Michael Roach (footballer) - Roach and Taylor

Roach and Taylor

Now, Richmond faced a dilemma. For several years, they had several outstanding full forward prospects in their minor teams who couldn't 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. 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, 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 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.