ROUND 15 - RICHMOND lost to ESSENDON - M.C.G. (Home) 12.07.04 RICHMOND 4.2 7.6 8.8 11.11 (77) ESSENDON 2.1 7.2 14.9 24.11 (155) Goals: Richmond: Richardson 6 Rogers Ottens Bowden Fleming Moore. Essendon: Lloyd 9 Murphy 3 J.Johnson 2 Misiti 2 Lovett-Murray 2 M.Johnson Hird Alvey Bradley McPhee Hille. Best: Richmond: Richardson Johnson Bowden Campbell Brown Ottens. Essendon: Lloyd McPhee Richards McVeigh Murphy Allan J.Johnson. Richmond Injuries: Hilton (knee), Campbell (shoulder). Umpires: A Coates C Hendrie S Ryan. Attendance: 48,286 A pleasant sunny July Saturday afternoon at the home of football greeted the supporters of Richmond and Essendon. An emotional edge was added to this match with Bomber James Hird celebrating his 200th game while Tiger fans were waving good-bye to long-term stalwarts Matthew Rogers (playing his final game) and the injured Duncan Kellaway, both of whom announced their retirement midweek. Richmond players were playing purely for pride and some for spots on next year's list while Essendon after three losses were aiming to put a three game slump behind them and stay in finals contention. With Stafford absent through injury, Richmond began with Richo and last week's "rising star" Jay Schulz up forward, Otto in the ruck and Hall on Lloyd at full-back. As predicted on the OER forum by Jackstar, Bowden had the job on Hird. The Tigers got off to a flyer in the first quarter with Richmond showing more desperation and willingness to get extra numbers around the fall of the ball than their opponents. By the time most late comers had grabbed a seat, Richmond had three goals on the board with two to Richo and one to Ottens. It looked at that stage as if the loss of key backman through injury and suspension before the game was going to make Essendon's job down back extremely difficult. As the quarter progressed the Bombers pushed more men behind the ball and the game tightened up as the footy rebounded between half-back lines. The Tigers were still winning the vast majority of the ball through the midfield but were wasting their numerous forward thrusts. After a Tiger goal split two Matthew Lloyd goals for Essendon (the first courtesy of a soft free kick), Richmond only found itself 13 points up at the first change when it should have been further ahead. The Tigers had continued on from the good honest display against Brisbane last week and needed to keep it up in the second quarter which they did, yet we continued to be inefficient going forward. Essendon through some soft free kicks to Matthew Lloyd (many of them deliberate dives and all resulting in goals) were able to, despite significantly fewer inside 50's, hang in there on the scoreboard and in fact took the lead midway through the term. Richmond replied by reasserting itself towards the later part of the quarter and regained the lead but another goal to Lloyd (his fifth) kept the margin to only four points in the Tigers favour at the main break despite the Dons losing Hird and Lucas to injury. So far in the match Richmond had been the dominant side and should have been at least 3-4 goals in front but instead had to "start again" in the second half and repeat the workrate of the first. Sadly when the teams came out it was as if they had swapped sashes as Essendon began to dominate in and out of the midfield from the first bounce. The flowing football Richmond showed in the first half completely vanished as most of the side committed the all too familiar and fatal footy sins of being second to ball and not running for each other. When the Tiges did get their hands on the footy we played into Essendon's hands by going wide and predictably bombing away (excuse the pun) towards Richo, who was continually outnumbered, allowing the Dons to clear with ease and set up goal after goal. By the time the three-quarter siren sounded, the Bombers had piled on seven goals to one to end the contest (and I use that word loosely!). To make matters worse, Richmond lost both captain Wayne Campbell (shoulder) and Rory Hilton (knee - courtesy of being pushed into the fence a Bomber player) through serious injury. The final quarter was now a matter of pride and getting back to displaying an honest and committed effort. Unfortunately for us Tiger supporters nothing changed as Richmond continued to play as a insipid rabble it had demonstrated to all and sundry too many times in recent years and the coaching staff once again had no answers or moves to halt the second half bomber blitz. Essendon were allowed to do as they pleased and piled on another 10 goals to three to win by a whopping 78 points as the second half became an exact copy of the Kangaroos game only a month ago. It was then left to those Tiger supporters who stayed until the very end to say farewell to Matty Rogers (who played well) and Duncan Kellaway at the conclusion of another disgraceful display from the team in yellow and black. < BACK TO 2004 FIXTURES >