The Hard Way: The Story of Richmond's 13th Premiership

The Hard Way recounts the journey to the 2020 ALF Grand Final, from Richmond football club’s pre-season camp, through the COVID shutdown and the closure of the season for 80+ days after round one, the move to Queensland and life in the hub, to the finals campaign and the Dusty Martin effect. The 2020 AFL season was a season like no other, and the challenges faced by the premier team, due to the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, were substantial. Richmond, the reigning premier, started the season slowly, were then relocated to a Gold Coast hub for 111 days, faced internal issues throughout, and came into the Grand Final against Geelong the hard way, after losing the qualifying final to Brisbane. In a season in which media access to footy clubs has been reduced to all but zero, Konrad Marshall has been able to reconstruct the season, via access to key personnel, and describe in intricate detail Richmond’s game plan, a playing system that is based as much on chaos as clockwork—Richmond represents the essence of that old adage: A champion team will always beat a team of champions. The book covers the journey from the club’s pre-season camp, through those early weeks in Melbourne, the closure of the season for 80+ days after round one, the adjustments that needed to be made as the club moved holus-bolus to Queensland, life in the hub, the public’s reversal of its relationship with Richmond—from respect to ‘us and them’, the finals campaign, and the Dusty Martin effect. Can one player be the difference between success and failure?