ROUND 20 - RICHMOND lost to ADELAIDE - AAMI STADIUM (Away) 15.8.04 RICHMOND 5.1 7.5 13.6 13.8 (86) ADELAIDE 3.2 8.5 14.8 21.12 (138) Goals: Richmond: Schulz 2, Weller 2, Richardson 2, Fleming 2, Moore, Brown, Rodan, Krakouer, Blumfield. Adelaide: Welsh 4, Perrie 4, Hentschel 4, Jericho 2, Ricciuto 2, Shirley, Stenglein, McLeod, S. Stevens, Goodwin. Best: Richmond: Bowden, Tivendale, Fleming, Krakouer, Weller. Adelaide:Edwards, Ricciuto, Goodwin, Perrie, Hentschel, McLeod. Richmond Injuries: Nil. Umpires: Head, Hendrie, Nicholls. Attendance: 35,896. With the spirits of Tiger fans on the up after the appointment of Terry Wallace as Richmond coach for 2005 and beyond, 30 minutes of footy bought the reality of what 2004 has been for Richmond and its fans - a disaster. For me reality bit very hard on Sunday afternoon. Skill errors and costly tunrovers have become the all to regular feature of any OER review of Tigers The Tigers started with Jay Schulz at Full Forward and Matthew Richardson half way between the goal square and the 50 metre arc. Luke Weller lined up at Centre Half Forward. With no Ottens or Stafford, Richmond opted to start Marsh on the bench and Ray Hall in the Ruck. Joel Bowden again started a Centre Half Back and Darren Gaspar started at his customary Full Back position. The Tigers started slowly with Adelaide dominating in the possession stakes but they were unable to place any scoring pressure on the Tigers. Despite a number of skills errors during the course of the first quarter Richmond had one of their best 1st quarters of the season kicking 5.1 to the Crows 3.2. The most pleasing aspect of the first quarter was the players looking for another forward option other than Richo and playing on quickly and going direct rather than the stop start tactics that have been far too familar in 2004. The second quarter saw Adelaide outscore the Tigers. Again, costly tunrovers especially through the mid-field bought many Tiger attacks undone. I lost count of the number of times players kicked to a teammate who had two opponents or ignored a Richo, Weller or Moore lead instead choosing to chip it wide to a stationery teammate. But despite the mistakes Richmond were only 6 points down at half time as result of 55 metre bomb from Hentschel right on the siren. Anyone who thought that the Tigers would drop their heads in the 3rd after the Crow goal on the half time siren would have been surprised. The Tiges came out in third and continued to take it up to their opponents. The end result of the third quarter was 6 goals a piece. But it was the manner in which each team got their goals that would be the most telling statistic. At one point during the third the scoreboard reported that Richmond was averaging over 40 disposals per goal compared to the Crows 20-22. The fast flowing direct play of the 1st & 2nd quarters had all but disappeared. Reality had struck. 8 points down at the final change and we didn't give yelp let alone a roar in the final quarter. 7.4 to 0.2 summed it up. A golden opportunity to avoid the wooden spoon had disappeared. What can you say about the final quarter? We have heard and read them all before - they have become standards. Tunrovers, skill errors, missed tackles - get the picture? Within 10 minutes of the final quarter all the positive vibes that yours truly had when I first arrived in Adelaide were gone. < BACK TO 2004 FIXTURES >