I have decided not to go this game.  I am managing my Covid risk, I tell myself.  But as it turns out though I can’t go anyway.  After two years of the pandemic being out there and affecting everyone else, it arrives in our house.  My partner tests positive on Saturday morning and we all have to isolate for seven days. 

With my partner unwell and keeping to herself in the front room I am busy keeping the household ticking over.  It is with some relief that I hit the couch at 7.25 to watch the Tigers. But how much relief will it be if we get crushed?

This might so easily have been the case.  Luckily for Richmond, the Dogs have not been told about “the big sticks rule” where you get six points for a goal and only one for a behind.  They fire for goal again and again as if all that matters is registering some sort of score.  They dominate the first part of the first term and in no time have their first “point goal” and lead 1.6 to 1.1.  Eventually Richmond break away, Bolton marks Riewoldt’s kick, plays on and goals and we’re in front.

Bolton snaps another point shortly after and the Dogs win a free, 30m out, right in front and miss.  Just before the break Naughton snaps and goals and they’re in front.

Quarter-time score:  Richmond 2.2.14 to Western Bulldogs 2.7.19.

I can only think how lucky we are that they didn’t kick straight and bury us. But our attacks, when they’ve come, have been exciting and fluid and have resulted in actual goals.

Early in the second term Picket marks a clearing kick and goals from the 50, his kick straight, high and handsome.  This is a good spell for us, in which luck plays no small part.  Castagna marks and wins a 50 under the new “still-like-a-statue” rule.  Not wanting to make it look too easy he does a weird, play-on snap and goals from 15m out.

We win another of those 50s, this time against Naughton, and Presti, back in the side and looking good, goals from 30 out.  Lynch then plays his best two minutes of footy in the last two years.  He takes a good grab on the wing and gives the footy to Bolton who gives it to someone else who kicks goalward where to where Lynch has run.  He marks and goals and the Tigers are looking very sharp.

Macrae gets one back for Footscray before a piece of Richmond play that brings tears to my eyes.  Cotchin wins a great one-on-one scrap and taps the footy to Balta who takes off like a Clydesdale freed from the plough. 

He has one bounce and bombs it into the forward line where Lynch tries to mark, can’t quite get it, turns, gathers the loose footy and goals from close range under very close attention from the Doggies’ defence.  It’s old-fashioned Richmond footy, one contest to the next and so on down the ground.  It’s great to see Lynch moving so well and taking his chances and we’re four goals in front.

The Dogs still don’t know about the six-points-for-a-goal rule and Naughton misses again at the other end and it’s 7.3 to 3.10.  The runner goes out and explains the rule to Naughton who goals from the free kick after Short kicks out on the full.

Half-time score:  Richmond 7.3.45 to Footscray 4.10.34

Richmond have been very good, especially the defence which is without most of our Premiership Heroes except for Short and Broad.  Those two have been good – I’ve been very impressed with Broad over the past two seasons, he plays with a lot of skill and vision and plenty of toughness too.  But the new defenders – Rioli, Tarrant and Gibcus – have also held their positions.

We have our noses in front, but the Dogs’ inaccuracy has put us there.  If they keep getting the ball forward and start kicking straight they will swamp us.  Sure enough the third term starts badly when Bontempelli marks and goals after we’d left him all by himself.  Then Shedda is caught holding the ball and I worry that he’s starting to look slow.  The Dogs go into attack from the free kick but Bontempelli misses.  They’ve now kicked 5.12 to 7.3.

There follows a passage of blood and guts so wonderful that it’s censored.  The Dogs try to switch play across their backline but Baker flies in and spoils, Lynch gathers the loose footy, straightens up and goals. 

Lynch and other Tigers rush to thank Baker for his work and to check that he hasn’t bled to death.  Channel Seven rush to an ad and so we don’t see the gory aftermath.  But after the ad someone says “he split his head open” and the camera is on him for half a second as he is treated on the bench.  It looks like someone has upended a tin of red ink on his head, then it’s back to the un-bloodied players on the ground.

Had this been a Shakespeare play rather than the AFL, the King, striding across the ‘G would have gestured to Baker on the bench and said “What bloody man is that?”

Sadly, after this English gets a quick reply for the Dogs who are not going to go away and are slowly learning the finer points of scoring in Australian footy.

