On a night when the club farewelled departing duo Nathan Brown and Mark Coughlan, Richmond could manage only one goal after half time in a performance Rawlings labelled as “absolutely disgraceful.”
The Tigers failed to find any inspiration from the pre-match announcement that both Coughlan and Brown would be playing their final games for the club.
Coughlan, 27, played 92 games in nine seasons at Tigerland between 2001 and 2009 and won the Jack Dyer Medal for the club’s best and fairest in 2003.
However, his career was cut short by a series of knee injuries, including successive reconstructions that kept him out of the game for more than two years.
Brown, 31, joined Richmond at the end of 2003 after seven seasons at the Western Bulldogs and played 82 games in six years at the club, for a career total of 219.
Like Coughlan, Brown’s output at Richmond was curtailed by injury – in his case, a horrific broken leg suffered in round 10, 2005 against Melbourne.
Rawlings said he thought the players would be fired up to ensure their teammates left on a winning note after a pre-game video presentation.
“(But) I picked signs big time at the start of the game when (the Eagles) were starting to waltz out of clearances and step through our tackles.
“We were able to compete for five or ten minutes and snag a goal early and then think we’re looking okay, but then they just cracked us… just everything they did was just far, far greater than anything we did.”
Rawlings, who took over from Terry Wallace in round 12 but lost out to Damien Hardwick for the role next year, said he was proud of what he had achieved.
“Over the course of the 11-week journey, I’ve been really proud of [the players] and when you’re proud of a group and they serve up something like that it gives you a fair level of disappointment,” he said.
“I think that they’ve shown elements of improvement over probably the first seven weeks and in the last month they’ve just limped to the line.
“It’s been a pretty tumultuous sort of year for the footy club, full-stop.
“We’ve been through a fair bit [but] unfortunately their new coach will have a pretty bad taste in his mouth after what he saw tonight.”
Rawlings said he hoped that he can continue his involvement in coaching in some capacity at an AFL level.
“After I found out I wasn’t getting the job, I think I [had] brought energy to the role and I wanted to offer the same level of energy for the last two weeks,” he said.
“So I’ll meet with Damien next week and have a chat about what his plans are for the footy club and if I have a role in it.
“I’m actually pretty wrecked after a big year with the VFL and being close to Terry and what happened and then coaching. So I just need to have a bit of a rest and work out what’s going to the best plan moving forward.
“Hopefully there are opportunities out there and people think I’d be of some worth but that’s for others to judge.”
