In a series focusing on Richmond’s trade/draft history, we take a look at Robbie McGhie's move from Footscray to become a dual premiership player.
With his sharpie hairstyle and tattoos, it was too easy to label Robbie McGhie as merely a football tough man.
McGhie, indeed, was a rough and ready customer, who relished exerting a strong physical presence on the field. But, it would be selling him way short, to solely focus on that side of his game.
He was to become an important member of Richmond’s back-to-back premiership sides of 1973-74, after previously struggling to cement himself as a regular senior player in four seasons at Footscray.
An off-field incident, just a few weeks before the start of the ’73 season, led to McGhie departing the Bulldogs and joining Richmond.
The Tigers, in the wake of their shock 1972 Grand Final loss to Carlton, had undergone a major post-mortem, and one of the positions they were especially keen to fill, was centre half-back.
McGhie, with his tall, rangy build, fearless approach, pace and long kicking, appealed as a good fit in that key defensive post.
And, so it proved to be . . .
In the three seasons, from 1973-75, McGhie played in 52 games for a winning strike-rate of 79%.
The Richmond teams of that time were brimming with genuine stars, such as Hart, Bartlett, Bourke, Clay, Stewart, Green and Sheedy. While McGhie was not quite in that class, he, nevertheless, played his role in the powerful line-up superbly.
He put the clamps on opposition centre half-forwards, but also managed to generate drive for the Tigers through his long, clearing dashes and penetrating left-foot kicks.
Kevin Bartlett, in his book, “KB: A Life In Football”, summarised McGhie’s value to the Tiger team . . .
“Robbie was 190cm, could run like the wind and, despite an ungainly kicking action, all his kicks were long and effective.
“He had very long arms and he was a fine exponent of Richmond’s game plan, which was to run fast, get the ball, and kick it as far as possible.
“He was as mean and nasty as he looked with all those tattoos, and he roughed opponents up. But, at the same time, he was effective with the ball.”
Robert McGhie profile
Born: 18/8/1951
Height: 192cm
Playing weight: 86kg
Richmond trade history: Traded to the Tigers by Footscray just before the start of the ’73 season for a transfer fee
Guernsey number at Richmond: No. 12
Debut at Richmond: Round 1, 1973 v Essendon, Windy Hill
Games at Richmond (1973-1978): 81
Goals at Richmond: 0
Richmond Life Member (2013)
Richmond Life Member (2013)