Richmond go into attack again, Castagna marks on the 50 and kicks it to Riewoldt who can’t mark.  The ball spills loose, Footscray try to clear it but Bolton blinks through them like a ghost, grabs the footy cleanly, turns in the pocket and kicks it on his left just inside the boundary.  It sails high right over the goal umpire’s head and you wonder is there anything Shai can’t do?  There is some similarity to Dusty’s ridiculous goal at the end of the GF in 2020.  The stealing of the footy, the quick turn, the evasion, the outrageous ambition of attempting a shot from so tight an angle.

Naughton ices this particular cake for us by missing again and soon it’s 9.4 to 6.14.  They’ve had seven more scores than us – and very few have been rushed behinds – and we lead by eight points.  Castagna has a good chance with an empty forward line in front of him but he misses.  The Dogs kick the footy out on the full, Cotch takes the free and Lynch takes a big grab 45 out on a 45 angle.  He kicks perfectly and we’re still in front with less than five minutes left in the third term.  So, the most pessimistic thing you could say is, we’re doing better than we were against the Saints.

Baker, back on the ground with his skull fused with superglue, does some great work in the middle and gets it to Balta who kicks long and wide.  It’s not a great kick at all but Riewoldt marks right next to the behind post and kicks the goal.  We lead by 20 with 2.45 left in the quarter.

Some poor Richmond disposals result in another mark to Naughton but only a rushed behind results.  Again Richmond can’t clear but then Treloar misses.

Richmond attack and Riewoldt marks on the 50 with 16 seconds left.  The siren goes and the umpire kindly explains what he is allowed to do – that is, he can’t play on.  Many, many years ago when Jack was perhaps still a teenager, I watched him on the telly in a game against the Saints.  If I’m not mistaken, he had a kick after the siren from a similar distance that could have won us the game.  And what made me so sad was not just that his kick fell short – I sort-of expected that – but that he kicked a drop punt.  It was well-known, even then, that his kicks just didn’t go that far.  But he didn’t even try a torpedo to get that extra five or ten meters that was required.  And I thought, I know it’s old-fashioned, but shouldn’t players at least know how to try a torp when it’s their only hope?

Evidently, Jack had heard my silent lament and tonight he shapes up to kick a torp.  I don’t think much of the kick off the boot – it looks like it’s going wide and falling short – but in the magical way of the spiral it straightens up and goes much further than it needs to.  It’s a goal and Jack becomes the 21^st highest-scoring player in Men’s AFL-VLF history, or something and is mobbed by his team-mates.

And it’s the last change and the Tigers are up by four goals.

Three-quarter-time score:  Richmond 12.5.77 to Footscray 6.17.53

Dunkley starts the last quarter well by kicking into the point post.  At the other end a ferocious tackle from Toby wins him a free and he goals from close range.  Soon the last term is half over and we still lead by five goals and then Parker, also playing well, wins a holding-the-ball free and goals from 30 out.  Is this the sealer?  Are we safe now, 37 points in front?  The way we coughed up leads against Carlton and the Saints means we can’t relax until there are fewer minutes left than our lead in goals.

And soon this blessed time arrives, six minutes left and we lead by 38 points.

Then Presti marks a clearing kick on the 50, hands it off to the un-tagged Short who bombs it from 55.  We’re up by 45 points and are running away with it.  Treloar kicks a sad, late goal for the Dogs.  Hunter is gifted a 50 for time-wasting against Baker but he misses from 25 out.  Then, to make all the Dogs feel better, Riewoldt marks and kicks a point after the siren.

Final Score:  Richmond 15.9.99 to Footscray 7.19.61

There are many pleasing things about this win.  Our make-shift defence has done very well.  Ben Miller in his third game has been good and the old hands, Broad, Short and Rioli, have all stood up.  Presti has had a great return to the side, 30 possessions, 10 of them contested and a goal.  Pickett has played one of his best games for us.  Bolton has been brilliant and Lynch and Riewoldt have had their best games in a long time.  Baker has had another very good game and his head-splitting heroics would be immortalised had he lived in a less squeamish age.  Parker has played another good game too, as has Cotch.  I could name the whole side, as is generally the case when Richmond play well and win.

The Dogs’ kicking for goal is what kept us in the game early and perhaps won it for us in the end.  But what really hurt them was how well we used the footy when we had it.

