For a regular night game, half time is a bit of toast, maybe bring in a couple of logs for the fire, and possibly switch from beer to coffee. We did the kick-to-kick in the early evening pre-game, so instead we had the saveloys that we didn’t really want, because dinner was only an hour ago. The TV tells us that Danger’s gone to full forward and Dusty to half forward. We resume down 20-35, having been “flogged with a warm lettuce” in the 2nd quarter by a dominant but inaccurate Geelong.

The first minutes after the restart were all down our end. It was a perfect start, with the same move-it-on attitude we showed at the beginning of the game. Prestia just swinging a boot at a loose ball a couple of times, it came to O’Connor who is ragdolled in massive tackle from Pickett who can’t believe its play on. Sheds stood in a tackle and got it to Cotch who was 97% gone when he got a knuckle on it to Graham; Graham swept it out wide to Dusty and his first kick of the half was perfection. Jack had position, Henderson got over his shoulder and conceded a free that Jack iced with no fuss. 26-35.

Next Dusty placed another kick into 50 perfectly and this time Graham was caught high by Blicavs. His shot at goal is utter pants, but that’s 11 inside 50s in a row to the reigning premiers and hope is starting to put in an appearance. Immediately Kolodjashnij clearing out of defence kicks it straight to Lambert, who squares it to Jason “0.5” Castagna.

Even before his shot there was a real sense of Richmond now being in the driver’s seat of the ute and Geelong just running alongside in cheap thongs trying to get close enough to jump into the tray. Castagna’s kick is very strange and the three Geelong players on the line all fail to stop it. 32-35.

Miers gets on the end of a very sharp handball chain orchestrated by the man @AFLItalia (probably) calls Il Piccolo Maestro. He goals to recover a tiny bit of personal respect and stop the rampant Tiger roll. 32 – 41.

Geelong now slowed the game right down. After a few minutes of this Brian said “Geelong… taking a little bit of milk out of… the Tigers”. Halfway through he wanted to back out of it, but couldn’t work out how.

An insane series of events led to a Lambert goal. A beautiful Short kick was fumbled by Sheds as he was 15m out right in front. George chased the loose ball and was held without it, no free. Bews tried to “play out from the back” Manchester City-style and his short kick was thrillingly marked on the boundary by Shai Bolton who came from nowhere over Menegola. Shai bounced up and kicked dangerously to Lambert on a better angle, but it came off. After taking the slips catch, Kane converted nervelessly. 39-42

Tuohy kicking out of defence was pushed off-balance by Dusty, and the ball landed amongst Tigers. It came back via a long Short kick and Dusty beat Tuohy to the high loose ball, then just turned and paffed it through on the bounce off the outside of his right boot from 30 metres out. 2 goals to Dusty, Tigers in front in the 2020 Grand Final, and Dusty loves it. 45-42.

This was a great moment; a surgically precise intervention by Jack’s toes between Selwood’s hand and boot.

Lynch finally gets a clean touch – to be fair on watching the replay he has been using his body, scrabbling defensively, he’s been working hard. Guthrie took a screamer over Nank. Il Piccolo Maestro hits Hawkins with a great kick; but Hawkins rushes his shot and misses. Geelong are still trying to clamber onto the ute but they’ve just lost one thong. In one minute Pickett outplayed Danger, and Grimes outplayed Ablett, who by now was carrying on like the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

A Dusty Martin blast kick into acres of space bounced awkwardly and Blicavs approached it like a bomb disposal novice.

Together Blicavs and Henry cocked it up under pressure exerted by Rioli and Graham.

Geelong were playing scared. The ball came via Lambert to Sheds, who ran towards an open goal and kicked a point – unmarked Jack Riewoldt took it pretty well considering. 46-44.

The last action of the term saw Geelong streaming in numbers towards goal as last man Grimes made a crucial save.

SO crucial. A Geelong goal following Sheds’ miss could have flipped the momentum back the other way. As it was, we came to the huddle leading 46-44, having kicked four goals to one in the quarter, and with many familiar signs of the brittle Geelong we’ve come to know and love.

It’s a different game with different rules. After the first bounce the ball is hoofed off the ground, out of the air, it’s like the players are big birds with no hands. Cotch soccers it, Shai soccers it. Selwood picks it up with his human hands and kicks it OOF. Kamdyn gives it a huge whack along the ground and Sheds soccers it. As it goes out again Baker delivers a big bump to Dangerfield, and it’s dripping with contempt.

