Before I go into this week’s Tigers game, I’ve got a bit of a confession. I lost a bet on the Tigers/Saints game, and the winner got to choose what game in Perth the loser buys the tickets for. So, Thursday saw me heading into Optus Stadium Perth to see the Cats and Pies. It was an uninspiring game, but it was good to see the AFL live and being in WA not being in lockdown. (Apologies to all those in lockdown reading this).

Saturday afternoon I watched East Fremantle v South Fremantle with the South Fremantle Bulldogs running all over the Sharks. Marlion Pickett was a South Freo footballer as were a couple of others who ran around in the Yellow and Black; Andrew Krakour, Stephen Jurica, Darren Gaspar to name a few. Nicky Winmar and Brad Hardie are also amongst the many South Fremantle players to make it to VFL/AFL ranks. Based on that I might follow this mob whilst I’m over here… as long as the game doesn’t clash with a Tigers game.

Q1 Tigers 4.3; Roos 0.0

Righto, onto the first quarter of the Tigers and the Kangaroos, first centre clearance, a free kick our way and we go for the Hail Mary up and under bomb and it gets returned from whence it came. For a few moments I thought oh no please not again. However we kept rolling forward, the pressure we’re used to seeing was there as was the chaos footy. After 8 inside 50’s Pickett kicks across his body for the first Tiger goal of the quarter. I wrote on my pad the pressure is back.

Up steps Dusty for our next, Chol got his first goal and his athleticism again was showing and Lynch to Riewoldt for our 4^th. Eggmolesse-Smith was on another level to last week and was showing the selectors he wants to stay in this team. The centreline and backline did a superb job and North were goal-less in fact scoreless for the quarter

Q2 Tigers 6.5; Roos 2.3

The first notes on the pad for Q2 were Caddy injured and Pressure, Pressure, Pressure. It looks like someone is going to have to step up to replace Caddy but the Tiger pressure, run on chaos footy and relentless forward pressure is back. Aarts intercepted well in the forward line but shanked the kick denying him his first Tiger goal.

It was the athleticism of Chol mixed with the Tiger forward pressure that saw our first goal of the quarter with Castagna dribbling one through from the goal-square. End to end running set up by Pickett switching play on the backline saw Bolton on the end of a chain hitting Lynch who kicked truly. North got a couple of late quarter goals, maybe we ran out of a bit of steam or maybe they got their game plan working. Quarter three would tell.

Q3 Tigers 9.7; Roos 2.6

North started by driving deep into their forward line and Pickett drifted across the pack to pull down a strong mark. That’s how our quarter started, continued and finished. Everyone playing a part, players linking up, Tigers creating pressure at every stoppage.

Dusty goaled, Rioli goaled and Chol was on the end of a good turnover chain and gave the Tigers three for the quarter. Once again in the third quarter North were goal-less but inaccurate kicking didn’t help them.

Q4. Tigers 11.11; Roos 2.11

With the game all but over it was a matter of how much will we win by? We missed a couple including Aarts from another set shot but within minutes he made amends by roving off the pack and kicking across his body for a goal. He followed up later in the quarter with another goal sneak roving opportunity.

This was a win by 22 hard at the ball; at every contest, Richmond players. Soldo and Chol were doing great second efforts. If Chol can work out the centre bounces he’s a handy back up, however second efforts from both of those players is worth noting. Likewise we’ve kept 2 teams to a total of 5 goals between them for 8 quarters of footy-pressure and poise all in one. Our big 2 forwards are down a little on form (in my view) but still contribute well and there’s plenty of Yellow and Black to mop up crumbs and provide chaos and pressure.

With a host of big names out there is a lot to be excited about.

The Benny Votes

5: Egglmolesse-Smith –he was everywhere and provided plenty of run. Filling big shoes and played a very solid 4 quarters.

4: Short – Another solid 4 quarter contributor fed and fed off team mates with poise.

3: Bolton – Could have got the 4 votes. Played centre and was everywhere. If he can find the next level of fitness he will be unstoppable.

2: Soldo – You can’t go past his second efforts and 23 hit outs against a quality ruckman in Goldstein deserves more than the 2 votes but I am fast finding out this voting caper isn’t easy.

1: Graham – 9 tackles (most of any Tiger) . Here is a bloke who keeps the Elastoplast shares on the up with the amount of shoulder strapping he needs weekly. That deserves a vote.