Perth Stadium, Saturday 12 June 2021

By my calculations, if Richmond are to make the top-four we have only one or two losses left and this had better not be one of them.  On the other hand, winning in Perth is never easy and I can’t remember when we last beat the Eagles there.

Presti is out injured but Lambert is back in which is huge.  Apparently, the Eagles also have some good players injured but I don’t care about them.

In any case we start well.  C C-Jones almost pulls of a very good mark, Aarts gets a point for us, the first score of the game and Chol wins the first three ball-ups against Natanui.  Riewoldt kicks the first goal with a clever soccer kick – he’s got a few of these lately – after Pickett had sent in a long pass.  Unfortunately, Naitanui soon gets one for the Eagles, a very clever snap from the boundary.  The Tigers respond with a good period in which they dominate but don’t score.  Vlaustin is doing well in defence and sends a long kick into the forward line.  Riewoldt marks and kicks the goal and with half the first term gone we lead 2.2 to 1.0.

Bloody Kennedy marks twice and goals, once from close in and once from 45 out and the Eagles clearly have their kicking boots on.

But it’s still been a good quarter for us at a hostile venue.  Our best players have been Vlaustin, Chol and Houli.  Grimes has done well too.

Quarter time score:  West Coast 3.0.18 to Richmond 2.2.14

Early in the quarter Bolton has a very good chance but his kick goes out on the full.  The Eagles have evidently sprinkled all the magic goal-kicking dust on their own boots.  Caddy hits the post from 45 out on a tight angle.  I actually thought he did well to hit the post.  West Coast rebound too easily through the middle, Cripps marks and goals and we really need the next one.

Into attack we go, Rioli wins a free for high contact on the 50, but Graham takes the advantage, plays on and goals and it’s 4.0 to 3.3.  Another promising attack is ruined by a poor kick into the forward line.  The Eagles rebound again and Oscar Allen goals from a set shot, 55m out.  If we are to win this, we just can’t let the Eagles have the footy in their forward half.  Nor in their back half, for that matter.

But just as I’m starting to think that this might be too hard, Dusty gathers and goals from the boundary as if it were the most basic skill in footy.  The silence of the crowd is eloquent.  Best of all is that Dusty had taken the footy from the ball-up in which, effectively, Richmond didn’t even have a ruck.  He just stole the ball from the Eagles’ tap and away he went.

Bolton marks, plays on and kicks to C C-Jones who marks and wins a 50 for late contact.  I think it’s a fair call but there seem to be West Coast fans who disagree.  It’s an easy goal and we’re in front again, 5.3 to 5.0.  Then Aarts refuses to be tackled, runs in and goals on the run from 45 out and the young feller seems quite at home in this team.  The quarter is half over and we’re in front by nine points.

It gets better when Bolton flies very high without marking, Lambert then gets the footy, runs in and goals and it’s a big welcome back to the Pride of Preston and we’re 15 points in front.  Sadly, the Eagles don’t go away and win a free for high contact against Grimes.  Jones goals from the set shot and the Eagles still haven’t missed which is disturbing.  Broad does very well to stop another West Coast attack but his clearing kick is marked by Waterman who goals – of course – from 45.  We lead by three points.

At some point West Coast get a point which must annoy them.  Pickett wins a ruck contest – yes, Pickett – and taps the ball to Bolton who sends a long kick to Riewoldt who takes a very good mark but misses the set shot.  The siren goes and we’ve won the quarter.  Pickett and Bolton have been good but the whole team has been solid.

Half-time score: West Coast 7.1.43 to Richmond 7.5.47

West Coast begin the second half in more promising fashion by having two kicks spoiled on the line with no forwards there to make good.  The game becomes very slow and tactical.  McIntosh does well but one set shot hits the post and his second misses too.  But he makes amends when his pass is marked by C C-Jones who kicks the first goal of the quarter with 7.30 left on the clock.  Once again, the crowd silence is a thing of beauty.

West Coast attack again and somehow Baker, all five foot eight of him, manages to spoil the mark.  The Tigers rebound and once again McIntosh is involved and Castagna trots into an open goal and kicks it.  We lead 9.8 to 7.3. Naitanui wins a free for in-the-back, plays on, shrugs away the tackler as if he were a loose scrap of paper in a light breeze and kicks to Ryan who has somehow found himself by himself.  He goals from 30m out and when the siren goes we’re up by two goals.

