Honestly now, 15 minutes into last weekend's first quarter I could sense the ghosts of Richmond past. I don't know exactly why. Perhaps over the last 3 decades Tiger fans have developed a sixth sense, the ability to sense an absolute flogging, total capitulation, complete collapse, the sudden annihilation of a dream. An instinct necessary for survival, necessary to soften the pending psychological trauma lest we are finally driven to insane acts like chopping up our membership cards into small pieces then deep frying those pieces in oil so we can devour them, washed down with a glass of vinegar so as to emphasise the bitterness.
Fair dinkum, the International Criminal Court (ICC) should arrest and charge the Carlton Football Club, especially one C Judd. What the Blues perpetrated on Saturday was a crime against humanity, and a brutal attempted genocide. Another Tiger generation wiped out perhaps, as the rest of us were forced to look on... CRIMINAL! However, while the ICC is at it, a thorough investigation into what can only be described as mass atrocities perpetrated by the RFC may also be necessary. All is NOT fair in love and war crimes...
Watching the weekend's match made me recall the darker days of most of the 90s, when my mate Greeners and I would sit in the outer of the older stands for our fortnightly dose of misery. In those days, we'd put the full Richmond playing kit into our backpacks, boots and all. Number 59 on the back of his jumper, and number 60 on the back of mine. Desperate to somehow help our struggling lads, we'd threaten to change into our gear, jump the fence deep in the forward pocket, grab the ball to snare a goal and then get off the ground again before hardly any one could notice. We'd like to have done this four or five times a match and at the very least reduce the losing margins from 15 goals to 10 or so.
We never did that of course. To do so would have grossly over-estimated our playing abilities. Instead we'd persevere with making up chants like 'Return Merenda, he's kicked five goals', sung to the Elvis tune 'Return to Sender' the day the full of promise Mark Merenda returned from a long injury stint, kicking five and giving us something to sing about for a change. Our other favourite way of passing the long intervals between Tiger goals and making light of tragedy was to randomly open up a Shakespeare play to find the harshest insults we could levy on oppositions and umpires. One classic was 'Damn thee, thou roustable rouge' (but I can't remember whether this was directed at an umpire, an opposition player or Anthony Banik...)
I digress... There is and will be plenty of talk about how the players should respond to last weekend's train wreck. Re the playing performance, the reality check we face as a club is that we don't yet have the depth we need, and until we do, all of us need to keep our expectations cool. In the AFL these days, in my opinion, two things are true, :
1. It is no longer just about a club's 'Best 22' - the leading clubs have a whole-of-squad focus meaning that every player on the list is
expected and supported to be working towards elite achievement.
Whether a player plays week in week out is irrelevant. When named to play, every player must be able to rise to the pressure, strive to play a defining role and make a professional contribution.
2. Following on from the above, on game day, the on-the-ground team of 18 will only be as good as what I'll call the 'bottom six'. A team may have 12 superstars on the ground, but if the other six go missing, superstardom will count for nothing. Oppositions will target those players whose decision-making is vulnerable to collapse under pressure... I think we saw some of that vulnerability exposed on the weekend. It may have been brewing for the past month...
But how should Tigers fans themselves respond? Traditionally, we've had many supporters who have turned to anger. I was certainly feeling angry during and immediately after the match. I tweeted a couple of remarks to demonstrate my disappointment but what a useless thing to do. Baby Holly didn't seem too upset so I got some perspective back quickly. The trouble with anger as a response is that all it serves to do is increase the trauma. That quick feeling of relief we get through venting doesn't change anything. If anything, it just promotes more reactionary behaviour, which in turn increases the pressure.
Ultimately, my view is that a club's supporter base has to be just as accountable to expected high standards as the playing and coaching staff. The attitude of a club's fan base is important to overall club success. We can learn a little about this from Carlton. I hate to admit this but Carlton fans are eternally self-confident, even when their performances are down. The club's 'They know we are coming'
campaign of a couple of seasons ago was typical of the self-belief the club values highly. While Richmond fans tend to turn on players and coaches when the ride gets rough, Carlton fans turn on everything but
- the AFL, the umpires, oppositions. I'm sure that behind closed doors there's a lot of dirty laundry at the Blues, but IT IS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, where it can be washed without sapping the public confidence in and of the players and staff.
On the weekend, we were the victims of where that attitude can take a club. Yes, a club still needs money and talent on and off the field, and Carlton has all of that. But self-confidence breeds self-confidence - it is a cycle that builds on itself. Interrupting the cycle with regular bouts of self-harm is fatal. Our last 3 decades of history are testament to that.
So, after all, as Tigers fans the only way to respond to last weekend's defeat (for that is all it was, no matter the margin) is to continue to front up, and to be accountable for the quality of our support. When the players and staff see and hear the confidence of supporters, their sense of accountability will be properly motivated.
That is, not motivated by fear, but motivated by the inspiration to honour the confidence being shown in them. And that is all I would ask of our players: continue to look for and truly feel the inspiration of honour. For when all of us feel it fully, honour will drive us to glory.
Thus, I will continue to madly shout out my encouragement at the telly, the radio, the smartphone and all the other inanimate things the absentee fan must try to relate to in order to connect to his club.
Eat THEM alive Tigers (not ourselves...)!
