge fan of Richo and Brown just to name a few but it is Cousins who the fans are all looking towards to carry us up the premiership ladder.

As I look towards the 2009 season I sit here and pray (even tho I am not even in the slightest bit religious) for a successful season, not just for me but for suffering Tigers supporters everywhere.

I am going to Blog my way through the 2009 AFL season, from my point of view, which is simply an average guy who wants to see his football team succeed.