Richmond drew on NFL powerhouse New England to inspire them towards their third premiership in four seasons and stamp their mark as one of the AFL’s greatest dynasties.
The Tigers are rejoicing after joining the Brisbane Lions (2001-03), Hawthorn (2013-15) and Geelong (2007, ’09, ’11) as teams to have won three premierships in quick succession in the modern era.
Damien Hardwick’s men also matched the Patriots’ feat of winning three titles in four seasons under legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick and star quarterback Tom Brady.
Three-time AFL premiership coach Hardwick revealed the “mantra” for Saturday night’s grand final against Geelong helped bring the Tigers closer together.
“We used the 2004 Patriots as an example,” Hardwick told Fox Footy.
“The Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2001, lost 2002 – probably similar to us in ’18 – won 2003 and then they were going for another one in 2004.
“Bill Belichick is one of the greatest coaches of all time.
“He had a great phrase ‘do your job’ so we really focused on that part of the (Patriots) dynasty.
“‘We thought if we executed our roles to the very best of our ability, we’d be a very good chance at creating, I don’t want to use the word dynasty… but we’d give ourselves a very good chance to go back-to-back.”
Richmond’s only year without a flag since their premiership run began in 2017 saw them bundled out in a preliminary final by Collingwood.
It was the only time in this period the Tigers finished on top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season.
Hardwick believes that missed opportunity in 2018 has actually paved the way for the success of the past two seasons.
“We’ve traditionally been a bit of a slowing starting side, but in 2018 we were up for a long period of time,” he said.
“In 2019 and 2020 we had some injury concerns but we probably planned the pre-season a little bit differently in regards to how we went about it.
“Peter Burge and his strength and conditioning side have done a wonderful job of giving us player availability at the very important times of the year.”