It’s been a good quarter for us.  Vlaustin has been good again and so has McIntosh.  We’ve been very disciplined and have stopped West Coast’s tiresome kick-and-mark game.  I’m hopeful that we’ll finish strongly.

Three-quarter time score: West Coast 8.3.51 to Richmond 9.9.63

In the last term the Tigers cover themselves in glory until they don’t.  The Eagles get it back to one goal when Kennedy marks and goals from an angle, again.  Oscar Allen misses after taking a good mark and playing on.  I have thought all game that if they could just start missing their shots, we might win this.  But they attack again and again and we can’t seem to find a way out.  Castagna makes a mark-saving spoil deep in the back line.  At last the Tigers rebound, Dusty makes a tackle, Bolton gathers and gives it back to Dusty who runs in and kicks it along the ground and through the big sticks.

A minute later Lambert goals off a step from just inside the 50 and we lead by 17 points with five minutes gone.  Oscar Allen wins a very dubious free kick for a dangerous tackle, right in front.  As sometimes happens, he can’t believe it’s a free kick either and sportingly misses the easy shot.  If only they could keep missing…

There follows a long period where the ball stays in the West Coast forward line, but eventually we break away again and Bolton goals on the run from 50m and surely we can win this now?  We lead by 22 points but there 11 minutes left – which is a long time, as Lou Richards used to say, “the way footy’s played today.”

Someone says that fatigue might become a factor. For unknown reasons, Richmond, who played in Perth last Saturday, had flown back to Sydney after the game and then back to Perth for this one.  I know that flying 8000km is not quite as hard as walking 8000km, but still.  Why did they do that?  West Coast haven’t travelled anywhere.

In any case, mistakes start to happen.  Grimes throws the footy and Waterman just sneaks in the free kick for a goal.  We attack again but stuff up the last kick into the 50 and West Coast rebound.  Cripps goals and we lead by 10 points with seven minutes left.

Baker gives away a free for deliberate out-of-bounds but Ryan manages only a point.  Naitanui takes a great mark in a pack but misses from close range.  Is it possible they could kick their way out of this?  But the poor kicking is contagious and Vlaustin’s kick-in is the worst I’ve seen him do.  It just clears Pickett’s head and goes into the arms of Edwards – their Edwards, not ours – on the 50 who kicks calmly to Oscar Allen who marks and goals from close range.  It’s down to a few points now and the Eagles are all over us.

We have another chance for a goal but again the last kick lets us down as Castagna kicks it straight to Hurn at full-back.  From there the Eagles rebound quickly.  Yeo sends a long kick toward Broad and Ryan.  Ryan gathers the loose footy and kicks it 1450mm to Kennedy who is awarded the mark and goals from a tight angle.  Again.  There are 36 seconds left and all is not lost.

It does seem to be though when the Eagles win the tap at the re-start.  But Grimes wins the footy back for us.  We need one more bit of luck and we might have it when Grimes might have given away a free for in-the-back but there’s no whistle.  He kicks to Chol who takes the ball an inch off the deck and handpasses to Vlaustin who is steaming past.  Vlaustin’s kick is spilled by Riewoldt just outside the 50 but he gathers the loose ball and gets it to Martin who runs out of the centre square and lets fly from the 50.  It’s two-against-two in our forward line but Hurn swallows it again and it’s all over.

It has been a great game, but gee it hurts to lose.  Especially to a club with such an awful jumper and wretched song.  But I’m being small-minded.  The Eagles were very good.  They seem to take goal-kicking practice very seriously.  And they’ve come back from four goals down half-way through the last quarter.

Hard to pick our best players, as usual. Lambert has been great on his return.  The defenders have all done well in a tough gig, but Vlaustin might have been the best of them.  And it will be forgotten, as we lost this game and didn’t kick a goal in the last half-minute, but the composure and skill of Grimes, Chol, Vlaustin, Riewoldt and Martin right at the end is something they should be proud of.

After a third term when we seized the initiative and Geelong seized up, I watched the last huddle of the season with rapt impatience. We could probably win this without Riewoldt or Lynch but it would sure help if they joined in. Nank got things off to a flyer with a splendid 55 metre pass down Lynch’s throat; but nothing came of it. Then there was this handpass.

Toby is such an unassuming gun footballer. Matt Zurbo used to coach him and wrote this fantastic piece in the Almanac earlier in Grand Final week, inspired by his outstanding prelim final performance against Port.

