Mother’s Day 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the biggest upset wins in Richmond’s league football history.
On Mother’s Day, 1991, the Tigers took on reigning premier Collingwood at the MCG.
Richmond was struggling in 13th place on the ladder (in the then 15-team competition), having won just one game and lost five (with one bye) of its six games.
Collingwood, on the other hand, was sixth going into the game, having won three, lost two and drawn one (with one bye).
The Magpies, with 17 of the 20 members of their 1990 premiership side, were red-hot favourites to beat the young Tigers, who were coached by Club great Kevin Bartlett.
But with spearhead, Jeff Hogg, in scintillating form, Richmond smashed the Pies by 57 points in a performance dubbed the “Mother’s Day Massacre”.
Hogg kicked 10 goals, as the Tiger underdogs went on the rampage against their arch-rivals.
Under the heading, “And this little Hogg went to town”, the following report of Hogg’s dynamic display appeared in ‘The Sun’ newspaper . . .
“Dead-eye Richmond full-forward Jeff Hogg yesterday wrote himself into the club’s rich folklore.
Hogg’s 10-goal tally equalled a record which had stood for nearly 50 years.
He joined the late, great Jack Titus as the only other Tiger player to kick double figures against Collingwood.
Titus booted 10 goals against the Magpies in 1942, and the cool Hogg reserved a spot for himself in the record books when he steered through his final goal 24 minutes into the last quarter.
Hogg was unaware at the final siren that he had even kicked 10 goals, let alone pushed his name alongside such a Tiger champion.
“I wasn’t even aware I had reached 10,” Hogg said as he asked what was the year of Titus’ achievement.
“It’s always nice to do it against Collingwood. One team you always like to beat is Collingwood because they have that love-hate relationship.”
Coach Kevin Bartlett paid a special tribute to Hogg, who played competitive tennis instead of football during his formative sporting years.
He preferred tennis, but was spotted by the Tigers playing football for Mt Waverley High and worked his way through the under 19s at Punt Road.
Bartlett said Hogg, as a senior, had shown the lead by carrying an injury for the past three weeks.
“He’s played under extreme duress and each time it was doubtful he would take the field,” Bartlett said.
“It’s probably 10 years since a Richmond player kicked 10 goals.
“You’d have to go back to the halcyon days of Michael Roach.
“Jeff has shown great leadership and it’s a tribute to him as not many people kick 10 goals in a league game.”
Hogg said the Tigers used former Collingwood players John Mrakov, Terry Keays and David Cloke to plan the strategy yesterday.
“We had a team meeting on Friday night and Johnny gave us a good insight on every player and it all went according to plan,” the Tigers’ new goalkicking hero said.
“KB chaired the meeting but the others (Mrakov, Keays and Cloke) took over.
“They had a lot of knowledge on each player.”
Hogg’s match statistics were: 13 kicks, 1 handball, 8 marks, 10 goals, 1 behind. He beat three opponents on the day – Craig Kelly, Denis Banks and Michael Gayfer.
Years later, in an interview, Jeff Hogg reflected on his mighty Mother’s Day match-winning performance against the Magpies
“It was one of those days where everything went right. The ball just coming to me . . . I had guys like Matty Knights, Craig Lambert and Tony Free, coming out of the centre and giving me some good passes. And, I was lucky enough to kick pretty well that day, too . . . the wind just seemed to take it through the goals . . .
“Look, it was obviously a big thrill and certainly one of my career highlights. At the time, I was just happy to have a good game and happy that we’d had a win.
“I wasn’t sure whether I’d actually kicked nine or 10 goals, until after the game when someone mentioned it straight away. I know Michael Roach, used to say to me that a good full-forward always remembers how many goals he’s kicked. But I wasn’t really sure . . .”
Match details
Richmond 4.3 12.8 18.13 24.15 (159)
Collingwood 7.1 11.6 14.8 15.12 (102)
Goals – Richmond: Hogg 10, Naish 3, Weightman 2, Gale 2, D. Ryan 2, Lambert, Keays, Underwood, Young, Campbell.
Best – Richmond: Hogg, Lambert, Weightman, Cloke, Naish, Knights, Campbell.
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