IN MAY 2010, Richmond recorded its first win under Damien Hardwick, ending a run of nine-straight losses that had opened the rookie coach's career.
To achieve victory over Port Adelaide that wet afternoon, the Tigers recorded 142 tackles, the second biggest tackle count in the game's history and the highest number recorded under Hardwick's watch since.
After the game, half a dozen mud-soaked players and the beaming coach crowded inside the outer ring of more experienced players to belt out the Tigers' theme song for the first time.
Richmond defender David Astbury was among those six first-time winners in Tiger jumpers, playing in just his sixth game, a quiet lad raised on a wheat farm alongside three sisters in Tatyoon in western Victoria.
So was the future Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin, who had spent the day collecting the football from the AAMI Park swamp to win 11 clearances and earn a Rising Star nomination.
In the outer circle, tasting a rare win for the cellar-dwelling Tigers, were three other teammates who will take to the MCG on Saturday beside Astbury to play in this year's Grand Final - Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards and Jack Riewoldt.
"It was funny. The number of people inside the circle was huge. I remember thinking after the game, 'Geez, I could get used to winning'," Astbury told AFL.com.au.
A lot has happened in the 2680-odd days that have passed since, but the events surrounding that day still linger in Astbury's memory.
He recalls arriving at the club with 11 new players on the list, a new coach and a new CEO, Brendon Gale intent on emphasising each player was at the start of a journey.
In a pre-season address Gale had told the players he wanted this group to be different to the eras he had been a part of during his time at Richmond.
He promised to put in place a plan that was ambitious, but patient, one modelled on the best clubs and one that relied on everyone in every moment to succeed.
"It was exciting to be part of that, even though the outlook was pretty bleak initially," Astbury said.
Hardwick was honest to everyone about his plan to play young players.
By round 10 that year, the Tigers had played 37 players and 12 youngsters had made their debut, more than any other team.
Ruckman Troy Simmonds was given a farewell game a week after the initial win, while Jordan McMahon could not get a game.
Ben Cousins retired before the end of the season, McMahon left and players such as Andrew Collins (traded for Shaun Grigg) and Richard Tambling were traded at season's end.
"We needed a list overhaul and things are never pretty when the club goes through that initially," Astbury said.
But Hardwick was fresh on the scene and he had a mandate for change.
Astbury saw the Hardwick plan to take the club into the finals by 2013, but watched from the stands as the club lost three consecutive elimination finals.
He then saw it nearly unravel by the end of last season and the coach's job come under threat.
"There was probably no pressure on him originally … across the journey, the pressure builds and it is like the seat just gets hotter and hotter, and it got to the point last year where it got really, really hot," Astbury said.
"It is a credit to the key people around here who showed faith in him."
That faith has been repaid with Hardwick making a Grand Final after 181 games, the most since Geelong's Mark Thompson made the 2007 Grand Final after 184 games and just five behind the clubhouse leader, Mick Malthouse, who took West Coast into the 1991 Grand Final after 186 games as coach.
Astbury, who has played in two finals for two wins, saw the pressure nearly finish Hardwick, his passion and desire to succeed leading him down the path of over-coaching.
"It all came to a head in the off-season and he made some investment into himself personally and he has seen the rewards come out in us," Astbury said.
Hardwick had changed so much that Danielle, his wife, told him he was no longer the man she had married.
The 45-year-old took stock and developed a plan that played to the strength of the players he had nurtured since 2010.
"He stripped it back to the raw elements of what the game is and said 'let's just get some pressure around the ball'," Astbury said.
The pressure that defined Hardwick as a player and led to his first win as coach in 2010 returned from the wilderness where it had been buried under a mountain of statistics.
Astbury has responded to play a fine season as key support to star defender Alex Rance, and Dylan Grimes – who also arrived in 2010 – in a stingy back six.
"How our game is perceived is not on statistics. It's on playing your role in defence," Astbury said.
"I know exactly what a Richmond game looks like for Dave Astbury and that's most important thing. I don't have to do anything extraordinary or bold."
The road has been long and winding, for both Richmond and Astbury, who flirted with the idea of joining the Brisbane Lions at the end of 2014 after enduring knee injuries and a stingray attack.
But it has been worthwhile now, the memory of kicking three goals on debut in 2010, and his first win six games later, all part of the build-up to an AFL Grand Final.
"It was probably the start of the journey that takes me to today," Astbury said.
Hardwick's First Win
Round 10, 2010, AAMI Park
Port Adelaide 3.12 (30) v Richmond 10.17 (77)
The Team
David Astbury, 39
Andrew Collins, 24
Trent Cotchin, 9
Ben Cousins, 32
Brett Deledio, 3
Shane Edwards, 10
Mitch Farmer, 15
Angus Graham, 25
Ben Griffiths, 38
Jake King, 28
Dustin Martin, 36
Luke McGuane, 16
Kelvin Moore, 40
Robin Nahas, 26
Ben Nason, 47
Chris Newman, 17
Graham Polak, 6
Jack Riewoldt, 8
Richard Tambling, 30
Shane Tuck, 21
Jeromey Webberley, 46
Matt White, 35