For one so young, Baker is a serious finals performer. He kicks a genius submarine pass to Riewoldt who’s in acres of space in forward 50, and via quick ungainly transfers it goes through Graham, George, and Lambert to Prestia running along the boundary, who goals from near the point post [Bruce credits it to Graham]. Really only the last pass was cultured and conventionally accurate. 52-44, we have six of the last seven goals.

Astbury is putting on a masterclass for any defenders with a daunting match-up. Hawkins looks like Micky Conlan would if he was scaled up to the height of John Ironmonger. But there’s something early-Richo-like about Hawkins’ lack of resilience in games. Miss a shot early and they are almost a liability. Now Astbury is rag-dolled out of the way but Hawkins drops the ball; and in there I am crediting Astbury with making it just hard enough for mentally-gone Hawkins to fail.

Geelong are not putting anything together. Their isolation from each other is Crows-at-the-2017-anthem-like. Making a very rare inside 50, Gryan Miers gallops forward, chased by Houli at calf-tearing pace, and kicks while too far out with no mates there to catch it, so Broad does.

Shai flashes into the game with a mark, play on, and astonishing stop-start mosquito run that gives him space to bomb it to Lynch in the square. Tom is on the board, 59-44 and the margin really feels like more.

Soon Cotch is lining up for another one after taking possession and going looking for Harry Taylor’s elbow with his head in classic Selwood fashion. 45m out on a steep angle we know he is no chance but the comms are quite excited that he might be getting us one goal away from being uncatchable. He misses.

Shorty is having a hell of a game. Everything he does has a lightness to it. He is probably the model rebounding halfback in the game now. Look at this kick, the physics of it is beautiful.

Dusty is front and centre all on his own and kicks his third after barely shrugging to dislodge O’Connor’s tackle, and its 66-44. He stretches his jumper in celebration. Hard to see where a Cats goal will come from. Hard to remember how they got to a grand final. This quarter the umps are giving them nothing; we are getting all the line ball calls and getting away with murder at times. Eg Nank takes the ball out of the ruck, gets caught: another ball up.

Now the Cats go forward and Menegola marks bravely running with the ball but unfortunately poleaxing Sam Simpson. He’s out cold and there’s a 7-minute delay, while TV replays the incident in stomach-churning detail.

The teams get into huddles, but the Cats break up quite quickly and seem to all be staring into their personal darknesses alone. Meanwhile the cameras catch the Tiges in 3s and 4s talking animatedly. That’s winning and losing I suppose. But there are nearly 8 minutes left on the clock and only 22 points in it.

After an eternity Sam Menegola kicks the goal professionally, and I was really happy for him that he did, in these circumstances.

As Simpson is placed on the cart the spidercam shows a few Tigers come over and wish him well.

Riewoldt kicks a point, then we have five minutes where we look wobbly. Not like we are going to lose, but not like a team that “can do no wrong”. We can do wrong.

Danger is trying to rally his side by staging, really flopping about looking for high contact. As noted above he is not the only player doing this.

Stewart has been Geelong’s best, and he is trying to rally his side by kicking very very long and accurately.

Baker has had a great game, now with amazing fingertip control he manages to slam ball on boot and hit Riewoldt lace out. Jack nails the shot from the boundary 48m out, and gets the crazy eyes in the celebration. 90 seconds to go.

Now Martin kicks his 4th. The hapless Rhys Stanley fumbles again and again while running out towards Danger in the pocket. He finally gets away something like a handpass to Danger, but it’s plucked right off his hands by the sharking Martin, also running towards the boundary.

He stops, shrugs off Dangerfield who is rotating around him like a naughty kid on a Hills Hoist; and just hooks it through for one of the all-time great poacher’s goals. 80-50.

There’s time for Riewoldt to clunk another one. His set shot is always missing as Brian intones “Riewoldt is on target…”. BT’s dedication to being clearly wrong has been a real 4-quarter effort.

By now Richmond staff are massing on the boundary. Unlike the sight of happy players, even very happy players, seeing happy coaches hugging and high-fiving is very rare. For Richmond people to have been able to enjoy that sight twice more after the delirious breakthrough of 2017, is really special.

