By Dave Campbell
You have to pick your games when watching Richmond live this year, or so my daughter Melody told me. We sat heads bowed on the 10.45pm “losers’ train” back to Geelong, with no sign of any blue and white but plenty of their cheers still ringing in our ears.
There has been a see-sawing narrative wound around Richmond’s wins and losses this year: the game with the new rules has passed them by…they are still the team to beat…they have lost their edge…they are back…or they never went away. I thought the Tigers might be on the way down, and just hoped we were meeting a Cats team on a similar trajectory.
Richmond dominated in the first quarter. They quickly closed down all spaces and pressured every Geelong possession. They toyed with Geelong, boldly tossing the ball forwards into space and daring them to win it back. They scored four goals and probably should have had more. But even then I somehow knew that Bolton’s mark was going to be the “high” point of the game.
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I was seven years old in 1979 when I watched Michael “Disco” Roach take the Mark of the Century at the MCG. I had no idea what a disco was but I had never seen anyone jump that high (or come down as hard!). My Richmond jumper and duffel coat were soon adorned with a replica of his number 8, and that became my favourite number. Fittingly Richmond won the premiership in 1980 when I was 8 years old. It was more than eight years until the next premiership …
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Jack Graham’s kick to a Richmond goalsquare crowded with defenders seemed unwise, but he was giving Shai Bolton multiple options to use as a stepladder. Shai chose the 1.98m Mark Blicavs, took three steps, leapt vertically and boosted himself until he was elevated well above the crowd, roughly level with the MCC balcony. He marked cleanly, and he landed safely with the ball tucked under one arm. He got straight up, and strolled back calmly with the ball still tucked under his arm. Meanwhile the crowd roared with triumph, roared with astonishment as the replay was shown, then roared again with triumph as the replay was run on repeat about five times after that. He was wearing the number 29, which would have also been on my duffel coat in 1979.
I was watching Shai Bolton as he walked back calmly with his back to the goals. Did he know something about how it all works in football – the heights, the elation, the inevitable fall to earth (gentle in his case) and then the long aftermath where everything goes back to what it was before?
As often happens with Richmond games, it was all about the third quarter. There was a ratcheting up of ruthless pressure. Constant harassment of those with the ball led to frequent mistakes, poor disposals and turnovers. Defenders were overwhelmed. Goals came slowly at first, and then with a mighty rush. All according to the script, except with the roles reversed. I hadn’t seen the Tigers play that badly since the early `90s. Those long years when no matter who we recruited, what we tried and how we were coached, we never had the class to stand up against the good teams. The heights and the elation of the three recent Tiger premierships – for a moment (or longer) it was as if they had never happened.
Of course, what comes up must come down – except for Geelong’s ladder position in the last decade and a half. Their new recruits, cynically hand-picked to win them immediate success, delivered in spades. Jeremy Cameron kicked six goals and had more possessions than the Richmond midfielders. Isaac Smith had numerous metres gained, too many of which went through the goals. Gary Rohan made a five goal statement to suggest that he should also be regarded as a star recruit.
I have to admit, it only took a few tugs on the sleeve from Melody in the last quarter for me to agree to exit early. The early “losers’ train” beckoned. I am confident Melody is past the age where multiple drubbings could cause her to question her football loyalty. As for Shai Bolton, the young guy for whom the sky is the limit, and who is out of contract at the end of the year, I hope he feels the same way.
You have to pick your games when watching Richmond live this year, or so my daughter Melody told me. We sat heads bowed on the 10.45pm “losers’ train” back to Geelong, with no sign of any blue and white but plenty of their cheers still ringing in our ears.
There has been a see-sawing narrative wound around Richmond’s wins and losses this year: the game with the new rules has passed them by…they are still the team to beat…they have lost their edge…they are back…or they never went away. I thought the Tigers might be on the way down, and just hoped we were meeting a Cats team on a similar trajectory.
Richmond dominated in the first quarter. They quickly closed down all spaces and pressured every Geelong possession. They toyed with Geelong, boldly tossing the ball forwards into space and daring them to win it back. They scored four goals and probably should have had more. But even then I somehow knew that Bolton’s mark was going to be the “high” point of the game.
__
I was seven years old in 1979 when I watched Michael “Disco” Roach take the Mark of the Century at the MCG. I had no idea what a disco was but I had never seen anyone jump that high (or come down as hard!). My Richmond jumper and duffel coat were soon adorned with a replica of his number 8, and that became my favourite number. Fittingly Richmond won the premiership in 1980 when I was 8 years old. It was more than eight years until the next premiership …
__
Jack Graham’s kick to a Richmond goalsquare crowded with defenders seemed unwise, but he was giving Shai Bolton multiple options to use as a stepladder. Shai chose the 1.98m Mark Blicavs, took three steps, leapt vertically and boosted himself until he was elevated well above the crowd, roughly level with the MCC balcony. He marked cleanly, and he landed safely with the ball tucked under one arm. He got straight up, and strolled back calmly with the ball still tucked under his arm. Meanwhile the crowd roared with triumph, roared with astonishment as the replay was shown, then roared again with triumph as the replay was run on repeat about five times after that. He was wearing the number 29, which would have also been on my duffel coat in 1979.
I was watching Shai Bolton as he walked back calmly with his back to the goals. Did he know something about how it all works in football – the heights, the elation, the inevitable fall to earth (gentle in his case) and then the long aftermath where everything goes back to what it was before?
As often happens with Richmond games, it was all about the third quarter. There was a ratcheting up of ruthless pressure. Constant harassment of those with the ball led to frequent mistakes, poor disposals and turnovers. Defenders were overwhelmed. Goals came slowly at first, and then with a mighty rush. All according to the script, except with the roles reversed. I hadn’t seen the Tigers play that badly since the early `90s. Those long years when no matter who we recruited, what we tried and how we were coached, we never had the class to stand up against the good teams. The heights and the elation of the three recent Tiger premierships – for a moment (or longer) it was as if they had never happened.
Of course, what comes up must come down – except for Geelong’s ladder position in the last decade and a half. Their new recruits, cynically hand-picked to win them immediate success, delivered in spades. Jeremy Cameron kicked six goals and had more possessions than the Richmond midfielders. Isaac Smith had numerous metres gained, too many of which went through the goals. Gary Rohan made a five goal statement to suggest that he should also be regarded as a star recruit.
I have to admit, it only took a few tugs on the sleeve from Melody in the last quarter for me to agree to exit early. The early “losers’ train” beckoned. I am confident Melody is past the age where multiple drubbings could cause her to question her football loyalty. As for Shai Bolton, the young guy for whom the sky is the limit, and who is out of contract at the end of the year, I hope he feels the same way.
Dave and Melody Campbell. Image: supplied.