Phil Connors Tribute Match

Let's say that revenge is Mt. Rushmore.

That wasn't Mt. Rushmore. It wasn't Washington. It wasn't Jefferson. It wasn't Roosevelt. And it sure wasn't Lincoln. It was someone like Harding or Coolidge, someone lucky to have a street in Charlotte named after them let alone have their face etched into the side of a mountain.

The Carlton grudge isn't over, it's not even close to being over.

They humiliated us last year and close to doing it again tonight. We limped, fell or staggered (not sure which and open for suggestions) over the line and I could make an argument this was because Jarrad Waite is a bell end.

It wasn't flash but it's worth noting that there is no chance that 2012 Richmond would have got there, Carlton would have sailed past and won by five goals. And once Carlton levelled, 2013 Richmond would have puckered up for the taking. I looked at the clock at the 15 minute mark of the third quarter and wondered if we could hold. Do other supporters look at the clock when they are four goals up and wonder if they can hold on for 45 minutes? Surely not.

Even though we took the scenic route, there were still positives. Astbury played his best game for the club, granted the bar wasn't sky high, but he absolutely had the better of Waite who has generally enjoyed having the better of us. Ellis smashed Gibbs, Griffiths stood up when needed, Grigg showed plenty of ticker and Petterd justified the faith shown in him by the selectors.

Most of all though, Vickery bounced back from a truly amazing character assassination from fans and media alike and was a major factor in the win. And this is a brilliant photo where he is stoked, people are going batshit in the background and Daisy Thomas is doing his hair.

We started off like a house on fire because we do that against Carlton apparently and everything clicked in the first half. They were truly abysmal in the first half, it was Murphy or bust and when they did win the ball they were keen on handing it straight back to us. By memory the lead got out to six goals, not nearly enough when you are a Richmond fan, but really it should have been around the ten goal mark, which probably still wouldn't have been enough for Richmond fans.

All credit to Hardwick because they got it done, but that's not a 22 that I hope to see too often this year.

You are in strife when you miss a bloke like Matty White but, here we are, missing Matty White. We miss a bloke who was rubbish for eight years, lucky to not be delisted twice, who played a handful of OK games and scampered to another club before anyone could blink. We need White's speed, preferably on someone who can kick.

Our next two opponents are the Dogs and Collingwood so we are fortunate that we don't have to find pace in too much of a hurry (honk), but we need to find it from somewhere. I'm not about to start naming names because it's only round two (and we won), but there were lots of one paced blokes in Richmond jumpers tonight and a couple of them are playing on past glories semi OK performances. I know Banfield, McDonough and Gordon have some toe and the time to cycle guys through the lineup based on their footspeed is approaching.

Our first half was Oasis, our second half was Beady Eye and I've got no bloody idea what it all means. How can a team possibly go from running all over the opposition to letting Chris Yarran run straight past us time and time again?

Is it mental? Is it leadership? Are we just not much chop?

I feel like I should have enjoyed this win more than I did because a) it was Carlton and b) it was Carlton, but I'm just not feeling it. Why do we have so many blokes who seemingly pull up stumps when it gets hot?

Because I'm not naming names, I won't name the guy who played like a number one draft pick in the first half and was barely seen in the second.

It keeps happening and not just against Carlton, we've coughed up leads for a few years. We let teams off the hook and they charge back at us, hard. We aren't as bad as North, nobody is as bad as North, but we aren't far behind. Twitter tells me Hardwick gave it a six out of ten which seems about right but in terms of 'why does this keep f%*$ing happening?' it was very, very dissapointing.

We should stitch up the Dogs, Collingwood looked like trash last week and then we travel to Brisbane and I can't look up the last time we lost to them because the Internet doesn't go back that far. Four and one is very gettable, perhaps even without clicking into top gear.

Votes

5: David Astbury
4: Ricky Petterd
3: Ty Vickery
2: Brandon Ellis
1: Ben Griffiths

Leaderboards

The Benny
5: Trent Cotchin, David Asbury
4: Shaun Hampson, Ricky Petterd
3: Steven Morris, Ty Vickery
2: Brett Deledio, Brandon Ellis
1: Matt Thomas, Ben Griffiths

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award
4: Shaun Hampson, Ricky Petterd
1: Matt Thomas

Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot
N/A

Greg Tivendale Rookie Medal

1: Matt Thomas

Championship belt

Incumbent	Winner	Streak	Wins
NA	Cotchin	1	1
Astbury	Cotchin	1	1

So this is new and like everything else on here, pilfered from somewhere else. Streak wins will count for double.