realfooty.theage.com.au
July 27 2003
By Martin Blake
When Richmond's football manager Greg Hutchison was asked on radio before last night's game against Western Bulldogs what the Tigers needed to unearth in the draft at the end of this year, one of his requirements was a small forward who could regularly kick goals.
But fate took just a couple of hours to answer the call. Martin McGrath, a coat rack of a 19-year-old from South Fremantle who has been honing his skills with Coburg in the VFL for 18 months, last night booted five goals on debut for the Tigers in a memorable opening stanza to his elite career.
On cue, Danny Frawley's Richmond achieved its first triumph in two-and-a-half friendless, winless months since the defeat of Melbourne in round eight took the Tigers to a 6-2 record and a position of optimism.
McGrath's first significant act was to soccer the goal that put Richmond in front for the first time in the match, during the second quarter, after the Bulldogs had dominated the early proceedings.
He was not done with. Weighing just 70 kilograms dripping wet, the West Australian threw himself into the fray and kicked opportunist goals at regular intervals.
When the last quarter began, his chase and tackle on Matthew Robbins earned him a free kick and he calmly drilled the goal from 40 metres, extinguishing any hopes the Bulldogs might have harboured.
Frawley said McGrath's 18-month apprenticeship had been the result of his naive attitude to preparation for AFL football.
"It's been a rocky road for Marty," he said. "He's had to work a lot harder than some other people for this. But we can't just hand out league games. He was a kid who was struggling to come to terms with league football and the preparation that's required. He's an excitement machine. We knew that."
The Tigers slapped a media ban on the teenager after the game, and Frawley said the club wanted him focused for next week. "There's going to be a hell of a lot more pressure on him next week."
Richmond had many more fine players on a night when the maelstrom of the past eight games suddenly opened up beneath them. But McGrath was significant in the sense that Richmond was able to find a forward set-up that finally worked; the Bulldogs could not. This was the difference in the teams.
Give Frawley his due. As the most intense pressure of his four-year coaching career came to bear on him at Richmond this week, he did two things. One was to say he would not be changing, no matter what the notoriously fickle Richmond supporters thought about his performance. The other was to take a risk.
When the Tigers lined up last night, Frawley had Matthew Richardson on a wing. A winger at 198 centimetres and 102 kilograms? It's the sort of radical strategy that opened him up to criticism from within.
But it worked. Frawley had Ben Holland coming out of the goal square, and he kicked six gilt-edged goals, providing an adequate impersonation of Richardson. With crumbers at his feet (Andrew Krakouer and McGrath booted nine between them), Richmond had the recipe for a winning score, and cruised to a 10-goal win.
Meanwhile, Richardson, Punt Road's flawed diamond, was inspired. He roamed the wide open spaces in the first half, making contributions with his one-percenters but not venturing into the 50-metre arc that is customarily his home patch.
He floated across marking contests to thump the ball out of bounds, and his tackle on Scott West jarred the ball free and set up the goal that put Richmond in front in the second quarter.
In the second half Richardson assumed a more orthodox position in the goal mouth and started pulling in marks against the Bulldogs' undersized defence. He did not manage a goal until 18 minutes into the final quarter, yet it scarcely mattered to Richmond. He had 17 marks for the night and was unstoppable.
In short, everything worked for Frawley, who doubtless will now resume his position as a hero at Punt Road.
It is the P-word (passion) that keeps popping up at Tigerland and it happened again this week when the internal memo that caused a storm was leaked.
When he started at Richmond, Frawley said the club needed to pull back; that it had relied too heavily upon passion rather than getting the right processes in place.
Now he finds himself criticised for that. Go figure. Frawley's biggest problem, he will have realised after this week from hell, is that he is not a Richmond person. They may eat their own at Richmond, but they devour outsiders, too.
As for McGrath, he had the ball when the siren went, 55 metres out, just as he had owned it on the night. His kick hit the post, just to show there are few fairytales in footy. But for the Tigers, he is manna from heaven.
