Just got back from Perth from my first visit to Subiaco and to see the Tiges play in WA.
First of all would like to thank Tom Christo and other crew at the WA Richmond supporters club for putting on a fantastic function and all the organisation involved. We were in the Subiaco social club (I think) and had completely taken over one of the small function rooms for the pre match with yellow and black everywhere.
The pre match function (probably 60-80 people) was hosted by Karl Langdon and he interviewed a number of people. Whatever you may think about the guy, he is an excellent interviewer. Will try to give you a feel what everyone talked about (from what I could remember - which was under the influence of a few)
Gary March was intereviewed first and spoke for quite a while and was quite reflective of what we have been seeing the club put out in the media. There was the inequality in revenue scenarios due to ground licensing arrangements and our inability to support the full complement of rookies. Discussed wanting more game as the G. Basically also said that Browny would play this week and was only held back by the doctors.
Peter Wilson then came in very briefly. He talked about the game and how he thought we were up against it mainly due to the outs. He also worked the crowd well by saying he was still a Tiger (whenever the Eagles aren't playing) and that KB had sacked him and was a coach he never liked. He did talk about some function he went to where KB was compereing and that KB was doing a fanatastic job and when he got on stage he said "If I had known you weren't such a great bloke I wouldn't have left" to which KB responded "If I'd known you could play I wouldn't have sacked you". Then he ran off to do the commentary.
Then best of all we got Terry Wallace who had just addressed the team and gave us a quick couple of minutes and talked a little bit about the match ups for the upcoming game and that we expected to win.
This was followed with a buffet dinner and the raffle draw.
We got to sit behind the goals and the Perth WA Tigers were genuinely excited getting into every goal. I had blokes tapping me on the shoulder if they were missed out on a high 5 celebration. I guess getting to attend most weeks you can appreciate these folk only get to see us once or twice a year unless they travel. The noise, shreaking and purpleness when the Dockers came back was quite amazing and you could see the influence they had on the men in red.
The post match function was in the larger of the function rooms - the mood was a bit sick given the way the game finished but Greg Miller was in attendance and interviewed some of the players. He also committed to the crowd that this was a club that was going somewhere and we would be back as a final 8 side. (I got to talk to him briefly afterwards and he was rapt with how the rookie club was going but had had to censor some of the material coming from our rookie before it was published!)
Cogs was interviewed first and said how gutted the team was and that Terry had got into them and told them it was an opportunity wasted. Greg put him on the spot a bit asking him if he 'wanted to come back to Perth' and Cogs indicated how much he was settling into Melbourne and 'had a big decision to make' but don't throw up too many alarm bells as imagining he is looking to get a good deal. I can never get over how young this guy looks. He was asked about the umpiring and gave it a blast. It is fair to say the players are pretty annoyed with some of the late decisions but they weren't using this as an excuse.
Joel Bowden was interviewed next and announced he was signing up for 3 years. He was pretty disapppointed with some of his decision making late but thought after Pavlich had got off to a good start he was able to keep him under control for most of the game.
Tambo was funny - he was a bit sheepish about his game and saying he had had a poor one. He was also asked about his family and talked about 'the cold Melbourne weather' and 'needing to keep warm' which got the crowd laughing.
Chubba got a maginificent reception and talked about his game.
Dean Polo was last to be interviewed and thought he had either marked that last ball or had his arms choppped and really didn't think much of the umpires. Greg finished reiterating we were going places and thanking the WA supporters for their continued support.
There was an auction and then everyone in the room sang the song (led by David Norman). A couple of beers later we meandered off. Given we lost we managed to get away without getting mugged....
First of all would like to thank Tom Christo and other crew at the WA Richmond supporters club for putting on a fantastic function and all the organisation involved. We were in the Subiaco social club (I think) and had completely taken over one of the small function rooms for the pre match with yellow and black everywhere.
The pre match function (probably 60-80 people) was hosted by Karl Langdon and he interviewed a number of people. Whatever you may think about the guy, he is an excellent interviewer. Will try to give you a feel what everyone talked about (from what I could remember - which was under the influence of a few)
Gary March was intereviewed first and spoke for quite a while and was quite reflective of what we have been seeing the club put out in the media. There was the inequality in revenue scenarios due to ground licensing arrangements and our inability to support the full complement of rookies. Discussed wanting more game as the G. Basically also said that Browny would play this week and was only held back by the doctors.
Peter Wilson then came in very briefly. He talked about the game and how he thought we were up against it mainly due to the outs. He also worked the crowd well by saying he was still a Tiger (whenever the Eagles aren't playing) and that KB had sacked him and was a coach he never liked. He did talk about some function he went to where KB was compereing and that KB was doing a fanatastic job and when he got on stage he said "If I had known you weren't such a great bloke I wouldn't have left" to which KB responded "If I'd known you could play I wouldn't have sacked you". Then he ran off to do the commentary.
Then best of all we got Terry Wallace who had just addressed the team and gave us a quick couple of minutes and talked a little bit about the match ups for the upcoming game and that we expected to win.
This was followed with a buffet dinner and the raffle draw.
We got to sit behind the goals and the Perth WA Tigers were genuinely excited getting into every goal. I had blokes tapping me on the shoulder if they were missed out on a high 5 celebration. I guess getting to attend most weeks you can appreciate these folk only get to see us once or twice a year unless they travel. The noise, shreaking and purpleness when the Dockers came back was quite amazing and you could see the influence they had on the men in red.
The post match function was in the larger of the function rooms - the mood was a bit sick given the way the game finished but Greg Miller was in attendance and interviewed some of the players. He also committed to the crowd that this was a club that was going somewhere and we would be back as a final 8 side. (I got to talk to him briefly afterwards and he was rapt with how the rookie club was going but had had to censor some of the material coming from our rookie before it was published!)
Cogs was interviewed first and said how gutted the team was and that Terry had got into them and told them it was an opportunity wasted. Greg put him on the spot a bit asking him if he 'wanted to come back to Perth' and Cogs indicated how much he was settling into Melbourne and 'had a big decision to make' but don't throw up too many alarm bells as imagining he is looking to get a good deal. I can never get over how young this guy looks. He was asked about the umpiring and gave it a blast. It is fair to say the players are pretty annoyed with some of the late decisions but they weren't using this as an excuse.
Joel Bowden was interviewed next and announced he was signing up for 3 years. He was pretty disapppointed with some of his decision making late but thought after Pavlich had got off to a good start he was able to keep him under control for most of the game.
Tambo was funny - he was a bit sheepish about his game and saying he had had a poor one. He was also asked about his family and talked about 'the cold Melbourne weather' and 'needing to keep warm' which got the crowd laughing.
Chubba got a maginificent reception and talked about his game.
Dean Polo was last to be interviewed and thought he had either marked that last ball or had his arms choppped and really didn't think much of the umpires. Greg finished reiterating we were going places and thanking the WA supporters for their continued support.
There was an auction and then everyone in the room sang the song (led by David Norman). A couple of beers later we meandered off. Given we lost we managed to get away without getting mugged....
maybe.