Michael Terrence Roach (born 9 October 1958) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

player who represented

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) from 1977 to 1989. Remembered for his long, accurate kicking for goal and strong marking, for a brief period Roach was the best forward in

Australian football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modifie ...

. The second of four key forwards recruited by Richmond from

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

(the others being

Royce Hart Royce Desmond Hart (born 10 February 1948) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Regarded as one of the greatest centre half-forwards to ever play Australian r ...

, Matthew Richardson and

Jack Riewoldt Jack Riewoldt ( ; born 31 October 1988) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player, a three-time Coleman Medallist, a ...

), Roach was an enormously popular player whose career did not quite live up to expectation because of injury and constant shuffling of his position by the club. Nevertheless, he achieved many honours in the game and became one of the first players from Tasmania to play 200 VFL games.

Early career

As a junior player at Westbury in Tasmania, Roach won state representation and he was selected to play senior football for

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

in 1975, aged only 16. He impressed by winning the club's goalkicking award in his two seasons and was selected to represent both the league and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, in two interstate fixtures.

talent scout Harry Jenkins, who had discovered the by-then legendary

, rang the Tigers with a succinct message: "I got another one for you." Richmond rushed the young Roach over to Melbourne for the 1977 season. Expectations of the 18-year-old recruit were high. Initially, Roach's rise in the game was much quicker than Royce Hart's had been. At 193 cm, Roach was taller than Hart and had a much more developed physique. In addition, he was very mobile and agile for his size. With Hart in his last season, the Tigers decided to ease Roach into the game slowly and he played nine senior games on the wing, thus emphasising his athleticism. At season's end, he played well on a forward flank in Richmond's reserves Grand Final win over Footscray. But 1978 proved a big let down, and injuries and ordinary form kept him to just three games.

Star goalkicker

In the off-season, new Tiger coach Tony Jewell urged Roach to continue his weight training with the lure of the regular

full-forward Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player, often a full-forward, who has kicked the most goals in an Australian Football League se ...

position. Hart tutored the right-footed tyro in the art of kicking the long, accurate drop punt. By now mature and filled out to 92 kg, Roach took the game by storm in the opening half of the new season. To his brilliant contested marking he added an excellent lead and was a revelation when shooting for goal, rarely missing. Capable of goaling from a long way out, Roach raised standards among key forwards by regularly employing his non-preferred foot when kicking and often handballed to a teammate in a better position even when within scoring range. Previously, these actions were an anathema to most forwards, who were expected to shoot for goal no matter how difficult the opportunity. Roach left an indelible imprint on the game with an amazingly high

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

in a match against

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

on 5 May 1979. In the ensuing years, video of the mark has been played countless times on television while a photograph of Roach sitting atop a pack of Hawk defenders was reproduced as posters, bags, men's ties and even as a carpet pattern. Even though Roach was dominating and kicking goals, the team was struggling to win. He was picked to play for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, but an injury in the game cut into his performance and he missed three games mid-season. These missed games proved costly on two counts at season's end – he finished ten goals short of a century and lost the VFL goalkicking honour to

Kelvin Templeton Kelvin Templeton (born 30 September 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer. At sixteen years of age Templeton kicked 100 goals for Traralgon in the 1973 Latrobe Valley Football League season. Footscray, within whose country zone Traral ...

by just one goal. In round 18 against St Kilda, Roach became the first Richmond player to kick ten goals in a match since 1945. Richmond improved markedly in the second half of the year and looked eagerly to the next year with their brilliant key forward combination of Roach and

David Cloke David Cloke (born 28 January 1955) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club and the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A tough and skilled footballer with an imposing ...

