The Centenary Weekend started on a great note with me attending the Dinner at the
Crown Palladium and despite my plane being 20 minutes late made it to the dinner without missin
out on any of the important formalities.
This was a wonderful night celebrating the great history of the Richmond Football Club with many great players in attendance and remembering some of the great events of the Richmond Football Club,with the announcement of the winners of the 10 Tiger Treasures.
It was also a chance to get up personal with some of these greats and many photos were taken which will be put on the website.
The celebrations continued at Punt Road prior to the game where again the former players were in attendance and the winners of the 10 categories of the Tiger Treasures were again remembered.
And so onto the MCG for the game against Carlton where there was great expectation for a big crowd and hopefully a good win.
Not the hoped 100,000-00,73,000-00 and unfortunately not the win we hoped we would get.
Most people said we were good for three quarters of the game and fell away in the last quarter.
I would say we were adequate for three quarters,and I thought even though we had lead at various stages up until three quarter time it never seemed as though we were totally in contol.
In the last quarter Carlton smashed us particuarly in the mid field which was extremely disappointing.
The disappointing thing is the players could not get themselves up for a win in one of the most important weeks of the Club’s history.
The club has a great tradition and history,this group of players needs to show the passion that has made Richmond the great club it is and one that is loved by many people.
So there’s a still long way to go but we have to be excited by Trent Cotchin who just looks like he is going to be a very good player.
I thought Kel Moore did a great job on Brendan Fevola and is a much improved player.
There were a few people who travelled down for the game and like me would have been very disappointed.
It was good to catch up with Ian Kenner our IT man and John Petkovshek at the after match function and for a few beers in the City.

MATCH REPORT
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace was “terribly disappointed” with his side’s final-term fade at the MCG on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers led at every change but conceded seven goals to two in the final quarter to lose by 30 points.

After the match Wallace said his team was “outworked by a hard-running side on the day”.

“I thought we marginally held sway in the first two quarters … but only just marginally. You could see it coming in the third quarter and it was a matter of whether we could re-adjust ourselves at three quarter-time.

“But it seemed very much that when the game was lost, the game was lost, and I thought that that was disappointing.”

Wallace praised young charges Cleve Hughes and Mitch Morton for their three-goal efforts, and Trent Cotchin, who continues to impress in his first AFL season. He was also delighted with Kel Moore’s effort on sharpshooter Brendan Fevola.

“I thought [Moore] did a fantastic job … 62 inside 50s Carlton had for the day – it was coming down at an almighty rate – and it wouldn’t have mattered who you played on [Fevola] … when he’s been kicking bags of goals,” Wallace said.

“He kept Buddy Buddy (Lance Franklin) to one [goal] earlier in the year, so he’s done some pretty good jobs and we would have liked to have had a little bit more assistance down there.

“We had to throw our team around a little bit with Will Thursfield coming out and losing Luke McGuane last week. We’d normally like to play with all of three boys in the line-up, so that probably hurt the balance a little bit.

“I know they had Juddy (Chris Judd) come out, so that’s a massive one for them, but sometimes key defenders are hard to plug – you just can’t grab a key defender from anywhere and fill a hole, so that hurt us a bit.”

Wallace said it was a “smart move” by Carlton to announce on Friday that its skipper Judd would not be playing.

“I would have done exactly the same thing … it probably put more pressure on us with the end result, in regards to our supporters coming with great expectations,” Wallace said.

“We dealt all week with both going on. We probably thought that he wasn’t going to play for a fair portion of the week, so we planned for him in and we planned for him out.”

As for how he rated the season at this point, Wallace said: “We just haven’t beaten a side above us and that’s been the whole crux of the season so far. Where we are is probably where we are at exactly this point in time.”

I suppose most of you by now would be aware of the terrible accident
sustained by Graham Polak,being hit by a train,it puts into perspective losing a game of Football.
The health of a talented young man means a lot more,I am sure we are all hopeful that Graham’s injuries will not prevent him leading a normal life,I would suggest playing Footy again would be the last thing on his mind.
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DOCTORS hope to bring Richmond’s Graham Polak out of an induced coma after he was hit and badly injured by a tram in Melbourne.
The accident last night left the defender with bruising on the brain and a spokesperson for The Alfred hospital said Polak’s condition was critical, but stable.

Polak, 24, was crossing the intersection of Orrong and Dandenong roads at Armadale around 11.30pm (AEST) when he was struck.

While his condition has improved, Richmond club doctor Greg Hickey said Polak would be in hospital “for some time”.

Team-mates Cleve Hughes and Jordan McMahon were with Polak at the time of the accident.

Hickey said Polak’s condition had improved overnight and he was trying to move his limbs.

“The latest scan, which was done not that long ago, show there hasn’t been any significant change in the situation,” Hickey said.

He said there had been no extra swelling, which was an encouraging sign. Dr Hickey earlier said Polak had swelling on the brain.

“Initially, they were planing to keep him in an induced coma for two to three days,” he said.

“Now the hope is they will be weaning things off this morning, and hopefully he will wake up … and we will have a clearer picture of where he’s at.

“Things are a bit more positive now than they were a few hours ago.”

