Richmond is rewriting the league football record books with its resurgence over the past six weeks.
No team, in the entire history of the competition, has lost its opening nine games of a season, and then bounced back as the Tigers have, to win five of their next six.
After some fairly extensive research, the best comeback I could find, following a long losing streak to start the season, was Hawthorn’s in 1970.
That year, the Hawks lost their first seven games, before winning eight of their next nine, to finish in eighth place on the ladder, in the then 12-team competition (and a final-four system), with a 10-12 record.
Interestingly, off the back of that revival, Hawthorn went on to dominate the competition in 1971, with 19 wins in the home-and-away season, and victories over St Kilda in the second-semi final and the Saints, again, in the Grand Final.
Previous to that, you have to go all the way back to 1930 to find a similar sort of resurrection in league football. In that year, South Melbourne lost its opening six games of the season, but then won eight of its next nine, ultimately finishing seventh with a 9-9 record in the 18-round season.
Six years earlier (1924), Richmond lost its first five games, but recovered to win five of its next six and finish fourth at the end of the 16-round season, with a 10-6 record. The Tigers then won a couple of the round robin finals, which was the play-off system of the day, and finished runner-up to Essendon for the premiership.
North Melbourne started its 1975 campaign with four losses on-the-trot, but staged a magnificent comeback, to take out its first-ever league football premiership.
Other examples in Tigerland history of big bouncebacks during a season are:
In 1947, Richmond won its opening match, then lost four in-a-row, before winning 11 of the next 14, in the 19-round season and sneaking into fourth place on the ladder.
In 1969, the Tigers were 6-6 after 12 rounds, but rocketed to 10 wins in their next 11 games, including a glorious Grand Final triumph over arch-rival Carlton.
In 1994, Richmond was 3-6 after nine rounds, but then won six consecutive games, and nine out of 11, only to miss the final eight on percentage.
And, in 2008, the Tigers stormed home, winning eight of their last 11, to miss the final eight by just two points.
The Tigers’ stirring 19-point victory over top-four team, Fremantle, at Etihad Stadium last Saturday night, was their fourth in-a-row - the first time they have achieved that feat since 2005 when they did it in Rounds 6-9.
You have to go back 10 years, to 2000, for the last time Richmond scored five successive wins. The Tigers beat Geelong, West Coast, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Brisbane in Rounds 8-12 of the 2000 season.
