younginator
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One of the Best Articles you may ever read !
http://www.yellowandblack.info/forums/showthread.php?t=4083&page=1&pp=10
Remembering Rory - Part 1
“Let me paint Rory Hilton as I see him at that moment: socks down, hands on hips, weight taken on right leg, golden fringe worn a fraction too long so that he is obliged to carry his head thrown back ever so slightly. Like so much of the old Australian aesthetic, it’s one of those styles that exists up until the moment it’s identified as one.”
- Martin Flanagan – on First Semi Final Day, September 15, 2001, from The Game in the Time of War
Footballers’ careers balance on the knife-edge.
For many, they spend their time on the field just one false move or unlucky break from serious injury; or a couple of bad games away from being dropped.
It’s an unforgiving game – one which makes allowances for very few, and waits for only the very lucky. Once injury strikes, those not fortunate enough, good enough or just plain lucky enough to be able to catch up find themselves quickly left behind.
Star and struggler alike can be cursed by injury, their career blighted and cut short before its time.
Of recent times, Tiger stars like Tony Free, Scott Turner and Duncan Kellaway found themselves locked in mortal combat with their injury demons. And on each occasion, those demons got the better of them; tragically cutting short careers that seemed to have so much left in them.
Rory Hilton will never be classed as a Tiger champion. Only 82 games in seven seasons at Punt Road will not win him a life membership, nor a special place on Tiger honour boards.
In fact, for someone chosen number three by Brisbane in the 1996 National Draft and traded to Richmond at the end of 1998 after just nine games in Lions’ colours, a total of 91 games in nine seasons could be seen as an underachievement.
But for Hilton – who even before making his senior debut suffered serious knee and eye injuries – the fight against the great footballing curse of injury proved to be a long and frustrating one.
“Desperately needing a goal, Spud Frawley gambles and puts Rory Hilton to full-forward. Rory’s not a great player, never going to be one. He’s too short to play full-forward but he’s brave in a way I’ve been admiring all my life. As I say, not a great player, but if the ball comes Rory’s way two things are sure: one, he will throw his left arm back so that it collects his opponent in the midriff – thereby supplying him with a disincentive to accompany him to the ball; and two, when he gets to the action he’ll have what is known in the language of the game as a crack or a red-hot go.”
- Martin Flanagan.
It seems so long ago, but in fact it’s only four or five years. But four or five years is enough to make it easy to forget how good Rory Hilton was during his best times at Richmond.
After only eight senior games for the Tigers in 1999 – none of which saw him gather more than nine possessions – the boy from Wodonga remained an unknown quantity at the start of 2000. Whispers swirled about his attitude, about his unwillingness to follow instructions, about his lack of fitness.
Danny Frawley’s arrival at Punt Road saw a candid reappraisal of Hilton – something along the lines of needing to lose some weight, get serious and get in shape. Whether it was the change of coach, or the words from him stinging him into action, that pre-season saw Hilton transform himself, get serious and get fit.
Called into the senior team for the Tigers’ Round Three game against reigning premiers North Melbourne, Hilton may well have realised the importance of grasping the opportunity presented to him.
And on that balmy March night, Hilton grabbed that opportunity with both hands. With 39 goals kicked by three-qaurter-time as the Tigers memorably matched a rampaging Kangaroos outfit, Hilton time and again found himself in the thick of the action.
Alas, a memorable Tiger win wasn’t to be – the Kangaroos kicking seven goals to one in the last term to win by 36 points. But of the positives to come out of the game, Hilton’s emergence seemed the brightest of all. Thirty possessions, nine marks and a goal seemed to announce his arrival on the big stage.
For the next ten weeks, despite regularly losing key players to injury – Matthew Richardson going down for the season in a Round Four loss to Fremantle chief amongst them – and beginning the season with three losses from four matches, Richmond began to roar. And Rory Hilton was in the thick of the action.
Twenty-one possessions in a memorable come-from-behind win over St Kilda in Round Five. Twenty-four touches and three Brownlow votes in a 70-point demolition of Geelong in Round Eight. Another 21 touches and three Brownlow votes the following week in a thriller over West Coast.
Despite being suspended for two games to miss Rounds 11 and 12, and another two matches later in the year, Hilton continued to impress. However the Tigers’ injury toll started to bite too deeply – Tiger players found it harder and harder to play above themselves each week. Richmond lost six of their last eight games to fall short of the finals.
2001 bode well for Richmond and for Hilton. Star players would return, and a taste of success would hopefully push the Tigers into the finals for the first time since 1995 – and Hilton, seemingly transformed from a fringe player struggling for a senior berth to a tough, hard-working, hard-running hard-ball winner - would continue his rise.
And for the first 11 weeks all went to plan for the boy from Wodonga. Twenty-eight touches, ten marks and two goals in a best-afield display against Melbourne in Round One was the start of a golden run of form for Hilton – a run which saw him constantly among the Tigers’ best.