Another big defensive hoof off the ground by Balta. Shai is such a smart player. Look at how he uses his body and O’Connor’s momentum without pushing him. He just ushers him onto the ground, and although he goes to ground himself he is up literally in a blink.

At 3 mins in Vlastuin and Ablett are injured within seconds of each other. Vlossy and Dangerfield converge on a ball, Dangerfield gets there first and punches it away. He has time to bend his arm to meet Vlossy’s head with his forearm. My gut feeling at the time was that it was instinctual to protect himself. I don’t like Dangerfield and could easily convince myself it was deliberate but in Grand Finals, that matters little. Nick was out before he hit the turf and gone for the day.

Ablett hurts his dicky shoulder when tackled four seconds later by Cotchin. He went and had an injection and came back out, but it limited his output. He’s an old bloke who’s had surgery. That’s footy. We lost a key foundational player and they lost 30% of an old stager. So much has happened already and its still 0-0.

Dusty sweeps a big handpass backwards to Cotch among Cats, putting him under pressure but then helps tidy up. Short take a 2 bounce run. He and Baker are making lots of ground off half back. Nank is dominating.

We bomb it into 50, Henderson misses the ball with a fist and it would have been a stone cold goal to Sheds except he fumbled [inconceivable] then gets taken out below the knees by Stewart.

Shai’s hands are clean and his mind is clear. Look at this pick up. He has Dusty as an option but chooses George. Tuohy’s is an uphill battle.

Sam Menegola is the architect of Geelong’s first forward move after 10 minutes, leading to a Hawkins behind. Tiges still looking good. Graham is pinged for in the back on Danger, on 50. He kicks badly, its 0-2. Ablett appears on the boundary, crowd gets worked up.

Prestia nails the first goal. Menegola dumps it straight to Short, who sends it back into 50, Bolton is the tall timber who brings it to ground where Sheds actually controls with his calf then soccers it to Rioli, who hands to Graham, who hands to Dion, two white flags.  6–2.

30 seconds later Dusty gets it on centre wing, turns inside and squares it to the corridor to Baker. He dishes a little handpass to the galloping Kamdyn who runs inside to 48 and always kicks these. 12-2.

Dangerfield takes on Shai and Dion and loses it, Martin hooks it to the goal line. We are dominating with 6 mins to QT. Lost of good ‘fragile Geelong’ signs. Broad is heading off-field with trainers. “Broad – appears to be not making much sense” – says Brian Taylor. All over the nation and beyond people mutter to their televisions ha – you’d know all about that BT.

With two key backs missing some gaps are appearing. Parfitt and Guthrie in turn take easy marks in space, and Guthrie goals. 13-8. I rate Guthrie. Ablett is tackling gingerly. Parfitt has been off and come back with a strapped thumb – it’s broken we later learn. The ball passes Ablett and he gives it a little poke, not keen to take possession.

Duncan with the ball in the forward pocket tried to do the Mexican Hat Dance to lose Dusty but his great defensive pressure rendered the kick harmless. Then another Duncan kick is OOF. Duncan is very tonguey. Edwards lays on a perfect kick for Bolton to run onto but Stewart got a hand to it. He’s sweeping very well.

Intruders on the ground. After they’re secured a spare security man runs across the ground back to his station BT: “oh it’s ANOTHER one”. Disinformation flows from this man. Ablett was clearly feeling his shoulder while BT talked about a leg injury.

BT and Bruce did not notice this but it seems neither did most people: Houli backheel straight to Cotchin from Ablett’s soccer. So deft.

Later we learned Bachar tore a calf muscle in the early minutes. It’s likely that this move was a response to feeling restricted in his ability to change direction or bend down.

Cotch kicks straight to Stanley. Stanley to Menegola and he has a choice of two as Duncan and Bews have just wandered forward. Pickett and Broad at fault. 43 seconds left. Goal to Duncan with 8 sec left. Super slow-mo tongue action, no-one needs to see that. It’s 2.2.13–to 2.2.14 at quarter time. The Gabba fills with pop music and suddenly the footballers sprint is happening. Geelong wins it.

On Friday evening before the game I sent a text to Joe in Launceston, a lifelong Tiger.

At 7.22pm he called. He was not in Launceston. He was not near a TV. He was walking the Overland Track, and had just arrived at Narcissus Hut after a big day walking 28km, with a 20kg pack. He had one bar on his phone, battery nearly flat. I said I’d send him score updates.

