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- Richmond
By Lyall Johnson
May 2, 2004
With his team clinging desperately to the one-point lead that had resulted from his tumbled shot at goal, Richmond's Tim Fleming was left to stand, watch and pray as Hawthorn's Richie Vandenberg lined up to steal the match with only seconds on the clock.
Fleming had put in a sterling performance, gathering 11 kicks and 13 handballs, his trademark straight and hard-at-the-ball style reminiscent of a tougher Richmond era.
It was not a pretty kick that had put the Tigers in front. But of his 24 disposals, how the last one looked was the least of his worries.
Yet as Vandenberg lined up from 50 metres to rob Fleming and Richmond of a match they had led all night, a glimmer of hope flickered in the Tiger's mind.
"He was a fair way out and I knew how my legs were feeling so his legs must have been feeling about the same - I don't reckon I could have kicked over a jam tin that last couple of minutes," Fleming said after the game.
Which he had all but showed only a couple of minutes previously. Charging over the 50-metre line, Fleming seemed to settle himself at full tilt but miskicked to the left, the ball sneaking through for a valuable behind to break the deadlock.
"It didn't tumble off," the midfielder said after the match, a smile on his face but slightly indignant all the same. "I just wanted to get it through between the posts. I was obviously going for a goal but I was pretty tired, the legs weren't going as I'd like at that stage of the game, but luckily it just went through."
Now 26, Fleming was a late starter to AFL football, debuting in round three last year after joining Richmond from Carlton's VFL team.
"I didn't start footy until I was a bit older so I missed a few years when I was younger and started again when I was about 19," he said. "So I'm still learning. I reckon this year I'm starting to learn a lot more and I think I have still got a lot more to learn.
"Last year was great to get a game. This year I want to try to start to forge my career, and hopefully I can do that."
Standing up alongside Fleming on Friday night was another lesser light in the Richmond team, yet another in the Tiger line-up looking to take the next step this year and establish himself as a regular senior player.
The left-footed Chris Hyde has been with the club since being drafted in 2000 from the Murray under 18s and the Hawthorn clash was only his 14th senior appearance.
Hyde is rapidly improving. Over the pre-season he was the third quickest in the club around the Tan track, and on Friday he put his hard running to work, continually breaking through the midfield.
It was clearly the 21-year-old from Barooga's best performance, as he gathered 14 kicks, gave off eight handballs and chipped in with a well-deserved goal.
"Yeah, I think it was (my best)," said the unpretentious Hyde, a country lad who drives a beaten-up old white ute rather than a fancy new car.
Try to ask him about his own performance and he deflects it to the team like a veteran.
"I just wanted to get out there and play on instinct a bit. I think everyone lifted tonight. There was a fair bit of pressure and we all stuck together," he said.
"As a team we just knew we had to go out and put the processes in place and what happened from there we didn't know."
Hyde is looking to establish himself in the midfield, and while not wishing injury upon Mark Coughlan, who is out indefinitely with a groin injury, the opportunity in the absence of the club's best and fairest is obvious.
Apart from the extra run out of defence, an area marshalled on Friday by skipper Wayne Campbell, who played across half-back, what was impressive about Richmond was its improved use of the football, an area of concern for years.
"When we are losing, everyone sort of says our ball usage is no good but (against Hawthorn) it was OK and when we win games it is probably pretty good," Hyde said.
"Just winning the footy in the packs and being able to run and create, that's when we use the footy well; when we get in at the footy. The ball-use sort of looks after itself when we do that."
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/05/01/1083224643261.html
May 2, 2004
With his team clinging desperately to the one-point lead that had resulted from his tumbled shot at goal, Richmond's Tim Fleming was left to stand, watch and pray as Hawthorn's Richie Vandenberg lined up to steal the match with only seconds on the clock.
Fleming had put in a sterling performance, gathering 11 kicks and 13 handballs, his trademark straight and hard-at-the-ball style reminiscent of a tougher Richmond era.
It was not a pretty kick that had put the Tigers in front. But of his 24 disposals, how the last one looked was the least of his worries.
Yet as Vandenberg lined up from 50 metres to rob Fleming and Richmond of a match they had led all night, a glimmer of hope flickered in the Tiger's mind.
"He was a fair way out and I knew how my legs were feeling so his legs must have been feeling about the same - I don't reckon I could have kicked over a jam tin that last couple of minutes," Fleming said after the game.
Which he had all but showed only a couple of minutes previously. Charging over the 50-metre line, Fleming seemed to settle himself at full tilt but miskicked to the left, the ball sneaking through for a valuable behind to break the deadlock.
"It didn't tumble off," the midfielder said after the match, a smile on his face but slightly indignant all the same. "I just wanted to get it through between the posts. I was obviously going for a goal but I was pretty tired, the legs weren't going as I'd like at that stage of the game, but luckily it just went through."
Now 26, Fleming was a late starter to AFL football, debuting in round three last year after joining Richmond from Carlton's VFL team.
"I didn't start footy until I was a bit older so I missed a few years when I was younger and started again when I was about 19," he said. "So I'm still learning. I reckon this year I'm starting to learn a lot more and I think I have still got a lot more to learn.
"Last year was great to get a game. This year I want to try to start to forge my career, and hopefully I can do that."
Standing up alongside Fleming on Friday night was another lesser light in the Richmond team, yet another in the Tiger line-up looking to take the next step this year and establish himself as a regular senior player.
The left-footed Chris Hyde has been with the club since being drafted in 2000 from the Murray under 18s and the Hawthorn clash was only his 14th senior appearance.
Hyde is rapidly improving. Over the pre-season he was the third quickest in the club around the Tan track, and on Friday he put his hard running to work, continually breaking through the midfield.
It was clearly the 21-year-old from Barooga's best performance, as he gathered 14 kicks, gave off eight handballs and chipped in with a well-deserved goal.
"Yeah, I think it was (my best)," said the unpretentious Hyde, a country lad who drives a beaten-up old white ute rather than a fancy new car.
Try to ask him about his own performance and he deflects it to the team like a veteran.
"I just wanted to get out there and play on instinct a bit. I think everyone lifted tonight. There was a fair bit of pressure and we all stuck together," he said.
"As a team we just knew we had to go out and put the processes in place and what happened from there we didn't know."
Hyde is looking to establish himself in the midfield, and while not wishing injury upon Mark Coughlan, who is out indefinitely with a groin injury, the opportunity in the absence of the club's best and fairest is obvious.
Apart from the extra run out of defence, an area marshalled on Friday by skipper Wayne Campbell, who played across half-back, what was impressive about Richmond was its improved use of the football, an area of concern for years.
"When we are losing, everyone sort of says our ball usage is no good but (against Hawthorn) it was OK and when we win games it is probably pretty good," Hyde said.
"Just winning the footy in the packs and being able to run and create, that's when we use the footy well; when we get in at the footy. The ball-use sort of looks after itself when we do that."
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/05/01/1083224643261.html
