Richmond’s challenge to beat fifth-placed Sydney at the SCG on Sunday is even greater when you factor in the Tigers’ recent record in the Harbour City.
It’s been seven years since Richmond last won in Sydney - May 9, 2004. As an indication of how long ago that was, only one member of that successful team is still at Tigerland - captain Chris Newman, who, back then, was a 21-year-old, in just his 42nd game of league football.
Matthew Richardson was the star of that last Tiger win in Sydney. On a soggy SCG surface, he produced one of the finest games of his career, gathering 15 kicks, pulling down 10 marks (as if it was a dry day) and booting seven of the team’s 10 goals in a totally dominant, match-winning performance.
Not surprisingly, ‘Richo’ earned the three Brownlow votes in that match, with Nathan Brown collecting two votes following his 28-possession, one-goal display, and ex-Magpie, Paul Williams, picking up the one vote for his efforts with the Swans.
The Richmond side that day was captained by Wayne Campbell (in his last season as skipper), now one of the Club’s assistant coaches, while three other team members are now playing for rival league clubs - Andrew Krakouer (Collingwood), Brad Ottens (Geelong) and Jay Schulz (Port Adelaide).
On the plus side for the Tigers is the fact that they snapped an overall eight-game losing streak against the Sydney Swans the last time they met, defeating them by four points - 14.5 (89) to 12.13 (85) - in Round 14, 2010 at the MCG.
Of those eight consecutive losses to the Swans, five of them occurred at the SCG.
