Today marks the day that Michael J. Fox’s character in the iconic, blockbuster, time-travel movie “Back to the Future 2”, Marty McFly, and Christopher Lloyd’s character, Doc Brown, transported themselves 30 years into the future – from October 21, 1985 to October 21, 2015. Tony Greenberg gets into the spirit of the occasion by taking the Tiger Time Machine back 30 years, to see what was happening around the Club then.  Here’s what he ‘discovered’...

• Paul Sproule had just been sacked as Richmond’s senior coach after just one season in the role following the Tigers’ eighth-placed finish in 1985 (it was a final five back then), with nine wins and 13 losses.
• Richmond’s 1980 premiership coach Tony Jewell returned to Punt Road as Sproule’s replacement.  Jewell had spent two years as St Kilda’s coach.
• Sproule’s sacking prompted Barry Richardson to step down as the Tigers’ president, just one year after he’d replaced Ian Wilson in that role.
• Vice-president Bill Durham was appointed as Richardson’s successor.
• The Club’s General Manager at the time was Kevin Dixon, who had spent several years at Fitzroy in that key administrative post.
• Ruck star Mark ‘The General’ Lee was Richmond’s captain.
• Trevor Poole had won the 1985 Jack Dyer Medal.
• Star full-forward Michael Roach was coming off an 80-goal season in 1985.
• Brilliant rover Dale ‘The Flea’ Weightman had qualified for life membership of the Club after reaching the 150-game milestone during the ’85 season.
• The Tigers were in the midst of a recruiting drive that was to net them the following players from rival league clubs for the 1986 season:  Peter McCormack (160 games for Collingwood), Michael Roberts (77 games for St Kilda), Darryl Cowie (56 games for St Kilda), Gary Frangalas (51 games for the Sydney Swans), Andrew Cross (31 games for St Kilda and 19 games for Fitzroy), Scott Sutcliffe (seven games for Melbourne), along with the return to the Club of 1980 premiership player Terry Smith, who had spent three seasons at St Kilda, and Neil Peart, who had one year with Footscray.
• Richmond’s financial situation continued to go from bad to worse, with the Club announcing a loss of $73,472 for the year.

And, here’s what was going on in the lives of some current key Richmond personnel back in late October 1985 . . .

• CEO Brendon Gale was a 17-year-old preparing for his HSC (High School Certificate) exams at Marist College, Burnie.
• Coach Damien Hardwick had just entered his teens (he turned 13 on August 18, 1985) and was in Year 8 at St Joseph’s College, Ferntree Gully.
• Matthew Richardson was a 10-year-old in fifth grade at Our Lady of Lourdes primary school in Devonport.
• No player on the current Richmond playing list had been born.

Trevor Poole won the 1985 Jack Dyer Medal.