Holy hell, what a game! The pressure was insane. It was raining, the ball was soap, and each player receiving it was just intent on moving it on asap. The ball was booted off the ground and out of midair countless times, but there were also incredible contortions to get the ball from hand to foot before the inevitable tackle.

The best thing I’ve read about the game (and probably the best short footy piece of the year) is this; Nankervis by Matt Zurbo. Go and read it, I’ll wait here.

Port were on top early but their entries inside 50 were terrible. They had a clear chance with Marshall galloping free and he kicked out on the full. I haven’t seen a lot of this kid but I marked him as a weak link. Grimes seemed to have his measure. Tiges didnt make a scoring chance until 8 mins in when Lambert stripped Mackenzie of the ball but he dribbled a point. There was no actual Port pressure on him at the time (from my vantage point on the couch 885 nautical miles away) but I know the air around him was just pinging with perceived pressure.

Grimes was copped high and with his free kick chose to slow things down, take a really good look and send a considered long ball to the top of the square. Jack brought it to ground, Dusty roved it at top speed and hooked it back on his right for the game’s first goal. Jack has started really well. Duursma is one of Port’s young stars and Jack ran through him in the centre. Soon after Jack was smacked across the chops by Jonas and put the resulting free kick through for a goal. We were using our chances better than Port.

Then Marshall set up a goal for Rozee. OK maybe I was wrong about him. Robbie Gray, one of the most balanced modern players you’ll see, gathered with one hand as he wheeled around with his back to goal, and with great vision hit up Duursma. The kid’s a very good player but his archer stuff is dumb. Sort of masturbatory. You can image he’d feel at home at Narcissus Hut.

He ran 50 metres to have a yap at Lynch afterwards. Port ahead 2.3.15 to 2.1.13 at quarter time. Best sight of the first quarter was Balta galloping out of the backline – he’s blanketed Dixon.

Rozee kicked a goal from the Eddie pocket. Burne Jones is on Martin and like most humans, has no hope. We are a goal down but I feel we are winning the 50/50s down low and we are dominant in the air. It’s going to turn. Nank kicks to Shai in space, but his set kick doesn’t make the distance. BT does his nana about Shai turning his back to goal, but I reckon he was looking for a runner to dish it off to.

Next minute Shai runs down Lycett for holding the ball and just picks it up and skips away from him.

Burne Jones tried some kind of body stuff on Martin and missed him entirely, leaving him in space to mark and goal. It’s 21-21 now and the score doesn’t move for a long, LONG time. I suddenly remembered I had to text Joe.

We are getting an OK run with the umpires – they are giving deliberate OOBs all over the place but its consistent. Pickett is working into the game after a dud first quarter. I feel like every Tiger has had vital moments.

Duursma dropped a chest mark. Rioli tries to just bowl the ball between his legs to escape a tackle. Balta gets away with a big shove on Dixon. Graham goes off sore. Powell-Pepper is trying to crash through packs and its not working.  A promising move forward goes to Prestia and he puts it OOF.

Half time score 3.3.21 apiece.

For the rest of the game I had Joe in the wilderness hanging on my texts. It really added something extra to a game that was already totally engrossing.

After a lovely clean move Bolton out it across the face for a behind. Lynch outmarked two to put us in front. Houli is in everything, a low-to-the-ground ball-promoting machine. I don’t know about stats but Nank is the dominant ruckman on the ground. He’s the greatest tackling ruckman the game has seen. He pings Gray. Baker has quelled Rozee.

Suddenly Lycett is galloping free. Motlop finds him and he goals from the set shot. Port are getting some rough decisions and the home crowd are baying for blood.

Joe is on the verandah now trying to get reception. It is -7°C.

I’m just going to tell the rest of the game in our texts. I am yet to rewatch the last quarter but this is how I saw it.

In these last minutes Nank took two crucial marks in defence. He ended up with ten tackles.

Port Adelaide 2.3(15) 3.3(21) 4.4(28) 6.4(40)
Richmond 2.1(13) 3.3(21) 4.6(30) 6.10(46)

The Benny

5: Nankervis – “Nothing flash, just effort down low. Pushing, shoving, tackling, clearing paths, getting it, giving small handballs. Work.” – Matt Zurbo
4: Martin was unstoppable. He is unstoppable.
3: Balta beat Dixon. Played on the edge but huge contribution.
2: Lynch worked so hard all night.
1: Lambert’s two quick goals finally put our slight edge up in black and white on the scoreboard.