. Both players were voted

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

after a post-season state of origin carnival. In 1980, with Richmond heading toward the record for the highest aggregate in a season, Roach was the key to the Tigers' attack. Scoring eleven goals in one game and twice booting ten, he surged toward the first century of goals in a season for the club since

Jack Titus Jack "Skinny" Titus (9 March 1908 – 19 April 1978) was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the golden era of the 1930s, Titus was one o ...

in 1940. The milestone was reached two games before the finals against

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at the

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

, typically, with a long drop punt from inside the centre square that followed a strong mark on the lead. He finished the day with nine, but Roach's form tapered after that point. Richmond went into the finals placed third and won three finals in a row to take their tenth premiership. In the three finals, he managed just five goals, and was overshadowed by veteran Kevin Bartlett, who booted 21 goals. Regardless, Roach was a premiership player and set a still unbeaten club record of 112 goals for the year. Continuing this form the next year, Roach won the inaugural

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals in the home-and-away season. It is named after Essendon full-forward John Coleman, one of the most ...

for the VFL's highest goalkicker during the regular season. However, his 86 goals failed to lift the Tigers into the finals in a disappointing follow up to the flag.

Roach and Taylor

Richmond faced a dilemma. For several years, they had several outstanding full-forward prospects in their minor teams who could not progress with Roach in the way. One was Mark Jackson, who was cleared to Melbourne in 1981 and became the eccentric comedian/forward of the 1980s, now better remembered for his off-field career. Another was West Australian Brian Taylor, a less athletic player than Roach who favoured the strong lead and set shot for goal, and liked to ruffle the feathers of opposition players. His fiery temperament and confrontational style was the complete opposite of Roach's phlegmatic personality. Richmond solved the problem in 1982 by playing Taylor at full-forward and using Roach around the ground, including the

ruck Ruck may refer to: * Ruck (rugby union), a contesting for the ball in Rugby Union from a grounded player * Ruck (Australian rules football), an aerial contest in Australian rules football between rival ruckmen * Ruck (rugby league), the area sur ...

. This worked very well until Taylor, seemingly set to kick a century for the year, was injured mid-season in a meaningless night fixture. Richmond covered the loss and finished the home-and-away season on top for the first time in eight years. In the semi-final against

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

, Roach was switched to centre half-forward at the start of the game, catching the Blues off-guard and he was a great player in a strong win. Unfortunately, he was one of several Richmond players who failed to live up to reputation when the Tigers went down in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

to the Blues a fortnight later. Taylor was not selected for the game. With the club plunged into turmoil by player discontent and numerous transfers, Roach stayed loyal to Richmond, but Taylor was preferred as the full-forward for 1983–1984 with only moderate success. During this period, Roach received a bad back injury that severely affected his mobility and effectiveness. Finally, it was decided to solve the Roach–Taylor impasse by clearing Taylor to Collingwood for 1985.

Return to full-forward – final years

Returned to full-forward at last, Roach enjoyed one of his finest seasons in 1985. He equalled his career-best effort by booting 11 goals against Hawthorn on 27 April in probably his best-ever game for the club, and scored eight of the team's eleven goals in the grudge match with Collingwood late in the year. Although the Tigers struggled badly, Roach tied for fourth place (coincidentally with Brian Taylor) on the VFL's goalkicking table with 80 goals. Had he not missed five games, he may have topped the century again. Roach followed that with 62 goals in 20 games during 1986, but he lost the head-to-head with Taylor, who scored a century for the only time in his career. Roach received Richmond life membership that year. Chronic injury blighted the final three years of Roach's playing career. In 1988, under new coach Kevin Bartlett, Roach played just three games for the year as a defender, and his key forward position was given to youngster Jeff Hogg. It disappointed the Richmond fans to see one of the club's greatest forwards vainly trying to hold back the tide as the opposition booted huge scores against the undermanned Richmond defence. In 1989, his final season, Roach was given seven games to make his 200-game career milestone, and then retired. He remained at the club though, taking up a position as a skills coach.

Comparisons

Roach's average of 3.03 goals per game rates with the best, but he never placed in the club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award. Although player depth is a must for a strong team, the situation with Taylor and Roach competing for the one position ultimately worked against both players and the club. Fatefully for Roach, he was too often played away from full-forward, by far his best position. In the five seasons when he was fit and exclusively the full-forward (1979–1981 and 1985–1986), he scored 430 goals in 102 matches, over four per game. This included ten bags of eight or more goals in a game. He was leading goalkicker for the club seven times and today the club awards the "

Michael Roach Medal The Michael Roach Medal is an Australian rules football award given each season to the leading goalkicker (or goalkickers) for the Richmond Football Club. The award is now named in honour of Michael Roach, Richmond's "best post-war full forward" ...