Polak’s parents are travelling from Perth to be with their son, while his partner Alycle and Richmond team-mates were told last night of the accident.

Although Polak’s condition is improving, he will not play again this season and his AFL career is in doubt.

“In terms of footy, it is unquestionable. He won’t play this season – longer term beyond that, we’ll just have to wait and see,” Hickey said.

“He’s certainly been moving all his limbs, which is a good sign.

“It’s not like there are signs he is paralysed in any of his limbs. Probably the hardest thing to gauge at this stage is more his intellectual recovery, whether he will regain that – time will tell.”

Richmond football manager Greg Miller said it was unclear if alcohol played a role in the accident.

“I’m unaware of that, it’s not a concern for us at the moment,” he said.

Polak has played 11 games for Richmond this season for a career total of 106 and was part of the team that lost to Carlton yesterday at the MCG.

Tiger veteran Matthew Richardson said: “It’s a shock, but I don’t know any details at this stage”.

One of the biggest games Richmond will play for several years
when they clash with Carlton on Saturday.
A real chance for Richmond to show the progress their young group
has made and to continue their climb up the ladder.
Two big ins-Kane Johnson and Will Thursfield,hopefully both have
fully recovered from their injuries,there is mail Chris Judd has
a fractured cheekbone and may not play,not as tough as Richo who played
with a fractured eye socket last year.
This will be a massive weekend in Melbourne with the Centenary Dinner
this evening and celebration at Punt Road tomorrow before the game.
For those travelling down have a great weekend,let’s hope the Tigers
have a big win and we may catch up with you.
For those unable to make it down,hope you get to the Camelia Grove
Hotel to watch the game on Fox Sports 1 from 2-10PM.
I am sure Tim Frohlich,Kent and Luke Goldsworthy,Jame Carnegie
will attend the pub and it would be great to get a few others there to create
a good atmosphere.

Richmond v Carlton
MCG @ 2.10pm

RICHMOND
B: Chris Newman, Will Thursfield, Joel Bowden
HB: Kelvin Moore, Graham Polak, Jordan McMahon
C: Matthew Richardson, Shane Tuck, Matthew White
HF: Richard Tambling, Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin
F: Mitch Morton, Cleve Hughes, Nathan Brown
Foll: Troy Simmonds, Brett Deledio, Nathan Foley
Int: Dean Polo, Adam Pattison, Chris Hyde, Kane Johnson, ,
Emg: Jake King, Daniel Connors, Jay Schulz

In: Johnson, Thursfield
Out: Luke McGuane (hamstring), Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls (omitted)

CARLTON
B: Shaun Grigg, Michael Jamison, Setanta O’hAilpin
HB: Andrew Carrazzo, Bret Thornton, Jordan Russell
C: Kade Simpson, Nick Stevens, Heath Scotland
HF: Marc Murphy, Jarrad Waite, Brad Fisher
F: Eddie Betts, Brendan Fevola, Simon Wiggins
Foll: Cameron Cloke, Chris Judd, Bryce Gibbs
Int: Adam Bentick, Steven Browne, Jake Edwards, Matthew Kreuzer
Emg: Joe Anderson, Mark Austin, Jason Saddington

In: Edwards
Out: Dennis Armfield (finger)

MARK MAUNDER PRESIDENT SYDNEY TIGERS
0437677811

You Beauty,the Richmond Tigers have won 2 in a row for the first time since 2006
defeating Port Adelaide 127-123.
Again some nervous moments in the last quarter as Port Adelaide got within 4 points with a just over a minute to play.
They then won the centre clearance pumped the ball into the 50 to the direction of Daniel Motlop who had troubled us all day and who should float back and take a match saving mark but Joel Bowden,the Tigers retained possession and held onto win.
The often maligned Joel Bowden was one of many good players,there were some who said he should have been dropped along with Greg Tivendale and Kane Pettifer but with 39 possessions
he justified his place in the side.
This was a good team performance winning a game without either Matthew Richardson or Nathan Brown having to star for us to win.
Yes Richo was again good without being the standout,but we are getting more from all the other players in the team and this is enabling us to start winning games.
Cleve Hughes was great kicking 6 goals and hopefully can keep stepping up,Mitch Morton also had a great game kicking 5 goals so it makes our forward line a lot more dangerous.
Shane Tuck in career best form with his ability to win the footy,Nathan Foley also good in the midfield and many other good performers on the day.
Okay we got the wobbles in the last quarter but we held our nerve to win,kicking 20 goal on the way.
Sets up a mouth watering clash against our foes Carlton and I am sure the officials of the Club could be not be happier as it should ensure a crowd of close to 90,000-00 which helps the Richmond coffers.
The only sour note a hamstring injury to Luke McGuane and he will be out for a couple of weeks,hopefully Will Thursfield will be back to mind Fevola.
Have a good week as we normally do after a Tigers win,there are lots of people travelling down for the Carlton game so see you down there,hopefully we can catch up somewhere on the Saturday night,one of my Melbourne friends suggests Southbank.
For those of aren’t going to the game hope you can get to the Camelia Grove to watch the game.
MATCH REPORT