In a special richmondfc.com.au nostalgic series celebrating Richmond’s 50 years at home at the MCG, Tony Greenberg leaps back to May 1979 when Michael Roach took a massive mark over a nest of Hawks.

Michael Roach was a 20-year-old, in just his 17^th game of senior league football with Richmond, when he propelled himself (literally) into Tigerland folklore on May 5, 1979.

Roach, recruited by Richmond from Tasmanian club Longford, had shown some promising signs in 12 senior appearances during his first two seasons with the Tigers, playing predominantly as a wingman.

But it was the opening rounds of the 1979 season, where Roach started to have a significant impact, as a full-forward.

He’d kicked 17 goals in the first four games that season, thrilling the Tiger Army with his high-flying and goalkicking exploits.

In Round 5 of the ’79 season, Richmond confronted reigning premier Hawthorn at the MCG, with Roach lining up on Kelvin Moore, one of the premier full-backs of the competition.

It was during the first quarter of that match when Roach stamped himself as a rising star (again, quite literally).

He soared above Kel Moore and the Hawks’ other Moore – Terry – to take an amazing mark that ranks right up there as one of the best ever seen in league football.

Roach fondly recalls his massive leap at the city end of the ground, but in typically modest manner, suggested there was a fair bit of luck with it . . .

“The ball was kicked downfield by teammate Graeme Robertson and I was caught behind a pack,” he said.

“I was just starting to make my run, when the pack moved back on me.  I made my leap and, by chance, the players in the pack seemed to lift me.

“I don’t know how I kept going, but I definitely got a bunk-up and took the mark on my chest over Hawthorn’s Terry Moore.

“Some people have said it was the best mark they had seen, but it was just one of those marks where everything seemed aligned and I was lucky enough to hold on to it . . .

 “To be honest, I was more worried about kicking the goal when I landed.

“I knew it felt good, but as soon as the umpire paid it, I was just thinking about kicking the goal (which he subsequently did).”

Roach’s parents, Betty and Terry, had made the trip over from their home in Tasmania for the match.

Betty, however, missed seeing her son’s spectacular mark because she was suffering with a severe migraine, and had left her seat for a few minutes in the first quarter.

When she returned, Terry told her, in a fairly restrained manner, that Michael had taken a “pretty nice mark”.  But, given the fact that in those days the scoreboard didn’t have the capacity to show replays of the on-field action, Betty was concerned that she’d never see exactly how nice a mark it was.

Richmond, uplifted by Roach’s colossal mark, had led by 20 points at quarter-time, and was still right in the contest at half-time, trailing by just five points.

But the powerful Hawthorn combination ran right away in the second half to record a 79-point win.

On the way to Michael’s home after the game, Betty dropped into a milk bar to get some milk for a soothing cup of tea.

Betty was beaming, when she returned with the milk and several copies of ‘The Herald’ newspaper under her arm.

“Mum was so excited, and we didn't know why until she got back to the car,” Roach said.

“She just had these papers and threw them all to us and we saw the photo (of his mark) – it was all over the paper.

“It was an amazing photo . . . we had no idea that someone had got the shot, but yeah, it was just lucky, I suppose.

“I didn't realise I was that high until the moment I saw the paper that night . . .

"I remember Dad saying to me in his Tassie drawl, ‘If you never play another game of footy in your life, people will always remember that mark’.

“And, I think he's right.”

The mark quickly became a sensation.  Over the years, it has been reproduced numerous times, even featuring on ties and rugs.

Roach, though, did not earn a cent for the magnificent, memorable mark.

“I vied with St Kilda’s Trevor Barker for the HSV7 Mark of the Year in 1979, but he won the award, with a prize attached.  I won the ABC Mark of the Year award, but there was no prize,” Roach said.

In 2008, however, when Richmond celebrated its league football centenary, the Roach mark was voted the best by a Tiger player over that 100-year period.

It is a wonderful highlight in the illustrious career of one of Richmond’s all-time greats.