" to its highest goal scorer for the season. Throughout the 1990s, Roach worked at Punt Road as a specialist coach, was team manager of the reserves and a highly visible figure in the Save our Skins campaign of 1989–1990 that saved the club from bankruptcy. Controversially omitted from Richmond's Team of the Century in 1998, he was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame four years later. All the while he continued to maintain strong links with Richmond, living in the suburb and he had a great thrill when his son

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

was drafted to the Tigers under the

father–son rule The father–son rule is a rule that allows clubs preferential recruiting access to the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the club in Australian rules football, most notably in the Australian Football League. The rule ...

, in 2004. Unfortunately for the younger Roach, he was delisted at the end of the 2006 season after only a handful of senior games.

Statistics

:Michael Roach's player profile at AFL Tables
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1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 9 , , 7 , , 2 , , 93 , , 45 , , 138 , , 43 , , , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 10.3 , , 5.0 , , 15.3 , , 4.8 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 3 , , 2 , , 1 , , 17 , , 10 , , 27 , , 8 , , , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 5.7 , , 3.3 , , 9.0 , , 2.7 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 19 , , 90 , , 34 , , 174 , , 53 , , 227 , , 109 , , , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 4.7 , , 1.8 , , 9.2 , , 2.8 , , 11.9 , , 5.7 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" ,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 25 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 112 , , 42 , , 208 , , 50 , , 258 , , 134 , , , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 4.5 , , 1.7 , , 8.3 , , 2.0 , , 10.3 , , 5.4 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 21 , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 86 , , 31 , , 188 , , 55 , , 243 , , 107 , , , , 4.1 , , 1.5 , , 9.0 , , 2.6 , , 11.6 , , 5.1 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 22 , , 35 , , 28 , , 270 , , 81 , , 351 , , 128 , , , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , , 12.3 , , 3.7 , , 16.0 , , 5.8 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 19 , , 37 , , 24 , , 183 , , 62 , , 245 , , 112 , , , , 1.9 , , 1.3 , , 9.6 , , 3.3 , , 12.9 , , 5.9 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 19 , , 36 , , 30 , , 177 , , 30 , , 207 , , 87 , , , , 1.9 , , 1.6 , , 9.3 , , 1.6 , , 10.9 , , 4.6 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 17 , , 80 , , 39 , , 165 , , 24 , , 189 , , 109 , , , , bgcolor="DD6E81", 4.7 , , 2.3 , , 9.7 , , 1.4 , , 11.1 , , 6.4 , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 20 , , 62 , , 26 , , 148 , , 29 , , 177 , , 94 , , , , 3.1 , , 1.3 , , 7.4 , , 1.5 , , 8.9 , , 4.7 , , , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 16 , , 43 , , 35 , , 133 , , 22 , , 155 , , 85 , , 7 , , 2.7 , , 2.2 , , 8.3 , , 1.4 , , 9.7 , , 5.3 , , 0.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 3 , , 8 , , 2 , , 20 , , 7 , , 27 , , 10 , , 2 , , 2.7 , , 0.7 , , 6.7 , , 2.3 , , 9.0 , , 3.3 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 8 , , 7 , , 9 , , 12 , , 34 , , 8 , , 42 , , 20 , , 0 , , 1.3 , , 1.7 , , 4.9 , , 1.1 , , 6.0 , , 2.9 , , 0.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 200 ! 607 ! 306 ! 1810 ! 476 ! 2286 ! 1046 ! 9 ! 3.0 ! 1.5 ! 9.1 ! 2.4 ! 11.4 ! 5.2 ! 0.0

References

*Hogan P: ''The Tigers of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
Richmond Football Club – Hall of Fame

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, Michael 1958 births Living people Coleman Medal winners Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Longford Football Club players Tasmanian State of Origin players All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players