Richmond 2.1(13) 3.2(20) 7.4(46) 12.9(81)
Geelong 2.2(14) 5.5(35) 6.8(42) 7.8.(50)

Epilogue

It’s taken me ages to write up this game, so first apologies for that. In 2017 I designed a bumper sticker as part of my celebrations of the win. In 2019 and 2020 I had to follow up with new ones, and both times it really got in the way of me celebrating the win; having this job to do with people waiting. Knowing that we are certainly still in the mix to win more premierships, I’m going to announce now that that’s the end of my premiership merch career. The 17, 19 and 20 items will stay on sale for anyone who wants one; but I think there are plenty of other people doing wonderful designs and I will leave it to them to cover our 2021 three-peat hat trick and our subsequent flags.

The Benny

5: Dustin Martin – Australian Rules’ greatest ever big game player. His first three goals were each desperately needed footholds as we clung onto the mountain; his fourth was just the perfect celebration of our total mastery of Geelong. Dusty has again taken out the Benny with 41 votes.
4: Jayden Short – had 25 touches including 18 exquisite kicks, made 7 inside 50s and laid 6 tackles.
3: Shane Edwards – 27 touches, covered every blade of grass, a quiet leader
2: Toby Nankervis – followed up last week with another complete ruck performance, 6 tackles.
1: Shai Bolton – just a highlight package isn’t he? Had some glorious moments, 7 tackles. And he is runner-up in the 2020 Benny.

Final standings
41: Martin
27: Bolton
24: Short
18: Grimes, Vlastuin, Graham
17: Balta
15: Cotchin
13: Lambert, Edwards
12: McIntosh
10: Riewoldt, Baker
9: McIntosh, Prestia
8: Houli
7: Pickett, Nankervis
6: Soldo, Lynch
5: Higgins, Eggmolesse-Smith, Chol
4: Caddy
2: Aarts
1: Castagna, Astbury

Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy for Tackles
This year won by Jack Graham with 72
Pickett 69
Lambert 68
Rioli 57
Cotchin 51
Bolton 47

As the broadcast resumes, we are looking at the end Geelong was attacking in the previous quarter. “That’s the Geelong forward end… … … in fact the Richmond forward end”. Thanks BT. We’d seen Richmond running towards it so probably no need to say anything eh?

Dave Astbury flaps at the ball like an outwitted goalkeeper and Ablett gets away, only to be run down by Pickett. Marlion Pickett is in everything tonight.

Rohan stops Prestia and gets a HTB free. Dangerfield is isolated on Cotchin and as Rohan’s kick comes in Cotch gives away scragging free. Dangerfield kicks the goal. 13 – 20. Geelong pressure is up and we have not come out with a good plan B. Ablett gives Dangerfield the rare one-handed high five.

Next bounce Pickett nearly cleans up Graham then seconds later Simpson’s perfect kick for Hawkins is ruined (bravely) by Dalhaus. Duncan is really generating heaps for Geelong.  We’ve had some luck with the umpires eg Nank marks a touched ball right in front of Geelong’s goal and essentially rolls in a ball like a slater. 

Shane Edwards creates a scoring opportunity. His wide kick out of the backline sets up for Shai to beat Blicavs in a sprint, then it goes via Kam, then Prestia, Dusty (all under kilopascals of pressure), back to Edwards but his final kick is just too deep for Jack and Tom Lynch.

Astbury is getting clearly beaten while Grimes is just anonymous – he and Rohan are mostly cancelling each other out. Dangerfield has another shot (after a mark that was actually touched by Broad) but he hits it all wrong.

Stewart attacks a ball on the edge of Geelong’s 50 and kicks it high for Rohan. Grimes runs him under it. Pickett and Broad tidy up but Broad under pressure hooks the ball back into danger territory, where it falls in the lap of stationary Gryan Miers. Gryan Miers ignores traffic cop Gary Rohan, decides to play on and kicks a behind from 20 out on a 45° angle. He tucks his ridiculous dreads behind his ears.

We are under a lot of duress now but the Cats are failing to turn the screw when the opportunity is there. Fragile. Harry Taylor gets a push, adds some mayo to it and dives into the legs of Graham who knees him in the head for his trouble.  Tuohy kicks another point. After 8 minutes of complete domination their lead is only 9 points. Rioli is trying to get into the game with some 2nd-in tough-guy efforts. Dahlhaus sets up a high kick to the square to be punched through for another behind, 13-23. 

