18 August 2003
Herald Sun
By TREVOR GRANT
AS RICHMOND supporters struggled to raise their voices in anger down by the race – two even clapped as the team left the ground – it appeared as if a once-great club had finally cracked.
When Tiger fans stop spitting vitriol at their own when they get thumped by 39 points and chalk up the 11th loss in the past 12 games, you know the game is up.
Whether they are dumping bile on the coach on Saturday evening talkback radio or truckloads of chicken manure at the front door on Monday, no one is left to wonder how much the Tiger fans care about their team.
Watching those forlorn faces at the race yesterday, and absorbing the eerie silences late in the game, you couldn't help but wonder if it's not so clear-cut these days.
Have they gone past caring?
Whereas once they all could have done with anger management courses, could it be that these days Tiger fans need a session or two on the couch with a kindly counsellor to help them through another barren September?
Of course, those applauding fans could have been motivated by sarcasm, or perhaps they were simply acknowledging midfielder Mark Coughlan, who shone like a beacon amid the dullness of the Richmond response to Essendon yesterday.
He was clearly the Tigers' best player, so easily picked out by the manner in which he imposed himself so manfully in so many uneven contests all day.
"I have struggled with a tag this year and today I was getting some close attention from (Marc) Bullen and (Mark) Bolton throughout the game," Coughlan said.
"So to get a few touches while getting close attention has given me a bit of a confidence boost."
But as much he deserved to feel content that he'd given every last ounce to the cause, he spoke with a solemnity that said everything about the deep depression that has engulfed this club.
"No matter how well people are telling you that you have played, it doesn't mean much when the team is losing," he said.
Danny Frawley might have summoned up his usual bold front for the post-match cameras yesterday, declaring that he was happy with the effort from his players and that if they'd kicked 5.2 instead of 2.5 in the first term things might have been different.
Then there was the suggestion that if you discounted the second term, when Essendon set up its victory, the teams were pretty even.
"If you take the second quarter out of it, the game was probably a nil-all draw," he said.
Coaches caught in a cycle of decline are prone to looking for something, anything, to cling on to in the darkness of the storm.
And that's all that's left for the Richmond coach now, as he surveys the prospect of games against Port Adelaide and Hawthorn and the probability of 1-14 win loss record to round out the season.
Try as he might, Frawley can't paper over the chasm that has developed between his team and the competitive sides this season.
His faith is not so blind as to not know that he is coaching a side that, at this moment, borders on irrelevance when it comes to a fair-dinkum contest.
The signs yesterday certainly led you to believe he knows as much.
With those flooding tactics in the second half, Richmond looked, at times, as if it was intent on minimising damage more than anything else.
Even though it's probably understandable in the circumstances, it's not a good look.
Richmond has spent countless hours, and quite a few dollars, sending out the message that it's a pro-active outfit these days, well-equipped to deal with the current crisis.
But this reactive style of play suggests otherwise.
There is nothing more depressing to a committed fan than to see a team either unable or unwilling to keep on taking risks to try to win a game.
Maybe that's why there seemed to be so little emotion around the players' race yesterday. Perhaps they have lost the passion as well.
To be sure, when the supporters start to lose the fire in the belly, you know a club is really in trouble.
Herald Sun
By TREVOR GRANT
AS RICHMOND supporters struggled to raise their voices in anger down by the race – two even clapped as the team left the ground – it appeared as if a once-great club had finally cracked.
When Tiger fans stop spitting vitriol at their own when they get thumped by 39 points and chalk up the 11th loss in the past 12 games, you know the game is up.
Whether they are dumping bile on the coach on Saturday evening talkback radio or truckloads of chicken manure at the front door on Monday, no one is left to wonder how much the Tiger fans care about their team.
Watching those forlorn faces at the race yesterday, and absorbing the eerie silences late in the game, you couldn't help but wonder if it's not so clear-cut these days.
Have they gone past caring?
Whereas once they all could have done with anger management courses, could it be that these days Tiger fans need a session or two on the couch with a kindly counsellor to help them through another barren September?
Of course, those applauding fans could have been motivated by sarcasm, or perhaps they were simply acknowledging midfielder Mark Coughlan, who shone like a beacon amid the dullness of the Richmond response to Essendon yesterday.
He was clearly the Tigers' best player, so easily picked out by the manner in which he imposed himself so manfully in so many uneven contests all day.
"I have struggled with a tag this year and today I was getting some close attention from (Marc) Bullen and (Mark) Bolton throughout the game," Coughlan said.
"So to get a few touches while getting close attention has given me a bit of a confidence boost."
But as much he deserved to feel content that he'd given every last ounce to the cause, he spoke with a solemnity that said everything about the deep depression that has engulfed this club.
"No matter how well people are telling you that you have played, it doesn't mean much when the team is losing," he said.
Danny Frawley might have summoned up his usual bold front for the post-match cameras yesterday, declaring that he was happy with the effort from his players and that if they'd kicked 5.2 instead of 2.5 in the first term things might have been different.
Then there was the suggestion that if you discounted the second term, when Essendon set up its victory, the teams were pretty even.
"If you take the second quarter out of it, the game was probably a nil-all draw," he said.
Coaches caught in a cycle of decline are prone to looking for something, anything, to cling on to in the darkness of the storm.
And that's all that's left for the Richmond coach now, as he surveys the prospect of games against Port Adelaide and Hawthorn and the probability of 1-14 win loss record to round out the season.
Try as he might, Frawley can't paper over the chasm that has developed between his team and the competitive sides this season.
His faith is not so blind as to not know that he is coaching a side that, at this moment, borders on irrelevance when it comes to a fair-dinkum contest.
The signs yesterday certainly led you to believe he knows as much.
With those flooding tactics in the second half, Richmond looked, at times, as if it was intent on minimising damage more than anything else.
Even though it's probably understandable in the circumstances, it's not a good look.
Richmond has spent countless hours, and quite a few dollars, sending out the message that it's a pro-active outfit these days, well-equipped to deal with the current crisis.
But this reactive style of play suggests otherwise.
There is nothing more depressing to a committed fan than to see a team either unable or unwilling to keep on taking risks to try to win a game.
Maybe that's why there seemed to be so little emotion around the players' race yesterday. Perhaps they have lost the passion as well.
To be sure, when the supporters start to lose the fire in the belly, you know a club is really in trouble.
