Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale and coach Damien Hardwick after the 2020 grand final win. Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale was only due to stay in the Tigers’ Queensland hub last year for seven days in total. He ended up spending 97 days in the Sunshine State.
Such was the volatility and unpredictability of playing an AFL season during a pandemic, especially as the coronavirus ran out of control in footy’s home state Victoria in particular, that like many other Australians, Gale’s best-laid plans went up in smoke.
All of the drama of Richmond’s 2020 campaign was captured through the eyes of the club’s senior leadership in Gale and president Peggy O’Neal by Amazon Prime for the streaming service’s upcoming “Making Their Mark” docuseries which premieres on Friday.
And looking back at some of the vision from the season, which finished up with the Tigers lifting their third premiership cup in four years, made Gale very emotional.
“Particularly the last group of edits, which I guess will form part of the last episode, that capture the grand final,” Gale told Footyology.
“It was like a dream. It was like: ‘God, did that really happen? Did we go up and a substantial portion of the AFL community were moved lock, stock and barrel [to Queensland] and then everything we went through and everything our people back home went through and then to get the season not only completed but actually go and win it?’ It was very emotional for me.
“It took me back to that place, and it wasn’t without its challenges, we had our own unique challenges, I just found the vision was incredible, the high quality of it and just some of the stuff at half-time in [coach] Damien’s [Hardwick] grand final [address] – now, I’ve got a clear recollection in my experience and what was said but I’ve seen it and it’s very faithful to what I saw.
“And I thought: ‘Where the hell were the cameras?’ So it’s going to be quite incredible, we’re just very grateful.”
Cameras followed Gale all day on grand final day, and the former Richmond forward described in detail the bittersweet moment of realising the Tigers were going to win back-to-back flags, but not being able to share the joy with many other people.
“It’s that moment when you tell yourself you’ve won, because you don’t allow yourself to have that moment, you’ve got to stay in the moment, stay in the moment,” Gale said.
“There was a stage of the game where I just felt we needed two more goals to win and one of those goals was the [Dustin] Martin bounce-the-ball-through, so at that moment it was the realisation that I don’t think we can lose this.
“I just couldn’t believe we had done it again. I actually called my wife, because one of the best things about winning premierships is sharing it with your people, whether it’s your family, your friends, your staff, your membership, your family day – well we didn’t have any of that.
“So it was the same, but different, because I had a couple of close staff members there and that was it.”
As if living in a hub for most of the season wasn’t enough of an obstacle, on top of that, Richmond had to overcome a lot more adversity to win the flag last year than it did in 2017 or 2019.
A rift emerged at one point between captain Trent Cotchin’s family and the club over a day spa that Trent’s wife Brooke took which broke the AFL’s COVID protocols and cost the club a $20,000 fine.
PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO THRIVE BY BECOMING AN OFFICIAL FOOTYOLOGY PATRON. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.
Gale’s wife then publicly claimed that the Cotchins threatened to leave the hub due to their apparent dissatisfaction at the way Brooke’s breach was handled.
A few days after the COVID breach, claims of sexual harassment surfaced with Richmond players Nick Vlastuin and Jayden Short seen on camera groping teammate Mabior Chol’s private parts.
Then a month later, youngsters Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones were each suspended for 10 matches and sent back to Victoria for breaching the league’s COVID protocols after a wild night out that also saw them involved in a fight in Surfers Paradise. The incident saw Richmond fined $100,000.
As a result, the club came under heavy criticism from many parts of the media. But to overcome all of those self-inflicted wounds and defend its title at the end of the season was validation of how strong the club had become in the last four years, according to Gale.
“We kept trying to treat these challenges as intellectual challenges and testing if we, at the end of the day, we know the things that make us, and sustain this level of performance,” Gale said.
“So if we really know what makes us, and we really believe we define what makes us, well we don’t let other people define who we are.
“So it’s almost like if we know we are not entitled or we’re not arrogant or [suffer from] hubris, then we’ve just got to bunker down and keep boxing on. I think it really franked the things we believe in, but almost galvanised us even more.”
Gale admitted there was a little bit of apprehension heading into the docuseries, and in hindsight there were a few parts that the club ultimately wasn’t comfortable with, however he viewed the show’s ability to put a human face on the club as an overall positive.
“At the end of the day, we signed off before COVID, but [the attitude was] let’s just go with it and let’s see where it unfolds and we’ve got a record of it,” Gale said.
“Plus, you showcase your club to your members and fans, and plus you involve them, and plus there’s an international audience [the series will be available in 234 countries/territories], all those things are important, but we’ve got a fairly open mindset with those sorts of things.
“You want to present the best version of yourself, but of course we’re not perfect … that’s just all part of it – the authenticity of it. We all make mistakes, under great pressure we sometimes make greater mistakes, sometimes those mistakes are even more magnified.
“But at the end of the day, they’re humans. We’ve got to try and address it, we’ve got to grow from it and we’ve got to keep moving forward, whether it’s walking or bloody crawling, we’ve got to keep moving forward.
“And I think that is captured – we were able to keep moving forward, we were able to almost get stronger as the year went on and ultimately win, which we were very grateful for.”
Gale said it was going to be “wonderful” to unfurl both the 2019 and 2020 premiership flags at next week’s season opener against Carlton as a big “thank you” to Richmond’s loyal Victorian fanbase, who largely not only missed out on seeing their team play last year, but weren’t able to be present on grand final night.
“To share with our members and fans who, really, at the end of the day, have effectively donated their money last year – to have 100,000 members – and the Victorians didn’t see a game – is just incredible,” he said.
“Making Their Mark” premieres on Friday on Amazon Prime.
