In the 14th of a special richmondfc.com.au nostalgic series celebrating Richmond’s 50 years at home at the MCG, Tony Greenbergturns the clock back to the day star Tiger spearhead Michael Roach kicked his 100th goal of the 1980 season.
It’s hard to believe, but Michael Roach won the Best First Year Player award at Richmond in 1977 as a gangly, skinny wingman!
Roach, recruited by the Tigers from Tasmanian club Longford, played nine senior games in his debut season and showed a good deal of promise on the wing.
But the following season, Roach struggled, managing just three senior appearances.
It was Tony Jewell’s appointment as Richmond coach, at the end of 1978, that ignited Roach’s league career.
Jewell moved Roach to full-forward and he had an instant impact, kicking 90 goals in 1979 to finish second in the competition’s Coleman Medal behind Bulldog star Kelvin Templeton.
Roach thrilled Tiger supporters with his high marking and deadly accurate kicking for goal.
Notwithstanding Roach’s goalkicking exploits, Richmond won just nine games for the ’79 season to finish eighth, missing the then final five by 14 points.
In 1980, however, the Tigers took off . . .
With Mark Lee dominating in the ruck, and players of the calibre of Geoff Raines, Dale Weightman, Barry Rowlings, Robert Wiley and Bryan Wood generating enormous drive through the midfield, there was a constant supply of quality ball to key forwards Roach and David Cloke, along with former champion rover Kevin Bartlett, who had reinvented himself as a super-dangerous half-forward.
Roach, in fact, was kept goalless in Richmond’s 1980 opening round clash with Hawthorn, but hit back strongly the following week, booting seven goals against Essendon.
He kicked a season-high (and career-high) 11 goals against Footscray in Round 7 and, by the midway mark of the year was well on target for the ton, with an impressive tally of 55 goals to his credit.
A lean trot on the goalkicking front ensued in Rounds 13-15, with Roach scoring just six goals during that period, however, he bounced back brilliantly to boot 10 against St Kilda in Round 16 and another bag of 10 two weeks later against Footscray, to reach the ‘nervous nineties’.
Not sure whether nerves played any part, but Roach could manage only one major in the Round 19 encounter with Carlton, leaving him on 91 goals going into the Round 20 match against Melbourne.
It seemed as though Roach would need at least a couple more games to chalk up his century of goals.
But on Saturday, August 16, 1980, the star spearhead, affectionately known as ‘Disco’, became just the second player in Tigerland history to achieve the prestigious 100-goal milestone in a season.
He joined the great Jack ‘Skinny’ Titus, who had kicked exactly 100 goals for the Tigers 40 years earlier, in 1940.
In the book ‘Yellow and Black: 100 Years of Tiger Treasures’, which was released in 2008 as part of Richmond’s league football centenary celebrations, Roach revealed that he faced a dilemma going into that Round 20, 1980 clash with Melbourne.
Roach’s parents, living in Tasmania, were considering flying over for the match in case he was to reach the ton that day.
But Roach wasn’t confident he’d be able to kick the required nine goals, so he advised his parents to wait until the following week before making the trip to Melbourne.
“I had set myself a target of about four goals a match that season,” Roach said.
“I thought nine goals in the one match was out of the equation, but I surprised myself and had eight goals to my credit in the last quarter.
“I had a couple of relatively easy shots for goal and was dirty on myself for missing both. I then copped a high tackle from Melbourne’s Jim Durnan and went back for my shot from about 60 metres.
“This time I was absolutely determined to nail my 100th goal of the season, and I put everything into the drop-punt.
“Luckily, it was long and straight and it was all a sort of dream, as you never really think you would be able to kick 100 goals in a season.
“Then, just after the ball sailed through for the goal, Tiger fans started jumping the fence to congratulate me.
“It was chaotic for a while, but teammate David Cloke told me, ‘Don’t move. I’ll protect you’.
“It was a lovely moment and I have great memories of that goal.”
Richmond defeated the Demons by 65 points that day and Roach went on to kick 112 goals for the season, including two in the Tigers’ massacre of Collingwood in the Grand Final.
Richmond v Melbourne, Round 20, 1980 match details
Richmond 3.3 9.8 17.13 26.18 (174)
Melbourne 3.4 9.6 13.10 16.13 (109)
Goals – Richmond: Roach 9, Bartlett 4, Cloke 3, Keane 3, Scrimshaw 3, Bourke, Dunne, Weightman, Wiley.
Leading possession-getters – Richmond: Mount 29, Wiley 29, Weightman 24, Bartlett 22, Cloke 19.
Goals – Melbourne: Smith 7, Seddon 2, Byrne, Dullard, Elliott, Gordon, Moir, Nettlefold, O’Donnell.
Leading possession-getters – Melbourne: Nettlefold 28, Martyn 24, Flower 23, Elshaug 22, Byrne 21.
