Perhaps there’s still a twist or two in the Tigers’ tale

A new breed. From left, Mykelti Lefau, Seth Campbell, Tom Brown and Tim Taranto after Sunday’s win. Photo: AFL MEDIA

There’s been a predictable narrative unfolding around Richmond for a while now, and Easter Sunday looked more than likely to be the day the most significant chapter yet was written.

The Tigers, already 0-3, were taking on a 3-0 Sydney, the AFL’s most in-form team, and doing so without two triple premiership mainstays, Dustin Martin and Dylan Grimes. They were fielding seven players with just 67 games between them, and 10 in total of whom none had played more than 35.

So even after Richmond had started brightly, once the Swans got their irrepressible running game going to bang on six goals without reply, the first of the second half putting them 14 points up, you could already picture the inevitable post-mortems.

You know how it goes. We’d be hearing and reading all about the inevitable slide which follows the end of a glorious era once AFL equalization measures like the salary cap and draft start to bite, and ageing heroes start to tire and get injured.

Except we’re not. This is a different tale. And indeed, down the track, perhaps Richmond’s five-point win over Sydney on Sunday afternoon will seem even more significant than an eventual obliteration by a premiership fancy might have been.

Because the little glimpses of a future the Tigers have shown here and there even during their first three defeats, galvanised against the Swans into something of a lot more substance.

The likes of Kane Cornes may have already pensioned off Martin, but Sunday was an encouraging view of what future may lay beyond the superstar at Punt Road. And not just one or two, but several of the younger faces now feeling their way in the senior team, picked the perfect time to put their hands up.

Even the last quarter alone, as Richmond clung on to a narrow lead in the face of a final, desperate surge by Sydney, was chock full of big moments for the lesser lights, little cameos that all collectively helped add up to a Tiger win.

There was Tylar Young redeeming a handling error and locking the ball in with a superb bit of desperation, not rewarded with a stat. There was a superb pick-up on the run at full tilt by Seth Campbell.

There was a beautiful spin into space from Maurice Rioli junior, whose pressure and tackling (six of them) were important. Rioli might be very much a work in progress, still prone to error, but you’d have to be blind not to see his natural skills which can surely be harnessed given enough patience.

Rhyan Mansell was the most experienced of that group of 10 players with 35 games or less, and he, too, was an important contributor with 17 disposals, six tackles, a goal and three goal assists in arguably his best game for the club, following his two goals last week against Port Adelaide.

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That forward pressure unsettled Sydney, the Tigers laying 14 tackles inside 50, a notable increase on the 21 they’d landed in total in their first three defeats. That 14 tackles also happens to be exactly the average they were recording in that glorious premiership year of 2017.

And the best thing about pressure? It doesn’t require experience. It doesn’t even require talent per se. In that regard, the light bulb might just have gone on for a few Tigers against the Swans.

But then even assuming Richmond is on an inevitable slide towards a less talent-driven existence once the likes of Martin, Tom Lynch and Dion Prestia do say goodbye might be premature.

And yes, that’s still the case even after the bitter post-game sting that came with more bad news on the injury front, the revelation that now Tom Lynch and Noah Balta face extended spells on the sidelines.

While in 2024 the Tigers still have the fifth-oldest list in the competition, behind Collingwood, Geelong, Melbourne and Brisbane, it is a list by no means driven exclusively by the older heads in the group.

That was demonstrated in last year’s best and fairest count, won by Tim Taranto. The former GWS midfielder was one of five players in the top seven aged 26 or younger, the others Shai Bolton, Daniel Rioli, Liam Baker and Balta.

Not coincidentally, Rioli, Taranto, Bolton and Baker were all pivotal to Sunday’s inspiring victory. And if the likes of Mansell, Campbell and the other Rioli can continue to deliver more frequently performances on a par with this one, there’s more depth to Richmond in 2024 than perhaps many contemplated.

Was that 0-3 win-loss scorecard a little misleading anyway? The Tigers rattled on seven unanswered goals to scare Gold Coast in their season opener after conceding a massive head start. They pushed a flag fancy in Carlton to within five points the following week. And were within seven points of Port Adelaide at three-quarter time last week.

That’s far from shocking form. And perhaps should have been a more salient reminder that Sunday’s outcome wasn’t as big an upset as it appeared superficially.

No opponent will be able to take Adem Yze’s team lightly this season. And just because they mightn’t be adding to those three flags in four years from 2017-20 just yet, nor does it mean they’ll be parked all the way down the other end of the ladder, either, Dusty or no Dusty.

This article first appeared at ESPN.