Pickett makes a great tackle on Bews but then plays on from the free and handpasses it straight back to him. He is a big part of keeping us in this game but his mistakes are always made on centre stage.

Balta in the back pocket kicks with his scything style straight to Selwood. He slows play down, but still picks out Miers who was unmarked for ages. Miers gets Menegola, who finally kicks them another major. 13-29. It’s technically their 4th in a row but they actually have zero momentum.

Great little pass from Ablett to Selwood who pumps it down to Hawkins. Tom kicks the goal and now there’s some momentum. 13-35. “They’re going to be hard to catch” says Bruce. I’m worrying not so much about the margin but now Hawkins is up, and we are very flat, making unforced errors and letting loose men drift away.  For the first time I can visualise us losing this.

We move it slowly after a series of bounces. A hope kick comes out of Geelong’s defence to Short, who bangs it back in and finds Shai. His set shot misses, he got too close to the mark. Balta marks the kickout, but his kick is too cute and gives Kam no chance.

Henry kicks OOF on the other side. Baker takes the kick and goes deep to the big pack. Lynch and Riewoldt have been absent from the screen all night. Now Lynch rises above the pack and smacks the sherrin into the arms of Dusty for his first touch of the term. He runs across the goalface while holding Kolodjashnij at bay and hooks the ball through the middle, giving us a lifeline for half time. 20-35.

With 55 secs left there’s another throw-in in our forward pocket. Blicavs collects the tap and is caught in a vice by a re-awakened Dusty, who flips it out of his hands. That’s probably not a free. Dusty lines up, gets some advice from Riewoldt which he ignores, and kicks the worst banana you’ll see. In lawn bowls you’d call it wrong  bias.

The siren goes as we are hunting hard another goal. Geelong’s brief spell of momentum is dead. A half of wonderful intense and skilful footy has set the stage for the main event – some rich kids with colourful hair playing derivative rock n roll. We mute the TV and go to work on the saveloys.

This was another low scoring affair, won by the Tigers – but at great cost. We lost Soldo for the season and probably a good chunk of early 2021, and Lynch went off with a hammy in the 3rd and won’t play next week. We were the better side; Geelong are chock full of big (ageing) names that just don’t deliver consistently. They had one goal to 3QT. Our radar was off; we kicked 2.5 in the first quarter and 2.8 in the third. We should have been gone out of sight by 3QT. Cameron Ling: “Richmond should be ten goals up”.

In the last quarter when we were undermanned they made their move with their 2nd, 3rd and 4th goals in quick succession.

Important side note about Soldo’s injury: it was directly caused by Hawkins shoving his defender Balta into the pack. It’s dangerous, it’s against the spirit of the laws of the game and to my eyes it’s against the letter also. With HQ so keen to tweak rules at the moment I expect this get attention, but all that’s really required is umps to pay frees that are already in the rulebook. Hawkins copped a lot of hate through the week but he is not the only one who does it, probably just the strongest.

Castagna settled the game with a wonderful running goal. He received a handpass from Lambert on centre wing, then exchanged little passes with Graham and Bolton, before galloping to 40 and saluting. Wonderful stuff, and it came off the back of Hawkins down the other end marking then playing on and spraying a shot out of bounds.

It’s so far from the game most of us wanted, but Richmond’s mental disintegration of Geelong has been bloody impressive.

— Andy Maher (@AndyMaherDFA) September 11, 2020

Benny Votes

As I love to do, I am working smarter not harder and I have lifted the votes and notes from Richmond legend @Tigers_of_Old.

5. Grimes. Best game all year against the best oppo.
4. Vlastuin. Not far behind just brilliant.
3. Riewoldt. Never write off a champ.
2. Balta. Challenge accepted.
1. McIntosh. Ran hard all night.

Leaderboard
26: Martin
22: Bolton
18: Grimes, Vlastuin
17: Short
14: Balta
12: McIntosh
11: Cotchin
10: Lambert, Graham, Riewoldt
9: Baker, McIntosh
7: Prestia, Pickett
6: Soldo
5: Higgins, Eggmolesse-Smith, Chol, Houli
4: Caddy
3: Lynch
2: Aarts
1: Castagna

Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy for Tackles
Kane Lambert 48
Marlion Pickett 42
Trent Cotchin 42
Jack Graham 41
Dan Rioli 38