Why I owe Richmond a grovelling apology – with a catch

3 months ago 16

Like many people in footy, I am reluctant to apologise. It’s not our native tongue, so to speak, but I feel compelled this week to fall on my sword.

After reflecting on my pre-season predictions for The Age, I, Bob Murphy, would like to formally apologise to the Richmond Football Club. I was wrong. I was soooo wrong. I boldly predicted that the Tigers wouldn’t win a game. Not one. Zero.

Bob Murphy predicted Richmond would not win a game in season 2025.

I have a long and somewhat complicated relationship with the Richmond Football Club. I was born into a family that had a strong allegiance to the Tigers. I had a Matthew Richardson poster on my bedroom wall; my first footy jumper was a woollen Tigers short sleeve with a collar and Wayne Campbell’s No.9 proudly stitched into the back.

I was at the MCG on September 16, 1995 on that magical day for the Tiger army when Matthew Knights kicked three stunning first-half goals against the flow of play against the Bombers. Despite being five goals down at half-time, my Tigers came charging home via some brutality from Scotty Turner and co to win a classic.

It remains one of my all-time favourite days at the footy. Three years later I was lucky enough to be a year 10 work experience kid at Tigerland, hanging out with Jeff Gieschen, Benny Gale, Paul Broderick, Ash Prescott and Richo – who caught me watching his highlights on a VHS tape and asked, “Do you mind if I have a look at that, champ?” For a footy mad kid, it was the greatest week of my life!

Weirdly, just four games into my own AFL career, I was in a Bulldogs jumper playing against my Tigers at the MCG when all hell broke loose. Long story short. Knights had his nose smashed in (as a Bulldog, I can’t recall how Matthew was hurt). An all-in brawl ensued and a new rivalry in footy took flight. What a gloriously confusing time it was.

Matthew Knights bleeds during a clash against the Bulldogs in 2001.

So it is, with all of that history, that we arrive at this point today and the current iteration of the Richmond Tigers who I apologise to, cap in hand. Yes, the Tigers have won five games, but it’s in two recent losses (against Geelong and Collingwood), where they have won me over, despite sitting 16th on the ladder.

Young, developing teams will often meet top-tier teams and shrink in confidence, dare and bravery.

In both of those losses to the Cats and the Pies, the Tigers have played to win, used the corridor, responded after being dominated for periods of the game and most importantly, fought it out until the final siren. Genuinely fought it out, and there is a difference.

Maurice Rioli’s chase-down tackle is my personal highlight of season 2025 so far, but a fortnight earlier, on the night of their brave, but heavy loss down at Geelong, Maurice was called up early as the sub as Sam Lalor injured his hamstring.

Perhaps stung by his vulnerable position in the AFL team, Maurice played a four-quarter game of intense footy that leant on defence just as much as his obvious attacking flair. After a few peaceful years in AFL waters since Cyril Rioli retired from brutally chasing down opponents like a shark, there is now another predator in the water and the dorsal fin of Maurice jnr is putting the fear in footy’s beachgoers once again.

My apology to the Tigers does come with a couple of caveats though, as footy apologies often do.

The off-field indiscretion of Noah Balta has been forensically covered, but I also found myself thinking that Adam Yze’s insistence on Noah’s return to play being a “football decision” was naive and out of step with what we came to admire about Richmond’s leadership under Brendon Gale, Peggy O’Neal and Damien Hardwick.

I felt this twinge again in the aftermath of Tom Lynch’s round arm against Adelaide that earned him a five-match suspension. Again, the coach chose to defend his player with some flimsy context of the frustration of close checking and lack of umpire support. That context didn’t land with me. Tom has had what many would see as a dream career in many ways and his sole function now is to create a regular contest and help his young teammates develop good habits in the locker room. It was a petulant, violent act and five weeks might’ve been kind.

Still, the core business of any AFL coach is to create a program for players and staff to improve, take on challenges and build on what’s gone before them. The Tigers have done that all year and have done it to such a level that you can’t help but look at say, North Melbourne, and wonder why they aren’t trying as hard.

If I take myself back to that regrettable moment in the pre-season when I predicted that the Tigers wouldn’t win a game, it wasn’t solely due to the rebuilding list. It was also based on the fact that the core leadership of the all-conquering Tigers were all gone. Gale, O’Neal, Hardwick, Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin have all moved on.

In watching the Tigers battle away (despite succumbing to the Magpies) last Sunday, I was humbled to see the echoes of those big five in the form of Toby Nankervis, Nick Vlaustin, and Nathan Broad and how that devotion to the cause is igniting the young ’uns coming through like Rioli, Rhyan Mansell, Luke Trainor, Seth Campbell and my new favourite, Taj Hotton.

Richmond’s Taj Hotton is tackled by Pies Brayden Maynard and Dan Houston.

Well done Richmond, and again, I’m sorry.

(It’s also worth noting that as I left Punt Rd from my week of week experience, I pinched one of the training footballs and took it all the way back to Warragul on the train. I’m sorry for that too.)

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