Averaging 18 possessions a game and kicking 14 goals, Hilton’s hard-running, impressive work ethic and straight ahead attack on the ball shone out, A moderately serious shoulder injury saw him miss three games mid-season and slowed him a little, but he looked to be back to his best leading into the finals with 23 touches and four goals against West Coast in Round 20.
The first week of those finals didn’t go to plan – eventual grand-finalists Essendon giving the Tigers a football lesson. It would be do-or-die against Carlton in what became a grinding, close, hard-fought first semi-final on September 15…
“Alert to the high drama of the moment and anxious to be of assistance in any way they can, the Tiger Army begin a chant. Delivered in a tone of serious respect, they utter: ‘Rory Hilton - he’s a tough c***. Rory Hilton - he’s a tough c***.’ The chant continues, the ball swerves forward … Rory swings a boot, connects, goals! The MCG bounces before my eyes – not the grass, the other bit, the dark one filled with heads. The Tigers have it won!”
- Martin Flanagan.
Who would’ve thought this would be as good as it would get for a young, rising, 22-year-old from Wodonga by the name of Rory Hilton?
Football’s fickle form gods can be cruel. Two poor games – only two poor games – is all it took for Hilton to be dropped from the Tigers’ side at the start of 2002. Having been runners-up to Port Adelaide in the pre-season grand final only weeks early, Richmond had started the season with an emphatic win over Collingwood before being humbled by perennial nemesis Essendon in Round Two - and Hilton seemed out of sorts.
Then seemingly, a stroke of good fortune. A late withdrawl by Darren Gaspar and Hilton is given a reprieve for the Round Three game against Melbourne a reprieve he looks to grasp with both hands from the first bounce.
Six touches and two marks in the first 12 minutes of the game, and it seems Rory is back in town. Sweeping across half-back and then running forward, Hilton is, well, himself again – brave, tough and hard at the ball.
Then “it” happens. In an instant, Hilton is down, writhing on the ground in absolute agony, clutching his shoulder. An extra effort, extra piece of bravery from a player keen to cement his spot back in the senior side goes awry as Hilton dives in front of an oncoming pack to deliver a spoil and bears the full brunt of hard-leading Melbourne forward David Neitz.
The sickening collision damages Hilton’s shoulder – the same shoulder injured in 2001. Inspired by Hilton’s heroic act and 37 possessions from Wayne Campbell, the Tigers notch up a win. But for Hilton, the injury is so bad he does not play again that season.
“Rory Hilton – he’s a tough c***. Rory Hilton – he’s a tough c***.”
- Martin Flanagan
http://www.yellowandblack.info/forums/showthread.php?t=4083&page=1&pp=10
Remembering Rory - Part 1
“Let me paint Rory Hilton as I see him at that moment: socks down, hands on hips, weight taken on right leg, golden fringe worn a fraction too long so that he is obliged to carry his head thrown back ever so slightly. Like so much of the old Australian aesthetic, it’s one of those styles that exists up until the moment it’s identified as one.”
- Martin Flanagan – on First Semi Final Day, September 15, 2001, from The Game in the Time of War
Footballers’ careers balance on the knife-edge.
For many, they spend their time on the field just one false move or unlucky break from serious injury; or a couple of bad games away from being dropped.
It’s an unforgiving game – one which makes allowances for very few, and waits for only the very lucky. Once injury strikes, those not fortunate enough, good enough or just plain lucky enough to be able to catch up find themselves quickly left behind.
Star and struggler alike can be cursed by injury, their career blighted and cut short before its time.
Of recent times, Tiger stars like Tony Free, Scott Turner and Duncan Kellaway found themselves locked in mortal combat with their injury demons. And on each occasion, those demons got the better of them; tragically cutting short careers that seemed to have so much left in them.
Rory Hilton will never be classed as a Tiger champion. Only 82 games in seven seasons at Punt Road will not win him a life membership, nor a special place on Tiger honour boards.
In fact, for someone chosen number three by Brisbane in the 1996 National Draft and traded to Richmond at the end of 1998 after just nine games in Lions’ colours, a total of 91 games in nine seasons could be seen as an underachievement.
But for Hilton – who even before making his senior debut suffered serious knee and eye injuries – the fight against the great footballing curse of injury proved to be a long and frustrating one.
“Desperately needing a goal, Spud Frawley gambles and puts Rory Hilton to full-forward. Rory’s not a great player, never going to be one. He’s too short to play full-forward but he’s brave in a way I’ve been admiring all my life. As I say, not a great player, but if the ball comes Rory’s way two things are sure: one, he will throw his left arm back so that it collects his opponent in the midriff – thereby supplying him with a disincentive to accompany him to the ball; and two, when he gets to the action he’ll have what is known in the language of the game as a crack or a red-hot go.”
- Martin Flanagan.
It seems so long ago, but in fact it’s only four or five years. But four or five years is enough to make it easy to forget how good Rory Hilton was during his best times at Richmond.