Unlucky not to get a vote or two; Pickett, Chol, Broad

Leaderboard
10: Lambert
8: Short
6: Soldo
5: Higgins, Vlastuin, Cotchin, Eggmolesse-Smith
4: Grimes, Balta, Caddy, Baker
3: Prestia, Houli, McIntosh, Bolton
1: Lynch, Castagna, Chol, Graham

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award: for players who have joined Richmond from another club
(Eligible 2020: Caddy, Grigg, Houli, Lynch, Nankervis and Prestia)

Prestia Houli 3, Lynch 1

Anthony Banik Best First Year Player:for anyone who was yet to debut before round 1
(Eligible 2020: Collier-Dawkins, Dow, Turner, English, Martyn, Cumberland, Aarts, Ralphsmith, Nyuon, Miller)

No votes yet

Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot:for left footers
(Eligible 2020: Chol, Nankervis and Houli)

Houli 3, Chol 1

Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal:
upgraded from the rookie list during the current season

(Eligible 2020: Aarts, Baker, Chol, Eggmolesse-Smith, Stack and Pickett)

Eggmolesse-Smith 5, Chol 1

Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy:
For the Tiges top tackler in 2020

Pickett 22
Prestia 21
Lambert, Soldo, Cotchin 20
Graham 18

What an ugly win…

In 1984, the year I finished high school we kept the Swans to a meagre 28 points, fast forward to Sundays game and we kept them to 26 points. That has to be a positive in an otherwise ugly win from a game of ugly football.

Three goals in the first 10 minutes to the men in Yellow and Black and then only one more goal for the game but… we win.

This week well I thought I’d do a rolling commentary without a quarter by quarter breakdown… only because quarter 2 and 4 would be no comment.

The Tigers again managed to score before most of the support staff had taken their seats. Be it as it may from a free kick, it was the forward pressure that had the umpire calling a deliberate over the goal line and stand in captain Jack Riewoldt nailed it. Next up saw a chain of play from the centre ending up in Dusty’s sure hands, and on cue he plays on and we score our second sausage roll for the quarter. Within minutes another handball chain sees Bolton slot one though on the run from about 50.

Now readers, this is when you can either skip to the votes or read on.

The Sydney coach decided the best form of attack is defence and so he threw Mills down back as an extra man and as luck would have it, it seems every forward foray for the next two quarters ended up with Mills somehow getting involved… only to have Grimes, McIntosh or Baker turn defence into attack from our backline.

Yes it was raining, yes the quarters are shorter, yes it’s strange times indeed but please why bomb into a congested forward line stacked in the Swans favour?E

Let’s look at the positives though. Chol again showed he can be a valuable contributor, he is athletic and can tackle. Balta and Aarts played ok and Eggmolesse-Smith also did OK. Pickett seems uncoordinated at times; that’s just his style, but he finds targets – so in terms of depth, we have got some.

Lynch kicked the only second-half goal, maybe should have got another but he wasn’t Robinson Caruso when it came to missing goals.

In the end we won, we won ugly, we got the four points and we came away without injuries and with game time for some young up and comers. I’m not sure I’ll watch this game again but there were positives.

Oddly enough it seemed Grimes was everywhere but he had single figure touches as opposed to McIntosh, Baker and Broad. Our backline is solid. We had chances and missed up forward but any other day it could have been 10.4 instead of 4.10. Soldo and Chol dominated the ruck… the biggest issue was flooding the backline and we couldn’t work our way around it.

Four points is four points and we are back in the 8.

The Benny Votes

5 Lambert – was a mirror image of last week and was a ball magnet most of the day

4 Baker –played one of his best games in the yellow and black, courage and poise all in one

3 McIntosh –if the quarters went the usual full distance he would have ended up with leather poisoning

2 Caddy – hard to go past his efforts again; he seems to be where the ball is landing and does something with it.

1 Chol – he did well in the ruck, laid some tackles and chased… for someone his size I’ll give that a vote each time.

Leaderboard
10: Lambert
5: Higgins, Vlastuin, Cotchin
4: Soldo, Grimes, Balta, Caddy, Baker
3: Short, Prestia, Houli, McIntosh
1: Lynch, Castagna, Chol

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award: for players who have joined Richmond from another club
(Eligible 2020: Caddy, Grigg, Houli, Lynch, Nankervis and Prestia)

Prestia, Houli 3, Lynch 1

Anthony Banik Best First Year Player:for anyone who was yet to debut before round 1
(Eligible 2020: Collier-Dawkins, Dow, Turner, English, Martyn, Cumberland, Aarts, Ralphsmith, Nyuon, Miller)

No votes yet

Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot:for left footers
(Eligible 2020: Chol, Nankervis and Houli)

Houli 3, Chol 1

Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal:
upgraded from the rookie list during the current season

(Eligible 2020: Aarts, Baker, Chol, Eggmolesse-Smith, Stack and Pickett)

Chol 1

Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy:
For the Tiges top tackler in 2020

Prestia 21
Cotchin 20
Lambert 18
Soldo 17
Edwards, Bolton, Pickett 15

Here we go TTBB fans, my first crack at a match report and the all-important player votes. I offered to do the write up for round 5 as I was shipped off from the heartland of footy in Victoria and into exile in Perth. Richmond were meant to be playing West Coast in the Queensland hub but someone in Melbourne caught this flu thing that’s doing the rounds and our neighbours shut their doors on us Victorians…

As with all things in times of Covid don’t go making too many plans.

