It is 50 years ago today – September 16, 1972 – that Richmond and Carlton played out a thrilling, low-scoring draw in the second semi-final at VFL Park, Waverley.
The Tigers, under the coaching guidance of the great Tommy Hafey, had finished second on the league ladder at the completion of the ’72 home-and-away season with 18 wins and four losses.
The Blues, with champion ruckman John Nicholls in his first season as their captain-coach, were on top of the ladder with 18 wins, one draw and three losses.
Richmond, however, had beaten Carlton twice during the home-and-away rounds – by five points in Round 4 at Princes Park and by 31 points in Round 14 at the MCG, so it entered the big second semi-final encounter as favourite.
This was the Tigers’ first-ever final at the ground then known as VFL Park. And it was to be their one and only draw in a league final.
Here is The Age chief football writer at the time Percy Beames’ review of the match . . .
“Richmond got its wires crossed against Carlton at VFL Park on Saturday and the result was a performance that was upside down.
The Tigers suspect defence starred, but their much vaunted all-purpose attack flopped.
Coach Tom Hafey wasn’t very happy, but there were few grizzles from the crowd.
When your team does not win, a heart-stopping draw is the next best result.
The prize for the winner of next Saturday’s replay at the MCG is a place in the Grand Final.
In my opinion each side got what it deserved on Saturday.
Too little use was made of the ball, but the way was saved by a cliff-hanging finish that made almost everyone close an eye to what had happened earlier.
Hafey wasn’t fooled, however.
Half an hour after play had ended Richmond players were herded behind closed doors for a Hafey pay out.
No punches were pulled, nor was praise handed out for a fighting comeback that saw the Tigers struggle for nearly two quarters to close a three-goal Carlton lead.
Nothing upset Hafey more than seeing his team held to a single goal from nine shots at half-time after piling up big scores week after week during the home-and-away games.
But while Hafey had reason to find fault with his inconspicuous forwards, the magnificent defence of the Carlton backmen should not be overlooked.
The defence did the job so well that Richmond’s six-pronged attack was cut back to virtually one player, captain Royce Hart.
Hart was held scoreless, but his persistency, his battling around play and splendid marking kept Richmond in business.
The only other Richmond forward to win kicks was Barry Richardson, who had the satisfaction of outmarking Paul Hurst to a degree where the Carlton half-back was taken off.
Richardson took eight marks in winning 11 kicks, but faulty kicking brought him only one goal.
The obvious weakness about the Richmond forward work was that too many players kicked to packs in the absence of worthwhile leads.
Geoff Southby always had the measure of former team-mate Ricky McLean, Vin Waite was too quick for Neil Balme, Bruce Doull never gave up trying against Hart.
Carlton ran to a three-goal lead and the promise was there that better things would follow in the second half.
Alex Jesaulenko had taken charge of the centre, Ian Robertson and David Dickson had picked up kicks on the wings, Trevor Keogh had been prominent, while Barry Armstrong and Adrian Gallagher were active around the packs.
Even when the Tigers improved in the third quarter, Carlton went into the last quarter with a valuable 13-point lead.
Then the Tigers produced their best football for the match. For 12 minutes they attacked, scored 2.2 to one point, and suddenly scores were level.
Less than two minutes later the Tigers had gone to the front by a goal.
But the Blues were anything but beaten. A goal by Peter Jones, and again the scores were level. Two more points and Carlton went ahead, only to drop back four points when Marty McMillan goaled for Richmond.
Two snaps – one by Hart, the other by Balme – and Richmond was six points up. The stage was set for a last-gasp finish . . .
At the 29th minute Carlton raced the ball forward and Barry Armstrong whipped in, to level at 8.13 each.
The siren sounded one minute and 20 seconds later . . .”
Richmond star Kevin Sheedy, in a special “From Inside The Fence” column for The Age, wrote:
“Lucky, lucky, lucky Richmond . . . so lucky to get away with a draw after playing only one and a half quarters of football.
