In the 11th of a special richmondfc.com.au nostalgic series celebrating Richmond’s 50 years at home at the MCG, Tony Greenberg reflects on a cunning piece of football brilliance produced by Kevin Sheedy that turned the tide for the Tigers in the 1974 Grand Final. 

Richmond will celebrate its rich, proud history with a weekend of celebrations in July. ‘Homecoming’ will be a must-see event

Richmond took a ferocious ‘us against the world’ approach into its 1974 Grand Final encounter with North Melbourne.

Going into the ’74 premiership-decider, there was an enormous groundswell of support for the Kangaroos, who had been ‘cellar-dwellars’ for many years, until legendary football figure Ron Barassi took over their coaching reins in 1973. Barassi immediately lifted the Roos to the fringes of the finals, before taking them all the way into the ‘big one’ the following year.