Ahh is there anything better than hearing the yellow and black faithful belt out our club’s tune after a win?
Well, yes there is.
That would be hearing the players singing that same song after the game with so much gusto you feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
There’s something very settling and satisfying about getting that first win of the season, and I’m sure the players feel the same way as well.
I’ve noticed that there’s a number of supporters who were disenchanted with the win, believing that we are still a very poor side given we could only just beat North Melbourne who now sit at the bottom of the table.
As an optimist however, I like to look at it as a positive. While I agree with the naysayers that we didn’t play that well, to walk away with the four points despite a below par performance is a step in the right direction I feel.
We had a lot of players who played below themselves last Sunday, so it wasn’t an even team performance. I thought we were actually dragged across the line through a couple of spectacular individual performances.
Dustin Martin was certainly best on ground.
Remember back in 2009? It was Melbourne vs Richmond at the MCG and Melbourne looked set to record a rare win. That was of course before the much maligned Jordan McMahon slotted a goal with the last kick of the day to not only give Richmond the win, but also deliver Melbourne an extra priority draft pick. This of course pushed Richmond back to selection number three, which was where we grabbed Dustin Martin.
At the time many of the more pessimistic Tiger fans were furious given a whipping boy such as McMahon had cost us a Tom Scully or Jack Trengove. However, I’m a big believer in that everything happens for a reason, so now we have Dustin Martin.
I’ve never seen a kid like Martin dominate around the ball at such a young age as much as he does. One on one he is simply untackleable. One of North Melbourne’s most experienced and toughest players in Michael Firrito tried to bring down Martin last week, only to receive a ‘don’t argue’ to the chest as Martin took off around him.
While Martin has always possessed this side to his game, this year he has added an extra string to his bow, becoming a dangerous goal-kicking midfielder. With the new sub rule in effect Martin now rests up forward instead of heading to the bench, which has highlighted his ability to take a contested mark. He has kicked nine goals this season already in just five games, not bad for a second year midfielder.
Another to have a standout game was Jack Riewoldt. His five goals all came with relative ease, but he also gave away at least three more to teammates which capped off a dominant four quarter effort by the Coleman Medallist.
This week we take on Brisbane at the MCG in yet another night game. Like last week, anything other than a win will be unacceptable in my eyes and I’m sure many others as well. It is a game where we are heavily backed favourites to win, which is a rarity for Richmond.
A win will not just happen without a good performance though, as I see Brisbane as a tougher opponent than the Kangaroos. Losing Daniel Jackson to suspension is again disappointing, but it gives Jake Batchelor a chance to come back into the side and play against a team in a similar position to us, so it will be interesting to see how he fares.
Brisbane has a solid defence contrary to popular opinion, so if our forwards can get on top early it should hold us in good stead for the rest of the match. Slow starts have been the club’s biggest problem this year, so with Damien Hardwick mentioning it in his press conference last week hopefully we burst out of the blocks against the Lions and pick up our second win of the year.
Go Tiges!