It all goes to show there’s a lot of truth in the old saying – “It takes 100 minutes of football to win a game.”
Don’t think Tom Hafey wasted any time in pointing that out to us after our lucky escape. He dragged us all into the coach’s room at VFL Park straight after our showers.
Most of us didn’t even have a chance to get our pants on.
You might be able to get away with it once but not a second time – and you won’t catch us trying it at the MCG on Saturday.
Mind you, it wasn’t only Richmond that was lucky to get away with a draw, Carlton was all over us, in the first half, anyway, and should never have allowed us to get back into the game.
I can tell you one thing – a goalless scoreboard isn’t a pretty sight from a back pocket. I was getting pretty desperate there at one stage and it was a relief to see that first on in the second quarter.
Despite our bad start – imagine it, six behinds in a row for your first scores – we were never really out of striking distance.
When we finally hit the front, I thought we had it won. Then Bruce Armstrong had to go and score that last goal. I could have cried.
The whole trouble of course, was that we allowed Carlton to dictate for most of the early game. Instead of playing our own distinctive brand of football, we were caught playing it their way.
It turned out to be a battle of the defences. I thought Carlton’s centre line of David Dickson, Alex Jesaulenko, and Andrew Lukas were on top most of the day.
I must mention Paul Sproule. When he replaced Ian Stewart (torn hamstring) after half time, it looked for a moment as if Jezza was going to run riot. But I reckon Sproule shut him out of the game.
Any advantage Carlton may have gained from the winning centre line was cancelled out on the ball. Craig McKellar, Greg Hollick, Kevin Bartlett and company had a clear edge.
How about young Marty McMillan? Three goals, after coming on as 19th man at half-time, isn’t a bad effort at the best of times. But he did it after coming on when we were down, and almost out.
I am, we all are, very proud of that kid – he’s a player of the future, make no mistake about that. The way he showed up some of our more experienced players shows he has the right temperament.
Some people reckon the Saints are in the box seat because they now have a week’s break. Not true. We will be in the box seat after next Saturday when we take care of Carlton.
Then Carlton and the Saints can wear themselves out trying to see who’s going to have a shot at us. We are a better side than we were last year – and we’ll prove it by winning that flag.”
Sheedy proved to be half right. Richmond comfortably accounted for Carlton by 41 points in the second semi-final replay, which was held the following Saturday at the MCG.
The Tigers subsequently entered the Grand Final as raging favourites after the Blues were forced to work extremely hard to overcome St Kilda in the preliminary final.
Unfortunately, though, Richmond’s unbeaten run that season against Carlton was shattered in an amazing premiership-decider.
In stark contrast to the low-scoring, second semi-final slugfest out at Waverley, the Grand Final at the MCG was a goalscoring bonanza.
The Tigers’ score of 22.18 (150) equalled the previous highest team total in a Grand Final. That, however, was 27 points short of Carlton’s massive 28.9 (177).
1972 second semi-final match details
Richmond 0.3 1.8 4.9 8.13 (61)
Carlton 1.1 4.7 6.10 8.13 (61)
Goals – Richmond: McMillan 3, McLean 2, Richardson, Balme, Bartlett.
Goals – Carlton: Gallagher 2, Jones 2, Lukas, Armstrong, Kennedy, McKay.
Best – Richmond: Sheedy (best on ground), Hart, Hollick, Clay, Boyanich, McKellar, Bourke.
Best – Carlton: McKay, Pinnell, Southby, Armstrong, Jesaulenko, Robertson, Gallagher.
Leading disposal-winners – Richmond: Hollick 28, Bourke 21, Hart 21, Sheedy 21, Hywood 19.
Leading disposal-winners – Carlton: Armstrong 24, Pinnell 23, Gallagher 22, Jesaulenko 21, McKay 20.
Attendance: 54,338.
