FOR THOSE aged over 40, Tuesday at the MCG represented a trip down memory lane. For those under 40, a history lesson.

The occasion was the launch of KB: A Life In Football, the tell-all biography of former Richmond champion, Kevin Bartlett, written by his son, Rhett.

It was mainly a celebration of Bartlett's life, his 403 games for Richmond between 1965 and 1983, which resulted in his eventual elevation to Legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Bartlett has also enjoyed long and varied roles in the football media, coached the Tigers and for many years has been a leading member of the AFL's Laws of the Game Committee.

But Tuesday was also about that period from 1967 to 1980 when the Tigers were roaring. As Bartlett noted, "that little football club on the corner of Punt Road and Brunton Avenue was the most powerful in the country."

Everywhere you looked in the Harrison Room at the MCG, there was Richmond royalty. Kevin Sheedy, a lifelong friend of Bartlett's was on the panel, sitting alongside Barry Richardson, a teammate and coach of Bartlett at Tigerland.

Sprinkled through the room was a collection of greats from that 14-year period where the Tigers won five premierships and were the most fearsome combination in the VFL.

Former president Ian Wilson was there, as was legendary coach Tom Hafey. Former teammates Neville Crowe, Bill Barrot, Roger Dean, Michael Green, Neil Balme, Tony Jewell, Michael Roach, Dale Weightman, Geoff Raines and Bruce Monteath were also present, nibbling on sandwiches or perhaps in tribute to the devout teetotaller Bartlett, sipping cups of tea.

For those of a certain age, there was something familiar about seeing so many Tiger greats congregated in the same place at the MCG. Richmond's move to the MCG as its home ground in 1965 and its rise to power coincided with the rapid descent of the longtime primary winter tenant, the Melbourne Football Club, to the depths of the ladder.

Looking around the room, it was easy to figure why the Tigers were such a powerful side. Pace, strength, skill and toughness, the Tigers had these qualities in spades. During his speech, Bartlett singled out Dean, a demure, great-haired man sitting quietly up the back.

On the field, it was clearly a different matter. "He had a real case of white-line fever," said Bartlett of his 1969 premiership captain.

As they leafed through the book taking in the photos and the words, Bartlett's former teammates, a few longtime rivals (Bob Skilton and Ron Barassi were in the room) and various media colleagues from over the years, harked back to the time when Richmond was a footballing force.

The present generation of Tigers weren't there, with the exception of club president Gary March and chief executive Brendon Gale, who played under Bartlett in his early days as a Richmond player.

But it might have been an opportunity lost. As Bartlett points out in the book and as he did again on Tuesday, the Tigers of old spent too long eating their own. Coach after coach, great player after great player left the club on bad terms and many took their sweet time coming back.

But there was a time when the Tigers were the kings of the MCG, and even for a fleeting period on Tuesday, Richmond's 2011 playing list could have been in amongst it, sampling just a taste of Tiger history.

They would have been the guests of honour, because the overwhelming wish of all the Richmond people in the room, as enunciated by Bartlett during his speech, is for their former club to be a football power once more.

Ashley Browne was the editor of KB: A Life in Football.

You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/hashbrowne