Francis Bourke - Coach

Coach

Just months after his playing retirement, Bourke was controversially pitched into the coaching position at Punt Road. The Tigers had decided to sack Tony Jewell, a premiership teammate of Bourke, just twelve months after he coached Richmond to the 1980 premiership. Although few doubted that Bourke was coaching material, the nature of his appointment and his lack of coaching experience at any level were significant hurdles to overcome. However, in 1982 Bourke took the Tigers to only their third minor premiership since the war and impressed critics with a brilliant tactical display in the semi final against Carlton. Bourke made a series of positional changes at the beginning of the game and ordered his men to slow down the Carlton play-on game, giving away fifteen-metre penalties as necessary. The Tigers won easily, and Bourke became one of only a handful of coaches to make the Grand Final in his first season.

The dream debut of a premiership was not to be. In the 1982 VFL Grand Final, Richmond led by 11 points at half time, only for Carlton to kick five unanswered goals in the third quarter and run away with the premiership by 18 points.

During the off-season, the Tigers suffered an exodus of disgruntled star players that rocked the club and lost nine of the first eleven games in 1983. Media speculation about the security of Bourke's position began in earnest, and few believed the club when Richmond denied that there was an on-going crisis. Although the team improved in the second half of the season, further player departures were mooted if Bourke remained as coach. It seemed that his hard-training style was not appreciated by all of his charges. Reluctantly, Bourke tendered his resignation at the end of the season, well aware that he would probably have been sacked had he not done so. His winning rate over the two seasons was a very reasonable 56.5%