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

Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy for Tackles
Graham 67
Lambert, Pickett 64
Rioli 53
Cotchin 51
Bolton 47

Confidence for this game was pretty solid. We were OK without being quite good enough against Brisbane. Tom Lynch was available after a spell to get his sore hamstring completely right. His absence contributed to last week’s loss, but would that call ultimately pay off? Dimma decided to put his faith in the “Nank & Friends” approach in the ruck, so Mabior Chol made way for Lynch. Unlucky Jake Aarts was dropped to bring back dual premiership defender Nathan Broad. The Saints had 3 forced changes, with Ryder injured, Carlisle on baby watch and Ben Long suspended.

Lynch was on the board immediately, after outmarking his shadow for the day Dougal Howard. A few minutes later Sheds crumbed a huge leap from Jack in the pack and dribbled one through from straight in front. Modern players practice this incessantly, that’s why they’re so good at it. Why do they not practice drop punts incessantly? Good question, Virginia.

Shane Savage, who played at Hawthorn in the 1970s, kicked an absolute monster from the NSW border to get the Saints away.

Shai Bolton replied with two goals in a minute that were audacious and ridiculous. He followed a sort of bumblebee path with Sinclair on his heels clutching the air. It ended with Shai running outside 50 then launching a kick over the crowded forward line. It bounced 15 out and rolled through.

From the bounce we pumped it long once more and Shai roved to Nank, ran juggling the ball into a pack of Saints, and without ever really controlling it, tapped it towards his swinging boot, to goal from 30 metres out.

Dan Butler has excelled at his new club this year and it was a spicy moment when he ran down Cotch in the centre for HTB. He then goaled on/after the siren to give St Kilda a smidgen of hope after a tough quarter. Richmond led 5.1.31 to 2.2.14.

The second was maybe more even but St Kilda were wasteful. Billings, Marsh and King blew gettable chances. Cotch ripped Zak Jones’ head clean off, in a classic example of his literally careless style in finals. Will kill for Richmond, this guy. They re-attached Jones head but he didn’t contribute a great deal thereafter. Again (if we win) the next few days will be full of speculation whether Trent will miss a final.

Sheds kicked a beauty over his shoulder before Clark answered from tight on the boundary. Dan and Lynch added goals so we went in at half time on a very accurate 9.1.55 to 3.6.24. In 2020 footy that’s close to a decisive lead.

The 3rd term however was all Saints. Cartoon-baddie Tom Lynch reappeared, sitting on a bemused Howard’s head then dropping a knee gently on his shoulder and giving away 50 metres – and bringing more tribunal speculation. Quite harmless but dumb and unnecessary.

For all their chances this quarter the Saints didn’t hurt us, through a combination of our pressure and plain bad luck. Our one goal for the term came after Sheds shot this pass to Prestia who goaled. Look at this wonderful player’s composure in the moment – about to be hit hard but his eyes are only on Dion.

A much better effort from the Saints that term, finishing off with a goal to Kent after a duff kick from Bachar and great twinkletoes from Dan Butler. But they’re still 23 points in arrears at the last break.

Well, now it’s interesting. Hunter Clark is quite a player, he sold a dummy to Bachar, ran on and set up a goal for Seb Ross. Margin 17 and momentum with the Saints. Somewhere in their mansions Eric Bana, Shane Warne and Lazar Vidovic are sitting bolt upright. Their boys have 17 scoring shots to 14 and maybe if they can just hit some targets they can do this.

But it just didn’t happen. Richmond are a hardened finals unit and there are children at kindergarten now who have never known them to lose from here. We ‘raised the fight’ and overwhelmed their moves forward with mad pressure.

Sheds spotted up George for our 11th goal, Dusty hoisted another, and we were home by 31 points.

We can say the gamble of resting Lynch has at least broke even. Nank was fantastic with help from Astbury and Balta. Faith in Dimma is strong.

RICHMOND   5.1       9.1       10.4     12.8 (80)
ST KILDA       2.2       3.6       5.11     6.13 (49)

The Benny

5: Edwards – sublime to watch
4: Bolton – his goals set us on the path to a prelim
3: Houli – 32 touches
2: Martin – Did Martin things
1: Lynch – Richmond aren’t themselves without him now
Honourable mention to Dan Butler who would have got votes if opposition players were eligible for the Benny.

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

Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy for Tackles
Graham 63
Pickett 61
Lambert 58
Cotchin, Rioli 47
Bolton 46