Round 20 - Raines of Terror

I’m sorry for the title, it’s self indulgent and cheesy. But I’m auditioning for a job as a sports sub-editor on the Herald Sun. And a line like that is pure gold.

These Richmond reports have lost a little bit of impetus, since I haven’t actually watched the Tiges play in over a month, and am only basing my conclusions on second-hand recollections, and newspaper reports. With Journalist skills like these - I should see if “Today Tonight” has any vacancies….

One of the truly good-news stories to come out of Punt Rd this season has been the emergence from virtually nowhere of Andrew Raines. The boy barely got a gig last year, although he showed some promise late in 2005, he’d been around for quite a while and was really given a one-year contract as a last chance effort at “making it” in AFL footy. But this season he’s been in everything. Seasoned observers* testify that he has the look of his father - Geoff Raines (no slouch, won some best and fairests and all that, plus a ripper first name), but he has consistently shown real quality in a side for whom “consistent” is not an honest appraisal.

Sunday’s performance was out of character for a Richmond side that continue to baffle anyone who tries to predict what they might do. These matches - the easy wins over lower quality opposition, have been the games that we’ve regularly managed to throw away. But incredibly, we’ve done in the Blues with another massive win - making it two on the trot and strengthening our claim for ninth. Ah, the nostalgia - we’re back where we belong…

Richmond 21.14 (140)

def.

Carlton 14.11 (95)

* - By seasoned, I mean old, and by observers, I mean my dad