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. We take a look today at Richmond’s penultimate home-and-away game of the ’74 season against South Melbourne with this match report by The Age football writer Paul Speelman.
It was at the 30-minute mark at the MCG that Richmond ruckman Neil Balme committed his unpardonable sin.
And the crowd, nicely warmed up by the unseasonal sun, quickly let the big fellow know what it thought about him.
“Take him off”, some of them even shouted.
Balme’s sin? He scored the Tigers’ first point after nine goals straight.
Mind you, Paul Sproule made up for it seconds later with the Tigers’ 10th goal for the quarter to give Richmond an unbeatable 10.1 score against South Melbourne’s 2.10.
The trouble, of course, was that many in the crowd had seen Richmond score 11 goals straight, in bad conditions, the last time it played South. And they wanted to see that bettered.
After the game one of the seriously more dissatisfied was Tom Hafey, Richmond coach and one fo the hardest-to-please fellow around.
Hafey’s beef was simple – his Tigers, reigning premiers and favorites for this year’s flag, had dared to slow down and let South outscore them 7.5 to (the shame of it) 2.10 in the last quarter.
But Hafey might have been a little tough. After all, as one of his players said, it gets a little difficult to whip up enthusiasm when you’re leading by the odd 10 or 12 goals.
Hafey does have one problem, however. And that is to fire his side for the last home-and-away game of the season next week, against Footscray. Whatever happens the Tigers cannot lose top spot.
“The trouble is,” Hafey said, “that too many players remember that we lost the last game of the season to Footscray last year and we went on to win the premiership.”
I’ll bet that every coach in the League wishes he had Hafey’s problems.
But still he worries – and I hope he keeps on worrying. For somewhere in the back of my mind is the word “complacency”. It’s been the undoing of many a premiership favorite.
Complacency is certainly not the worry in the South camp. Swans like John Pitura, Norm Goss, Steven Hoffman and Russell Cook just kept battling on and they got their reward with a respectable score on the board.
Pitura, with his long, raking kicks, gives the South attack added bite and the move of Stewart Gull to full-forward in the last quarter paid off with three goals.
For Richmond, ex-Bulldog David Thorpe was outstanding, roaming far and wide in his centreman role, racking up 22 kicks, six handballs, and providing the Tigers with great drive right throughout the match.
Brilliant rover Kevin Bartlett continued his superb season with 29 kicks, but he was wayward in his shooting for goal, finishing with 1.7.
Barry Richardson, playing his first senior game since the opening round of the 1973 season, following a serious knee injury, kicked three goals from full-forward in a promising performance.
Match details
Richmond 10.1 15.7 21.14 23.24 (162)
South Melbourne 2.10 6.15 10.22 17.27 (129)
Goals – Richmond: Cumming 3, Lamb 3, Richardson 3, Sheedy 3, Balme 2, D. Cloke 2, Green 2, Sproule 2, Bartlett, Morris, Walsh.
Leading disposal-winners – Richmond: Bartlett 31, Thorpe 28, Wood 27, Sheedy 22, Bourke 19, Balme 17, Cumming 17, Sproule 17.
Best players – Richmond: Thorpe (best on ground), Bartlett, Balme, Cumming, Sheedy, Clay, Bourke, Wood.
Goals – South Melbourne: Gull 4, Pitura 3, Aanensen 2, Goss 2, Hoffman 2, Bedford, Brice, Cook, Quade.
Leading disposal-winners – South Melbourne: Goss 33, Quade 28, Hoffman 27, Pitura 22, McLeish 21, Brice 20.
Best players – South Melbourne: Pitura, Goss, Brown, Quade, Hoffman, McLeish, Gleeson.
Attendance: 32,651.