The upside for me was my 2 week lockdown finished the day after we were meant to play West Coast and that meant I could venture out and watch the Melbourne game in a pub. So the report notes were taken during Sunday lunch at JB O’Reilly’s Irish “eaten and drinkin emporium” in Leederville.

Q1

As with last weeks game we got a quick goal early thanks to first gamer Aarts being able to dish off a nice pass to Lynch; from then on quarter 1 became a bit of an arm wrestle with both team making some fundamental footy errors and both teams scoring from a running game. Quarter time saw both sides at 3 goals a piece and not much separating the good or bad passages of play. It was good to see Balta, Aarts and Chol getting a run and Rioli back in the line up. Balta took his chance with 20 disposals for the game, Aarts 15 and both Rioli and Chol 8 apiece.

Melb 3.1 Rich 3.2

Q2

Thankfully Richmond decided to play like Richmond in the second and it was the premiership heroes who all scored for the Tigers, as they turned up to kick four goals for the quarter to the Demons zero. Nankervis, Riewoldt, Castagna and Lambert all slotting through majors for the term with first gamer Aarts unlucky to miss on debut… and don’t get me started on the endless score reviews. Houli stood up down back and Cotchin was playing the general’s role as usual.

Melb 3.2 Rich 7.3

Q3

The Richmond side that was there for the second quarter must have eased back into Covid Tiger mode as the third quarter didn’t produce too much in the way of Tigerish play. The exception of course being Lambert’s smother; follow up and goal. On the reverse end of that highlight was Nank’s going down and the turnovers. I was starting to lose interest watching the usually silky-smooth-skills mixed with the play-on-at-all-costs chaos footy Richmond play, slowly unwinding.

Melb 5.2 Rich 9.7

Q4

Another dour arm wrestle with no real highlights, maybe it was the beers with lunch in a Perth suburb instead of being at the MCG that took the wind out of my sails, maybe it was Castagna going down the tunnel, maybe it was seeing Cotchin hobble. Lynch got a couple to keep us at arms length but again a few fundamental turnovers hurt the boys in the Yellow and Black. The highlight for me would be Lambert again, the 100 gamer putting through his third for the match to ice the game and ice his 100^th game cake.

Before I go into the votes I actually looked in to the stats, not something I’d do on a weekly basis…….in fact never do but thought as I am writing for TTBB best I put the extra effort in.

The difference in disposals was 13 our way, we both had the same amount of handballs (155) but we had 13 more kicks (180-167). However TTBB fans we were efficient, we went inside 50, 4 times less than the Demons but our defence did it’s job and the forwards did theirs with 19 scoring shots to 12 for the game.

Richmond by 27 points over the Dee’s.

Yes we’ve got injuries but we had those last year and still managed to win the flag in both AFL and VFL so injuries and family commitments may be seen as a season ending blow; or, a chance for the depth and talent to shine as we saw with Balta and Aarts. Chol also played his part with some fierce tackling and running with Gawn. Don’t be surprised to see him doing the same again next week in the northern hub.

The Benny

 5 votes Lambert in one of his best performances of his 100 games.

4 votes Balta, 20 disposals is a statement right there, I’m here and I want to stay here.

3 votes Prestia he was in everything until being injured

2 votes Caddy, he is a work horse and had plenty of touches

1 vote Houli, another solid performance turning opposition attack into a rebounding Richmond defence.

Leaderboard
5: Higgins, Vlastuin, Cotchin, Lambert
4: Soldo, Grimes, Balta
3: Short, Prestia, Houli
2: Caddy
1: Lynch, Castagna

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award: for players who have joined Richmond from another club
(Eligible 2020: Caddy, Grigg, Houli, Lynch, Nankervis and Prestia)

Houli 3, Lynch 1

Anthony Banik Best First Year Player:for anyone who was yet to debut before round 1
(Eligible 2020: Collier-Dawkins, Dow, Turner, English, Martyn, Cumberland, Aarts, Ralphsmith, Nyuon, Miller)

No votes yet

Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot:for left footers
(Eligible 2020: Chol, Nankervis and Houli)

Houli 3

Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal:
upgraded from the rookie list during the current season

(Eligible 2020: Aarts, Baker, Chol, Eggmolesse-Smith, Stack and Pickett)

Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy:
For the Tiges top tackler in 2020

Prestia 21
Cotchin 20
Edwards, Soldo 15
Bolton 13