They're a breed apart at Punt Road. I suppose you have to look for silver linings if you support Richmond (and they're more likely to be found in the past than in the present), but one of the ferals cheers himself up with the alleged factoid that Carlton has played the Tigers in the finals 22 times, and Carlton has won only 4 of them with one being a draw.
Is he right? I remember the last occasion we played in a final, they won (in the SF of 2000 or 2001?) after Kouta did his knee in the 3Q or so. But we had 2 pretty important wins against them in 1972 and 1982
Whether it's true or not, it provides an interesting insight into the Tiger fans' feelings towards Carlton. They remind me of younger brothers who are trying to compete against their big brothers to win respect and attention, while the older brothers consider them too insignificant to worry about. Having said that, the Tigers always seemed to fire up in the 90s when they were out of the finals race and they had the chance to hurt our finals chances.
Interesting comments too from Terry Wallace. He suggested that in his 2 stints at Richmond, there has never been a time when everyone at the club pulled together for the sake of the club. He says that there have always been those who are more interested in building and maintaining a power base. No doubt he's the world's greatest salesman and perhaps he should focus more on his own shortcomings, but his comment does tend to conform to an outsider's impression that they eat their own.