By Brendan Rees
Cranbourne West’s ‘Tiger Lady’ Brenda Hilton has been soaking up Richmond’s glory ahead this weekend’s Grand Final.
She is one of thousands of fans anxiously looking forward to see if her beloved Tigers can claim the flag for the first time in 37 years.
“The front of the house is decorated in yellow and black,” she says.
Her treasured ‘Tiger Mobile,’ which is painted in tiger stripes, has also been getting a run on the roads this week with many ‘toots’ of support received from passing drivers.
And when not “driven every day,” she says, the car has been parked on the front lawn of her home.
“I’m wearing Richmond stuff – Richmond membership T-shirts, Richmond footy jumpers – depending if I’m working or what I’m doing.”
Although her friends and family are nervous for the big game, her excitement is composed: “Whatever happens on Saturday is out of my hands. It is what it is. I’ll still be proud of the fact of how we’ve played and we got there.
“Anybody that can make it to a Grand Final or the final where it’s down to the last two in any sport – you’ve got to be proud of them.”
“They’ve been good enough to get there. At the end of the day there can only be one winner.”
Her front windows, she says, have been draped with Richmond flags and posters, adding she will cover “whatever window space” she can find.
“There’s a big checked flag hanging in one of the windows and I’ve got some blow up helium balloons in the house too,” she says.
And there’s no task of what she will be choosing to wear at the MCG ahead of the big game: “The Tigger onesie costume will be out again,” she says.
Asked if she is hopeful of taking out the premiership, she says “Obviously I would love it but at the end of the day if it’s not to be, it’s not to be but we got there.”
