ROUND 16 - RICHMOND lost to ST. KILDA - Telstra Dome ("Home") 20.07.04 RICHMOND 4.1 4.3 5.5 9.7 (61) ST. KILDA 5.3 10.5 15.8 16.9 (105) Goals: Richmond: Richardson 6, Ottens, Tuck, Moore. St Kilda: Riewoldt 5, Guerra 4, Milne 4, Hamill 2, Hayes. Best: Richmond: Richardson, Bowden, Johnson, Hartigan. St Kilda: Jones, Harvey, Hayes, Dal Santo, Riewoldt, Ball. Richmond Injuries: J Schulz (hamstring) replaced in selected side by D Rodan. Umpires: M Head, D Goldspink, R Chamberlain. Attendance: 34,631. "Enjoying" Saturday arvo of footy for the second week in a row, the Tiger faithful were part of a crowd of just over 34,000 that headed across town to Docklands and the Telstra Dome for a "home" game against league leaders St Kilda. Before the start of the match, Richmond lost tall Jay Schulz to a hamstring injury and in his place came in the smallest bloke on our list in David Rodan. So much for the coaching staff sticking to a "plan" derived through the week. The match began with Richo in his now customary position at full-forward, Hall at CHF away from his usual full-back possie, Otto in the ruck, Bowden on Hamill and Zantuck giving away inches (or should that be a whole foot) to Riewoldt. Some unusual match-ups in there to say the least. The Tigers got off to the perfect start with Richo bagging the first goal of the game and were playing quite smartly as the first quarter ebbed and flowed with St Kilda then Richmond and finally the Saints grabbing the momentum. After Richo got his third bursting through and brilliantly snapping across his body, Richmond held the lead going into time on only for the Saints to pinch two late goals through sloppy play and resultant turnovers by the Tigers. Richmond's workrate had been good that term and if not for a couple of silly errors they could have had the lead. Unfortunately for Richmond supporters, the Tigers habit of going to sleep for two quarters reared its ugly head again and St Kilda began to dominate firstly out of the centre then all over the park as they strangled any attempt by Richmond to develop some form of flow and system to their game. After a couple of goals to Saint Brent Guerra to extend St Kilda's lead, Richmond's play and teamwork went from the sublime to the ridiculous as our inability to run and find space resulted in one short ineffective handball after another which only put teammates under further pressure and eventually lead to turnover after turnover. The Saints were able to take enough advantage of this to bag five goals to nil for the quarter to take a commanding lead into half time although based on the amount of possession they had (or should that be were given by the numerous Tiger errors) St Kilda should have been much further in front at the main break. The third quarter saw no Tiger revival or at least signs of some semblence of systematic footy. Richmond did reduce their amount of stupid handballs but only replaced them with long bombs upfield in the general direction of Richo who had at one stage had SIX Saint defenders closer to him than a Richmond teammate. You would think after all these years the coaching staff would wake up that you don't kick many goals and hence win many games with only one forward target and goalscorer. Richmond continually failed to recognize St KIlda's set-up of groups of 3's down the lines which they used to build one short and one deeper defensive wall in front of Richo. Once the Saints got the turnover from Tiger players' predictable long bombs they would sprint to the open side of the ground for the switch of play and simply link up to rebound quickly and deliver the ball into the welcome hands of Riewoldt and crumbers Milne and Guerra. St Kilda added another 5 goals to the Tigers solitary major to extend their lead to over ten goals at three-quarter time. The way the match had panned out so far it looked like a 100 point loss was sadly on the cards. However a combination of a lift in intensity by Richmond and a total easying off the accelerator and at times lairising by the Saints actually saw the Tigers gain a bit of respect on the scoreboard and reduce the final losing margin to a flattering 44 points with Richo finishing with six goals for the match. Other Tigers who could hold their heads up after the game were Bowden, Hartigan and stand-in captain Johnson. The only positive to come out of the game was the promising debut of 18 year old Carey Gammar schoolboy Daniel Jackson. < BACK TO 2004 FIXTURES >