To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Tigers’ 1974 premiership, Richmond Media is transporting Yellow and Black barrackers back in time throughout 2024 to follow the Punt Road path to that tremendous triumph. The Tigers’ quest for back-to-back premierships began on this day 50 years ago with a 16-point loss to Hawthorn in the opening round clash of the ’74 season at the MCG. Richmond captain and champion centre half-forward Royce Hart was extremely critical of the team’s performance against the Hawks in a post-match column for The Age newspaper. Here, in full, is Hart’s hard-hitting assessment of the Tigers . . .
Richmond has caught the dreaded disease again –we’ve got the premiership “yips”.
You know what I mean – the physical and mental affliction that has struck down every premiership side since 1960 and stopped it repeating the dose the next year.
Unless our selectors act now, we won’t be able to get rid of the “yips”. The selectors must axe a few players immediately to get the complacency out of the side before it is too late.
We have plenty of those good young players in the seconds – but it’s no good winning games in the seconds and losing them in the firsts.
We picked what we thought was our strongest side for Saturday’s game – on last year’s form.
We ignored largely this year’s practice match form – and you know the result. The side just didn’t measure up to Hawthorn.
So it’s up to us – we have to realise our trouble straight away. We must get more youth into the side and that way get rid of our biggest problem – complacency.
Don’t think it was lack of fitness that lost us the game – it wasn’t.
Our team was too slow – and too complacent.
If I sound worried, you’re right. I am very concerned about Richmond’s immediate future.
And I’m not taking anything away from Hawthorn.
It is a final five side for sure, and I’ll go even further and say that I’ll be very surprised if it doesn’t play a prominent part in the deciding of this year’s premiership.
Hawthorn has to be a much better side with Peter Hudson back.
Don’t worry about Hudson, he’ll be as good as ever soon. He showed enough of his old form against us to reassure his supporters of that.
One of the things that impressed me most about the Hawks was the way their half-back line moved the ball forward so quickly and gave their forwards, particularly Michael Moncrieff, and Hudson plenty of time and room to move.
Unfortunately, my old groin injury is still hampering me and as I said in “The Age” a couple of weeks ago, I’m strictly a week-to-week proposition now.
I just don’t know how long I’ve got left in football. I will have to work very hard eack week day to come up.
Hawthorn has got a good side now. It played the sort of game that suits a big ground, and now that Carlton is its home, it will do much better. It has picked up a couple of good players in Geoff Ablett and Ian Scrimshaw and with Don Scott and Alan Martello Hawthorn has all the bulk it needs.
We had our good players – Kevin Bartlett, Mal Brown, Dick Clay and Laurie Fowler –but Hawthorn had more.
Francis Bourke played a great game when you consider how badly injured he has been and both he and Neil Balme will improve with match practice.
Match details
Richmond 4.4 5.10 10.13 12.16 (88)
Hawthorn 3.5 7.8 10.8 15.14 (104)
Goals – Richmond: Bartlett 4, Brown 2, Morris 2, Sheedy 2, Balme, Green.
Leading disposal-winners – Richmond: Bartlett 31, Sheedy 22, Walsh 21, Bourke 20, Morris 18, Brown 17, Clay 17.
Best players (by The Age football writer Peter McFarline) – Bartlett, Bourke, Clay, Brown, Fowler, Sheedy.
Goals – Hawthorn: Moncrieff 6, Hudson 3, Scrimshaw 2, Ablett, Hendrie, Meagher, Scott.
Leading disposal-winners – Hawthorn: Crimmins 24, Ablett 21, Hendrie 20, Jaworskyj 19, Meagher 18.
Best players – Hawthorn: Moncrieff, Jaworskyj, Heath, Knights, Moore, Hendrie.
Attendance: 38,734.
