Newman will become just the 24th player in Richmond’s history to reach the 200-game milestone.
The Tiger ‘200-gamers’ between them boast a combined total of 41 premierships, 38 Club leading goalkicker award winners, 30 Best and Fairest winners, 12 captains (‘Newy’ will make it 13), 12 Team of the Century members and three Richmond ‘Immortals’.
Here is the full list of Richmond’s 200-game players . . .
403 games - Kevin Bartlett
312 games - Jack Dyer
300 games - Francis Bourke
297 - Wayne Campbell
294 - Jack Titus
282 - Matthew Richardson
279 - Matthew Knights
274 - Dale Weightman
265 - Joel Bowden
263 - Percy Bentley
262 - Vic Thorp
251 - Kevin Sheedy
245 - Roger Dean
244 - Brendon Gale
238 - Merv Keane
233 - Mark Lee
223 - Jim Jess
219 - David Cloke
213 - Dick Clay
209 - Kevin O’Neill
209 - Bryan Wood
207 - Darren Gaspar
200 - Michael Roach
The crowd of 40,352, who attended Richmond’s Round 7 twilight match against Sydney at the MCG, was the biggest between the two teams at the home of football for 13 years.
You have to go all the way back to Round 2 of the 1999 season to find a bigger Richmond-Sydney MCG attendance. On that day, a crowd of 40,462 saw the Tigers defeat the Swans by 12 points - 15.18 (108) to 13.18 (96).
Last Saturday’s crowd figure was the best for a match between the two teams anywhere, since Round 22, 2002 at Sydney’s Stadium Australia, which attracted 40,386 people.
It’s no coincidence that Nathan Foley’s return this season to the type of form that earned him high praise and Victorian State selection in the 2007-08 period, has corresponded with the arrival at Tigerland of ex-Adelaide Crow ruckman Ivan Maric.
Foley is clearly thriving on the opportunities being set up at the centre bounces and stoppages by Maric’s ruck skills and aggression.
“He’s been sensational,” was Foley’s description of Maric when he appeared as a guest on Channel Nine’s “TAC Cup Future Stars” program last Sunday.
“The big ‘Mullet’, he’s becoming a cult hero down at Richmond.
“He’s given us first use and he’s also kicked some goals.
“He’s a great clubman, he’s really good to have around the Club, and he’s another one that’s got great values.”
Hard-running Tiger midfielder Shaun Grigg has added a valuable string to his bow in season 2012 . . .
Not only is Grigg averaging more than 27 disposals per game in an extremely impressive start to the season, he’s become a goalkicker, too.
Up until this year, the highest number of goals Grigg had kicked in an entire season of league football was six, which he scored in 2011.
But, after seven rounds of his sixth season at the game’s highest level, Grigg has seven goals on the board - the fourth most at Tigerland in 2012, behind Robbie Nahas on eight, Brad Miller on 13 and Jack Riewoldt on 16.
He booted a career-best three goals among his 26 disposals against Sydney at the MCG last Saturday evening and played a pivotal role in Richmond’s 29-point win.
Brad Miller, with his 13 goals in 2012, is well on the way to his best goalkicking return in a season.
Miller’s highest goal tally in his 10 completed seasons of AFL football so far, is 26, which he reached while playing for Melbourne in 2008.
He kicked 17 goals in 14 games with Richmond in his first season at the Club last year.
The 28-year-old veteran of 154 league games ‘snagged’ two ‘six-pointers’ against the Swans on Saturday - the fourth time this season he’s scored multiple goals.
Richmond’s three wins to date this season have all been achieved off the back of powerful single-quarter blitzes.
The Tigers clinched their 59-point win against Melbourne at the MCG in Round 3 with a devastating 9.3 to 1.0 third-quarter burst.
In Round 6 against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, it was a second-term barrage that sank the opposition, with Richmond piling on 5.5 to the Power’s 1.0, before eventually winning by 37 points.
Then, in last Saturday’s Round 7 clash with Sydney at the MCG, the Tigers produced a stunning 5.6 to 0.2 opening quarter that set up their 29-point success.
We await a similarly dominant Yellow and Black last-quarter performance to complete the sizzling sequence . . .blog comments powered by Disqus
