NO DOUBT, the Tiger army will be in a filthy mood for the rest of the weekend after their team jumped to an early five-goal lead over Carlton at the MCG on Saturday afternoon before losing by 10 points.
To say Richmond supporters hate Carlton might be understating things a touch.
But football clubs have to take away such emotion if they are to function at their best, so the mood within the inner sanctum on Saturday evening was more of annoyance.
"You never like to lose. It was a good kick in the backside," said coach Damien Hardwick of the loss which for all practical purposes, ends the club's bid for a top-four berth.
"The second quarter was where it was won and lost," he said. "They hit us incredibly hard after that quarter-time break. They obviously got a fair rocket and they came out and played some hard footy. Credit where it is due. They were better than us during that part of the game."
The Tigers slammed on eight goals to three in the first term. It was great footy to watch, but unsustainable. Goals were being kicked from everywhere and virtually every inside-50 entry impacted the scoreboard.
What interested Hardwick was how his team responded to the inevitable Carlton comeback. The Blues kicked six goals to two in the second term to trail by five points at half-time. They hit the lead for good early in the last quarter and stayed in front from there.
"I thought we were a little bit clumsy. We overused the ball at times and we thought we would be a little bit better than we produced," he said.
He pointed out errors from Reece Conca and Jack Riewoldt where they centred the ball in the wrong part of the ground that led to turnovers that would lead to Carlton goals that sparked its revival.
"Whether our guys were so far in front they could take some liberties, well, that's not what good sides do," he said. "We'll look and learn and we have to get better in some areas. There's no doubt about that."
Hardwick reported afterwards that skipper Trent Cotchin just had a bad day after being held to eight possessions by Ed Curnow and he held few concerns over a knock to the knee that hobbled Cotchin. Forward Ricky Petterd strained a hamstring and the severity of that will become clear early next week.
Small forward Matt White missed with soreness, a call that was made 90 minutes before the bounce and was more precautionary than anything.
It is the second straight week where the Tigers held a handy lead only for their opponents to get back in the game. They arrested the slide just in time against the Brisbane Lions last week, but could not hold the Blues at bay this time around.
Hardwick said he didn't see the concentration lapses as a particular area for concern and gave the praise to Carlton, whose numbers he said, belied its ninth place on the ladder.
"Proud man," he said of Blues coach Mick Malthouse, "and a proud club. They're better than the media gives them credit for."
Which again sums up the difference between the Richmond the club, and Richmond the supporter base. At the Cricketers, the Corner, the London Tavern and the other famous drinking institutions around Tigertown, there would never be such praise lavished on anything or anyone to do with the old, dark, navy Blues.
