Richmond’s draw with St Kilda, in last Friday nights Round 2 thriller at the MCG, was the Tigers’ fourth tied result in the past four years.
Ironically, during that time, the only other league club, which has been involved in as many drawn matches, is St Kilda.
The Tigers’ sequence of draws in recent years started with the Round 10, 2007 encounter with Brisbane at Etihad Stadium (or Telstra Dome as it was known back then).
Richmond was winless for the season going into that match, and trailed by 13 points at three-quarter-time, before kicking 2.4 to 0.3 in the final term to grab a draw - 10.13 (73) apiece.
The following season, at the same venue, Richmond 20.10 (130) drew with the Western Bulldogs 19.16 (130) in a fast-paced, action-packed, shoot-out. The Tigers were three goals in front, with just a few minutes to play, but the Dogs stormed home to tie the match.
Then, in Round 16 of the 2009 season, a rejuvenated Richmond, under caretaker coach, Jade Rawlings, led North Melbourne by seven goals at half-time in their MCG clash, only to see the Roos claw their way back in the second half to force a draw.
Interestingly, the previous time Richmond and St Kilda had played a draw, before last Friday night, was Round 3 of the 1980 season, at the MCG.
That was Alex Jesaulenko’s first game as the Saints’ playing coach, following the dramatic sacking of Mike Patterson.
St Kilda led narrowly at every change (six points up at three-quarter-time), but the Tigers managed to scramble a draw, scoring 18.20 (128) to 19.14 (128), largely due to the efforts of Dale Weightman (four goals and 25 possessions), Kevin Bartlett (three goals), Michael Roach (three goals), Mark Lee (three goals) and Robert Wiley (26 possessions).
The late Terry Smith made his senior league debut for Richmond that day. ‘Brutus’ would go on to be a valuable member of the Tigers’ premiership side that year, and later play with St Kilda, before returning to Punt Road.
St Kilda’s side contained two former Tigers - 1969 premiership player, Graeme Bond, and big man Dean Herbert, who was nearly the match-winner, with five goals. The Saints’ line-up also had three players, who would subsequently play for Richmond - Jeff Dunne, Michael Roberts and Ian Sartori.