After only eight senior games for the Tigers in 1999 – none of which saw him gather more than nine possessions – the boy from Wodonga remained an unknown quantity at the start of 2000. Whispers swirled about his attitude, about his unwillingness to follow instructions, about his lack of fitness.
Danny Frawley’s arrival at Punt Road saw a candid reappraisal of Hilton – something along the lines of needing to lose some weight, get serious and get in shape. Whether it was the change of coach, or the words from him stinging him into action, that pre-season saw Hilton transform himself, get serious and get fit.
Called into the senior team for the Tigers’ Round Three game against reigning premiers North Melbourne, Hilton may well have realised the importance of grasping the opportunity presented to him.
And on that balmy March night, Hilton grabbed that opportunity with both hands. With 39 goals kicked by three-qaurter-time as the Tigers memorably matched a rampaging Kangaroos outfit, Hilton time and again found himself in the thick of the action.
Alas, a memorable Tiger win wasn’t to be – the Kangaroos kicking seven goals to one in the last term to win by 36 points. But of the positives to come out of the game, Hilton’s emergence seemed the brightest of all. Thirty possessions, nine marks and a goal seemed to announce his arrival on the big stage.
For the next ten weeks, despite regularly losing key players to injury – Matthew Richardson going down for the season in a Round Four loss to Fremantle chief amongst them – and beginning the season with three losses from four matches, Richmond began to roar. And Rory Hilton was in the thick of the action.
Twenty-one possessions in a memorable come-from-behind win over St Kilda in Round Five. Twenty-four touches and three Brownlow votes in a 70-point demolition of Geelong in Round Eight. Another 21 touches and three Brownlow votes the following week in a thriller over West Coast.
Despite being suspended for two games to miss Rounds 11 and 12, and another two matches later in the year, Hilton continued to impress. However the Tigers’ injury toll started to bite too deeply – Tiger players found it harder and harder to play above themselves each week. Richmond lost six of their last eight games to fall short of the finals.
2001 bode well for Richmond and for Hilton. Star players would return, and a taste of success would hopefully push the Tigers into the finals for the first time since 1995 – and Hilton, seemingly transformed from a fringe player struggling for a senior berth to a tough, hard-working, hard-running hard-ball winner - would continue his rise.
And for the first 11 weeks all went to plan for the boy from Wodonga. Twenty-eight touches, ten marks and two goals in a best-afield display against Melbourne in Round One was the start of a golden run of form for Hilton – a run which saw him constantly among the Tigers’ best.
Averaging 18 possessions a game and kicking 14 goals, Hilton’s hard-running, impressive work ethic and straight ahead attack on the ball shone out, A moderately serious shoulder injury saw him miss three games mid-season and slowed him a little, but he looked to be back to his best leading into the finals with 23 touches and four goals against West Coast in Round 20.
The first week of those finals didn’t go to plan – eventual grand-finalists Essendon giving the Tigers a football lesson. It would be do-or-die against Carlton in what became a grinding, close, hard-fought first semi-final on September 15…
“Alert to the high drama of the moment and anxious to be of assistance in any way they can, the Tiger Army begin a chant. Delivered in a tone of serious respect, they utter: ‘Rory Hilton - he’s a tough c***. Rory Hilton - he’s a tough c***.’ The chant continues, the ball swerves forward … Rory swings a boot, connects, goals! The MCG bounces before my eyes – not the grass, the other bit, the dark one filled with heads. The Tigers have it won!”
- Martin Flanagan.
Who would’ve thought this would be as good as it would get for a young, rising, 22-year-old from Wodonga by the name of Rory Hilton?
Football’s fickle form gods can be cruel. Two poor games – only two poor games – is all it took for Hilton to be dropped from the Tigers’ side at the start of 2002. Having been runners-up to Port Adelaide in the pre-season grand final only weeks early, Richmond had started the season with an emphatic win over Collingwood before being humbled by perennial nemesis Essendon in Round Two - and Hilton seemed out of sorts.
Then seemingly, a stroke of good fortune. A late withdrawl by Darren Gaspar and Hilton is given a reprieve for the Round Three game against Melbourne a reprieve he looks to grasp with both hands from the first bounce.
Six touches and two marks in the first 12 minutes of the game, and it seems Rory is back in town. Sweeping across half-back and then running forward, Hilton is, well, himself again – brave, tough and hard at the ball.
Then “it” happens. In an instant, Hilton is down, writhing on the ground in absolute agony, clutching his shoulder. An extra effort, extra piece of bravery from a player keen to cement his spot back in the senior side goes awry as Hilton dives in front of an oncoming pack to deliver a spoil and bears the full brunt of hard-leading Melbourne forward David Neitz.
The sickening collision damages Hilton’s shoulder – the same shoulder injured in 2001. Inspired by Hilton’s heroic act and 37 possessions from Wayne Campbell, the Tigers notch up a win. But for Hilton, the injury is so bad he does not play again that season.
“Rory Hilton – he’s a tough c***. Rory Hilton – he’s a tough c***.”
- Martin Flanagan
