Round 5 v Melbourne at the MCG

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