An aggregate of 918 games, 2383 goals, six premierships, five Jack Dyer Medals, five Coleman Medals and 31 times Club leading goalkicker . . .
That’s the outstanding combined record at Richmond of Tassie Tiger awesome forward foursome, Royce Hart, Michael Roach, Matthew Richardson and Jack Riewoldt.
Hart kick-started this incredible Tasmanian tradition at Tigerland in 1967 after being recruited from Hobart club Clarence.
The then 19-year-old was a sensation throughout his ’67 debut season of senior league football with Richmond.
Playing at full-forward, he booted 55 goals, won the Tigers’ leading goalkicker award, and was a key factor in the Club’s drought-breaking premiership.
By the time Hart’s playing career was over a decade later, he’d played 187 games in total, kicked 369 games, captained Richmond in two premiership triumphs (1973, 1974), starred in two other flag wins (1967, 1969), won two Best and Fairests (1969, 1972), topped the Tigers’ goalkicking on two occasions (1967, 1971), and earned a glowing reputation as a genuinely great centre half-forward.
Hart’s last season as a player in the then VFL competition in 1977 coincided with Michael Roach’s first.
The gangly teenager from Tasmanian club Longford started his career at Richmond as a tall wingman, but two years later he’d transformed into a high-flying, star full-forward.
Roach finished with 90 goals in that 1979 season. The following year, he became just the second player in Tigerland history (Jack Titus the other one) to reach the 100-goal milestone in a season.
‘Disco’, as he was affectionately known, kicked 112 goals in 1980, as the Tigers conquered all rivals to seize the premiership.
Seven times Michael Roach won Richmond’s leading goalkicker award, and he captured the competition’s Coleman Medal twice (1980,1981).
All-up, he booted 607 goals in exactly 200 games for the Tigers.
The Tassie Tiger baton was then handed to talented, young father-son selection from Devonport, Matthew Richardson, and he proceeded to run with it in superb style right throughout a stellar 17-season AFL career from 1993-2009.
‘Richo’ was Richmond’s leading goalkicker in a season a Club record 13 times, won the 2007 Jack Dyer Medal, and totally captured the imagination of the Yellow and Black nation.
They loved seeing Richo strut his stuff up forward. He provided plenty of them with a reason to go and watch the Tigers in action, given the team’s relative lack of success during the Richo years.
With his exceptional marking, elite running ability, and capacity to hit the scoreboard so strongly, Richo was a massive fan favourite.
When Richo retired from AFL football in 2009, having played 282 games and kicked 800 goals, Jack Riewoldt was ready to step up and fill the void.
Riewoldt, who like the great Royce Hart was recruited by Richmond from Tasmanian club Clarence, won the Coleman Medal with 78 goals in Damian Hardwick’s first season as Tigers coach in 2010.
He also was rewarded for his excellent efforts throughout that year with the Jack Dyer Medal.
Fast-forward eight years, and Riewoldt has carved out a super-impressive football CV . . . another Jack Dyer Medal in 2018, a premiership medal in 2017, two more Coleman Medals, in 2012 and 2018, a total of nine Michael Roach Medals, as Richmond’s leading goalkicker in a season, and 607 goals overall in 249 games.
The story of the four Tassie Tiger R’s – Royce, Roach, Richardson and Riewoldt – is one of the greatest in Richmond’s rich history.
You wonder if, in the years ahead, another top-line Tassie Tiger will come along to join that illustrious group.
It’s an exciting thought . . .
