On the eve of Richmond embarking on its 2013 pre-season competition campaign, Tony Greenberg reflects on this time 20 years ago, when the Tigers roared through to the grand final of the then Foster’s Cup . . .
Richmond was one of the rank outsiders at the start of the AFL’s pre-season series of 1993, sponsored by brewing company Foster’s – and with good reason.
The Tigers had finished 13th in the 15-team competition in the 1992 season, with just five wins.
Admittedly, the return of dual Tiger premiership player John Northey to coach the Club, after a more than 20-year absence from Punt Road, had generated a good degree of enthusiasm among the Yellow and Black faithful.
Northey, an important member of Richmond’s 1967 and 1969 premiership sides, had subsequently carved out a successful coaching career Australia-wide, culminating in him guiding Melbourne into its first Grand Final in 24 years, in 1988.
It was considered a real coup by Richmond to secure his services as coach to replace the legendary Allan Jeans, who had been forced to step down after just one year in charge of the Tigers, due to ill health.
Notwithstanding Northey’s homecoming, Richmond was not rated a chance of doing much damage in the 1993 pre-season competition.
The young Tigers, however, had other ideas . . .
In the opening round of the ’93 Foster’s Cup, Northey’s boys handed out an 80-point thrashing to Sydney up at Lavington – 22.15 (147) to 10.7 (67).
Ex-Eagle key forward Stevan Jackson kicked seven goals (five of them in an inspired third-quarter effort), new captain Jeff Hogg five goals, and Mark McQueen four goals, as the Tigers romped away.
Midfielder Wayne Campbell, coming into his third season of league football, generated considerable drive for the Tiger team, racking up 36 possessions, while Stuart Maxfield, Matthew Francis and Ty Esler also were prominent.
Richmond then took on the highly-fancied Hawthorn side in the quarter-final of the Foster’s Cup, out at Waverley Park.
The Hawks had slipped to sixth in 1992 after their 1991 premiership success, but still had a star-studded line-up and were expected to be much too strong for Richmond.
Again, though, the Tigers would not be denied.
They jumped out of the blocks, booting 6.3 to 2.2 in the first quarter, and with their confidence levels soaring, they went on to whip Hawthorn by 40 points – 17.11 (113) to 11.7 (73).
Jackson, four goals, Hogg, four goals and Scott Turner, three goals, kept the scoreboard ticking over for Richmond, with the likes of Maxfield, Matthew Knights and Craig Lambert ensuring a steady supply of leather inside-50. South Fremantle recruit Wayne Hernaman also was impressive, as was Mark Pitura, the son of the Tigers’ controversial recruit of the mid-1970s, John Pitura.
That victory catapulted Richmond into a semi-final showdown with Fitzroy at Waverley Park.
With a grand final berth at stake, and buoyed by the previous two pre-season wins, the Tiger Army was starting to respond in inimitable style – loud and proud.
It was a decidedly pro-Richmond crowd that made the trek out to Waverley Park to witness what turned out to be a thrilling contest.
The Tigers were on the back foot early after the Fitzroy kicked 6.1 to 4.0 in the opening term.
They managed to prevent the Lions from inflicting greater damage, however, largely due to new skipper Hogg up forward, who kicked four first-half goals.
Robert Schaefer was a valuable contributor in the ruck, with Lambert, Knights, Maxfield and Chris Naish prolific around the packs.
Richmond trailed at every change, but there wasn’t much in it. The last quarter was an epic . . .
The scores were level six times in the final term before the Tigers’ WA recruit Todd Menegola goaled with less than 30 seconds remaining on the clock.
From the restart, Lambert won possession of the ball at the centre bounce and booted it out to the wing, as the siren sounded.
It was Richmond by six points, and the Club advanced through to its first grand final of any description in a decade.
Richmond’s grand final opponent was to be Essendon, after the Bombers accounted for West Coast in the other semi-final.
Not since 1943 had these two proud, traditional Victorian clubs met in a grand final, and there was great anticipation in the build-up to the big March premiership-decider – especially among the Tiger Army.
Just over two years beforehand, Richmond had stared extinction down the barrel and survived, thanks to the Save Our Skins campaign, which raised the necessary funds to keep the Club afloat.
The Tigers’ advancement to this grand final, albeit a pre-season one, was a nice reward for the Yellow and Black loyalists.
About 3000 of them turned up at Punt Road to watch ‘Swooper’ Northey put the players through their paces in the final training run before the pre-season grand final.
Then, on the Saturday night of the grand final, all roads (very slowly) led to Waverley Park.
A record pre-season crowd of 75,553 (it remains the record) flocked to the ground, turning it into a sea of red, yellow and black.
Hundreds of fans were still queueing for a ticket at the end of the first quarter!
Essendon, which had finished eighth in 1992, and was a talented young team on the rise, went in as favorite, but Richmond, on the back of its three impressive, spirited wins, had earned plenty of respect.
The Bombers led by eight points at quarter-time and gradually increased their advantage the further the match went.
Hogg, with a further three goals and Hernaman, three goals, along with the midfield excellence of Knights, Campbell, Maxfield and Naish, gave the Tigers every chance of securing the Foster’s silverware.
In the end, however, the Dons were just a bit too polished, and they ran out 23-point winners – 14.18 (102) to Richmond’s 11.13 (79).
Six months later, Essendon captured the main premiership of the ’93 season, defeating Carlton in the Grand Final.
Richmond’s first season under Northey resulted in just four wins, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
A gangly teenage forward from Tasmania by the name of Matthew Richardson, the son of 1967 premiership player, ‘Bull’ Richardson, debuted for the Tigers during the ’93 season and showed some exciting signs of things to come.
Young ‘Richo’ finished with 31 goals in 14 games, with hauls of six goals against Sydney in Round 10 and seven goals against St Kilda in the final home-and-away round.
