A mountain to climb
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As footy fans nurse election night hangovers and prepare for the Richmond v Carlton elimination final at the MCG, they might like to cut our politicians some slack and just let them enjoy the game. Not just because they have run the equivalent of a political marathon these past three years, but because a handful of them have done the right thing by the Punt Road faithful and formed a Richmond supporters' group.
"Tigers on the Hill" was formed on a cold Canberra night last year with genuine Australian leaders such as Brendon Gale and Matthew Richardson in attendance. The co-founders of the group – Liberal MP Dan Tehan and former speaker of the House, Labor's Anna Burke – hosted the black-and-yellow tie occasion, which attracted Tigerish MPs such as Sydneysider Joe Hockey. Hockey, as a former workplace relations minister, had been involved in the establishment of Richmond's centre of Aboriginal education at Punt Road, the Korin Gamadji Institute and was so impressed that he became a fan of the club. Given Saturday's result the Tigers must be glad to know the bloke now holding the purse strings is in their corner.
Hockey, along with leader Tony Abbott and Bruce Bilson, also attended this season's Dreamtime game between Richmond and Essendon. Abbott had also dealt with the Tigers during the development of the Aboriginal institute and the man of the moment was at the time seen in a yellow-and-black scarf before scarpering back to Sydney, where the Greater Western Sydney Giants have since purloined him – or he them perhaps?
Tehan, Western Victoria's member for Wannon, grew up kicking a footy in the yard at his Mansfield home while wearing a Richmond jumper with Royce Hart's No.4. Tehan said he was thrilled this year when he met Hart after the champ had been inducted as an AFL legend.
These days Tehan lives in Hamilton and says he drove the 3 1/2 hours to the MCG to see the Tigers in four or five games, most recently when he took three of his five children to see the Tigers reverse the Dreamtime result and trounce Essendon in the final home-and-away match of the season. The next day, Tehan was at Lake Bolac for the Mininera District league semi-final between Glenthompson-Dunkeld and Tatyoon when he heard that Richmond would play its elimination final against Carlton on Sunday, not Saturday night, which inconveniently was election night.
“I had a real spring in my step when I found out we were playing on Sunday,” he said. Tehan is driving to Melbourne for the Carlton game with his son Oliver, who's seriously got the Tiger affliction. When asked whether election frivolities would get in the way of a trip to the footy, Tehan was dismissive. “We're absolutely going,” he said.
Burke was born into a Richmond family in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs. When she was growing up in Ashwood her uncles, aunties and cousins all barracked for Richmond. When her grandmother died the family sang Oh we're from Tigerland while draping a Richmond guernsey on the coffin.
One of the disappointments of Burke's life is that her husband Steve is an old South Melbourne fan who goes for Sydney. An even bigger disappointment is that their daughter and son also go for Sydney. In recent times, Burke has been the Speaker of the House, able to wield control over the nation's politicians, but unable to wield control over her own children. “It's been a long campaign,” Burke said this week, referring not to the election, but to her efforts to entice her children to join the yellow and black.
Burke has had a curious election campaign in that her Liberal rival for the seat of Chisholm, John Nguyen, is also a Richmond fan. When they're at a function together they talk footy. Burke went into Saturday's election with a margin of 5.8 per cent. Tehan held a margin of 5.7 per cent. Both of them, as well as all the Tigers on the Hill, are 100 per cent behind the Tigers in their match against Carlton.
Numbers up
260 votes for Gary Ablett to win the Gold Coast Suns best and fairest. Ablett led the count for all but two rounds of the year, earning a perfect tally of 25 votes in two matches and being in the top three vote-getters in 13 of the 21 matches he played. Dion Prestia and Jaeger O'Meara were the runners up.
2-win team and 56 per cent were the figures that got new Melbourne coach Paul Roos thinking about where the Demons could improve. "I think they're a better team than that. We need to get competitive – 56 per cent is an unacceptable percentage," said the new boss.
8 more races with Toro Rosso for Daniel Ricciardo, with a best result of seventh place this season and four top-10 finishes. The 24-year-old Australian will be looking at podiums almost immediately when he steps into his new Red Bull seat next year.
What they should do ...
... is collectively wake up to themselves at St Kilda. Variations to the theme of dwarf tossing cannot be condoned and are hardly a trigger for mirth. Saints greats such as Roberts, Howell, Baldock, Stewart, Neale, Morrow, Smith, Dietrich, Lockett, Harvey and Burke upheld a once proud club and the stirring 1897 foundation VFL member's Fortius Quo Fidelius – Strength through loyalty – insignia. Yet the club's downside culture continues to fester. Not a good look and hardly inspiring for a capable coach and those responsible members of the players group. - RICHARD WORLAND, Manifold Heights
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