In the lead-up to Saturday night’s Round 6 Richmond-Brisbane MCG clash, Tony Greenberg looks back at the last time the Tigers toppled the Lions at the ‘G’ . . .
One of the quirks of the AFL draw in recent years has been the precious few times Richmond and Brisbane have met at the MCG.
Over the past decade, only twice has this occurred. The last occasion was Round 7 of the 2009 season when the Lions prevailed by 26 points.
You, in fact, have to go back just over 10 years to find the last time the Tigers triumphed over Brisbane on their MCG home soil.
It was Round 3 of the 2001 season (Saturday, April 14 to be exact), in front of 31,688 fans.
Richmond trailed the Lions by three points at half-time, but gradually wore them down in the second half, to win by 22 points - 17.14 (116) to 14.10 (94).
The three Brownlow Medal votes that day went to Bulldog-turned-Tiger Leon Cameron, who generated considerable drive for the team in his customary sweeping role across half-back. He further enhanced his performance in that match by drifting forward to kick a couple of goals. Joel Bowden, with 33 possessions, received the two Brownlow votes, while Brisbane big man, Clark Keating, picked up the one vote, for his four-goal effort.
Ray Hall, in just his fourth game, and Matthew Richardson, shared the goalkicking honors for the home side, with three apiece. Aaron Fiora, Rory Hilton and Matty Rogers chipped in with two goals each.
Other prominent Tigers on the day were Greg Tivendale (29 disposals), Matthew Knights (22 disposals), Wayne Campbell (20 disposals) and Brendon Gale (15 disposals and 20 hit-outs).
The most experienced Richmond players on the ground were Knights and Paul Broderick, both playing their 241st games.
Brisbane had 15 members of its team, who later that year played in the Lions’ historic premiership win against Collingwood - Akermanis, Ashcroft, Black, Brown, Hart, Keating, Lappin, Leppitsch, Lynch, McDonald, Michael, Notting, Pike, C. Scott and Voss.
Current Lion captain, Jonathon Brown, was in his 16th game of league football, while the club’s current coach, Michael Voss, was playing his 154th game.
In the Round 19 return game that season at the Gabba, Brisbane defeated Richmond by 31 points -19.14 (128) to 15.7 (97).
Just a few weeks later, the Lions ended Richmond’s season, defeating them in a one-sided preliminary final clash at the Gabba by 68 points - 20.16 (136) to 10.8 (68).
Interestingly, the Tiger team that lost the preliminary final contained 19 players, who had tasted victory in the early ’01 season encounter with the Lions at the ‘G’ - Bowden, Broderick, Cameron, Campbell, Chaffey, Fiora, Gale, Gaspar, Hall, Hilton, Holland, A. Kellaway, D. Kellaway, Knights, Richardson, Rogers, Sziller, Tivendale and Torney.
