Firstly, I guess I should properly introduce myself, since the other bloggers gave an overview of how they came to follow Richmond . . . I am a 21-year-old uni student living in Melbourne. Up until the last few years I haven’t had much interest in football, although I played Auskick as a kid. This is my very first year as a Richmond member, which I am quite proud of saying . . .

However, I was born into a Richmond-barracking family. My mum is a very enthusiastic supporter, so, of course, I followed her lead, wearing my Tiger jumper off to Auskick. I guess that’s why I feel such a connection to the Club. I am a young, newish supporter, just finding my football legs so to speak, and the Club is filled with new young, up and comers, too. This is probably the most exciting time to get on board with the Tigers, just as we begin to stir.

I am looking forward to many exciting years of following the Club in the future and, hopefully, even a Grand Final or three.
Secondly, I’d like to dedicate this blog to Dylan Grimes. Younger brother of Melbourne’s Jack, this 19-year-old has had two momentous tasks these past two games.

In Round 3, which was Grimes’ second game at AFL level, he had the enormous job of stopping Hawthorn matchwinner Lance Franklin. Franklin is 3cm higher, 15 kilos heavier and 121 games wiser. Although ‘Buddy’ kicked five, Grimes never stopped trying, at times he succeeded, and he would have learned plenty from the whole experience.  Coach Damien Hardwick after the game said he was pleased with Grimes’ effort, especially the fact that he had got to a lot of contests.

Last Friday night against Collingwood, Grimes’ task got no easier, matching up on Travis Cloke, a key member of last year’s Magpie premiership team, and a player who has an additional 127 games under his belt, 21 extra kilos to throw around, and is 3 cm taller.

Grimes, however, took what he’d learnt from the Hawthorn game and he grew. He matured. And, he matched it with Cloke, holding him to only three goals.
The third-game defender didn’t look too out of place against the big Magpie forward.  He adapted his game from the first quarter, gaining front position instead of trying to play from behind.

I would imagine that Grimes will have learnt a great deal from these two extremely tough match-ups over the past two weeks.

Next time he lines up on one of the newer opposition forwards, he should be able to dominate. To borrow a phrase from Collingwood, it may feel like a ‘cakewalk’ compared to these last two weeks, where he matched with two of the competition’s best key forwards.

This is the reason I have hope in the Tigers. We are showing the signs of a club on the rise. The third quarter of last Friday night’s match was one of the most exciting quarters I’ve seen. Even though we were still four goals behind at three-quarter time, the team’s surge was amazing to watch.

The look on the Collingwood supporters’ faces during that Tiger blitz was a sight for sore eyes . . . The downside for us is our slow starts to games.

Next Sunday, with the winless Roos heading back from Perth, if we can start strongly and harness the energy that the boys displayed in the third quarter, Tiger fans could well see their first victory of the 2011 season.

I look forward to kicking back with a few Easter eggs and hot cross buns and watching our boys make us proud.

Until next time, go Tigers!