July 27 2003
By Martin Blake
When Richmond's football manager Greg Hutchison was asked on radio before last night's game against Western Bulldogs what the Tigers needed to unearth in the draft at the end of this year, one of his requirements was a small forward who could regularly kick goals.
But fate took just a couple of hours to answer the call. Martin McGrath, a coat rack of a 19-year-old from South Fremantle who has been honing his skills with Coburg in the VFL for 18 months, last night booted five goals on debut for the Tigers in a memorable opening stanza to his elite career.
On cue, Danny Frawley's Richmond achieved its first triumph in two-and-a-half friendless, winless months since the defeat of Melbourne in round eight took the Tigers to a 6-2 record and a position of optimism.
McGrath's first significant act was to soccer the goal that put Richmond in front for the first time in the match, during the second quarter, after the Bulldogs had dominated the early proceedings.
He was not done with. Weighing just 70 kilograms dripping wet, the West Australian threw himself into the fray and kicked opportunist goals at regular intervals.
When the last quarter began, his chase and tackle on Matthew Robbins earned him a free kick and he calmly drilled the goal from 40 metres, extinguishing any hopes the Bulldogs might have harboured.
Frawley said McGrath's 18-month apprenticeship had been the result of his naive attitude to preparation for AFL football.
"It's been a rocky road for Marty," he said. "He's had to work a lot harder than some other people for this. But we can't just hand out league games. He was a kid who was struggling to come to terms with league football and the preparation that's required. He's an excitement machine. We knew that."
The Tigers slapped a media ban on the teenager after the game, and Frawley said the club wanted him focused for next week. "There's going to be a hell of a lot more pressure on him next week."
Richmond had many more fine players on a night when the maelstrom of the past eight games suddenly opened up beneath them. But McGrath was significant in the sense that Richmond was able to find a forward set-up that finally worked; the Bulldogs could not. This was the difference in the teams.
Give Frawley his due. As the most intense pressure of his four-year coaching career came to bear on him at Richmond this week, he did two things. One was to say he would not be changing, no matter what the notoriously fickle Richmond supporters thought about his performance. The other was to take a risk.
When the Tigers lined up last night, Frawley had Matthew Richardson on a wing. A winger at 198 centimetres and 102 kilograms? It's the sort of radical strategy that opened him up to criticism from within.
But it worked. Frawley had Ben Holland coming out of the goal square, and he kicked six gilt-edged goals, providing an adequate impersonation of Richardson. With crumbers at his feet (Andrew Krakouer and McGrath booted nine between them), Richmond had the recipe for a winning score, and cruised to a 10-goal win.
Meanwhile, Richardson, Punt Road's flawed diamond, was inspired. He roamed the wide open spaces in the first half, making contributions with his one-percenters but not venturing into the 50-metre arc that is customarily his home patch.
He floated across marking contests to thump the ball out of bounds, and his tackle on Scott West jarred the ball free and set up the goal that put Richmond in front in the second quarter.
In the second half Richardson assumed a more orthodox position in the goal mouth and started pulling in marks against the Bulldogs' undersized defence. He did not manage a goal until 18 minutes into the final quarter, yet it scarcely mattered to Richmond. He had 17 marks for the night and was unstoppable.
In short, everything worked for Frawley, who doubtless will now resume his position as a hero at Punt Road.
It is the P-word (passion) that keeps popping up at Tigerland and it happened again this week when the internal memo that caused a storm was leaked.
When he started at Richmond, Frawley said the club needed to pull back; that it had relied too heavily upon passion rather than getting the right processes in place.
Now he finds himself criticised for that. Go figure. Frawley's biggest problem, he will have realised after this week from hell, is that he is not a Richmond person. They may eat their own at Richmond, but they devour outsiders, too.
As for McGrath, he had the ball when the siren went, 55 metres out, just as he had owned it on the night. His kick hit the post, just to show there are few fairytales in footy. But for the Tigers, he is manna from heaven.
