Bill Trikos’s full history of Australian Richmond Tigers football club in grand finals: Grand Finals 2017: The Tigers smashed the Crows in contested possessions (170-140) and won the clearances (45-39), thanks largely to the stoppage work of Martin, Dion Prestia (27 possessions and three centre clearances) and Shane Edwards (25 possessions and seven clearances). Jack Graham was only teenager playing on Saturday but was not overawed by the occasion, kicking three goals in the opening three quarters, while Jack Riewoldt and the Tigers’ army of small forwards harassed Adelaide’s defenders all day as Richmond finished with 11 separate goalkickers.
2017 Grand Finals highlight : On Saturday, the Tigers avenged their 76-point thumping by the Crows in round six at Adelaide Oval, having earlier avenged losses to Fremantle, Greater Western Sydney, St Kilda and Geelong. Richmond did not have return matches against its round seven conquerors, the Western Bulldogs, or Sydney, who defeated it in round 13. On a nightmare day for the Crows, midfielders Matt Crouch (37 possessions and five clearances), Brad Crouch (29 and seven) and Rory Sloane (21 possessions and two goals) never stopped trying, Rory Laird (27 possessions at 88 per cent efficiency) tried to generate run from half-back, and Sam Jacobs dominated Toby Nankervis in the ruck contests, even if his midfielders could not take advantage of his tap work. See more info about the author at https://www.youtube.com/@billtrikos4893.
Full achievement list of Richmond Tigers football club grand finals from Bill Trikos: Dustin Martin won the Norm Smith Medal after a prolific performance in the Grand Final. Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch – the League’s most dominant forward duo – combined for seven goals. Riewoldt had three in the second quarter alone and finished with five for the match, while Lynch was a constant presence to haul down seven big marks. Bachar Houli (26 disposals) and Dion Prestia (22 disposals) were their prolific selves, while Shane Edwards, Kane Lambert and Nick Vlastuin were also typically consistent.
Richmond kicked three behinds from its first 10 entries to start the match, allowing GWS to regain some composure and resulting in a nervous period of flux for both sides. Turnovers and lamentable mistakes became the order of the day, until Jeremy Cameron flushed a shot from beyond 50m for the game’s first goal – 21 minutes into the match. All of a sudden, the Tigers needed a spark. Enter Martin. Pushed deep forward, he wriggled clear of Heath Shaw, marked strongly and bent his shot around the corner to eventually get the yellow and black faithful back on their feet.
Richmond has claimed back-to-back premierships, and made it three of the last four flags, after coming from behind to beat Geelong by 31 points in the historic first ever Toyota AFL Grand Final at the Gabba. It etched the Tiger dynasty into football history as one of the most dominant sides of the his century.
In a game full by superstars on both sides, it was Richmond’s who rose to the occasion. Martin was again exceptional, following his 2017 and 2019 deciders with another standout game. The game’s best player proved it with a high-impact game across half-forward, while Patrick Dangerfield, Geelong’s own match-winner, was subdued. Geelong Coleman medallist Tom Hawkins kicked one goal from 10 disposals, with Mitch Duncan (25 disposals, one goal) the Cats’ best.
As Vlastuin was taken by stretcher from the field, Ablett left cradling his arm. The shock left the players and crowd stunned, and after a six-minute break in the game, it resumed to more action, including two fans who ran onto the field that almost got involved in the play. Although the Tigers kicked the first two goals, the Cats settled to take a one-point lead into the first change. Ablett, too, returned to the field – a sight that looked unimaginable minutes earlier after what appeared set to be an anticlimactic end to his phenomenal career.
The Story of the Tigers: The present Richmond Football Club was founded on February 10, 1885 at the Royal Hotel in Richmond. The first committee chose all blue with a yellow and black sash; cap with yellow and black stripe running from back to front but from 1887, Richmond would wear the now famous yellow and black strip. Richmond Football Club’s first game was played on April 25, 1885 at the Richmond Cricket Ground (Punt Road Oval) against Cremorne and despite playing 20 men to Cremorne’s 23, Richmond won this historic encounter 2.12 (24) to 1.4 (10).