Tigers earning respectRohan Connolly
The Age
May 27, 2012RICHMOND 4.4 8.8 13.9 21.11 (137)
HAWTHORN 1.3 4.9 8.10 10.15 (75)
GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 6, King 3, Jackson 2, Martin 2, Edwards 2, Deledio, I Maric, Nahas, Morris, Tuck, Cotchin.
Hawthorn: Breust 3, Rioli 2, Roughead 2, Young, Smith, Franklin.
BEST
Richmond: Cotchin, I Maric, Foley, Deledio, Tuck, Riewoldt, Morris.
Hawthorn: Burgoyne, Roughead, Lewis, Birchall, Whitecross.
INJURIES
Richmond: Batchelor (ankle), replaced in selected side by A Maric.
Hawthorn: Young (knee), Shiels (corked thigh).
UMPIRES C Donlon, R Findlay, C Kamolins.
CROWD 51,617 at MCG.
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IT'S hard to believe there was ever a critical moment as late as the third quarter of a match won by 62 points, but if you're a Richmond supporter you'll know just what we're talking about here.
The Tigers had been terrific from the opening minutes of this MCG clash with Hawthorn, dominating all the important statistics, particularly the hard indicators, and late in the second term, opening up a five-goal lead, after Trent Cotchin, superb yet again for Richmond, marked strongly and kicked a goal.
But with less than a minute left on the clock, Cyril Rioli made the most of what had been slim pickings, and kicked a belated goal for the Hawks, giving them just a sniff. When the second half began, the Hawks looked intent on making a statement. Just two minutes in, Jarryd Roughead did just that, taking a huge grab and converting to make the gap a very gettable-looking 17 points.
You could feel most of the assembled 51,000 thinking ''here we go'', even the considerable yellow-and-black army, conditioned to a sense of fatalism by decades without success, and particularly some near-misses this season. Most importantly, however, not the Tigers themselves. Instead of anxiety, they felt an opportunity to cast aside the shackles of inhibition and doubt. And, boy, did they do so in spectacular fashion.
Four times in the third quarter, Hawthorn pressed its claims with a goal. Each time, Richmond answered with one of its own. Right at the end of that quarter, the Tigers broke the sequence, big Ivan Maric marking strongly just 15 metres out and putting his side four goals up, then doing it again just moments later, this time dishing off a handball to Robin Nahas, who belted it through from the goal line.
And with that, the metaphorical floodgates burst open, at almost precisely the same moment the heavens literally did. Richmond won't play too many quarters more dominant, certainly not against opposition rated this highly, than its eight-goal smashing of Hawthorn in the final term. Five goals in nine minutes, three of them to Jack Riewoldt, including a bona fide ''screamer'' in ridiculously difficult conditions to take such a grab, were, to say the least, emphatic. And eight in total surely enough to say without fear of contradiction, these Tigers mean serious business.
Cotchin, who continues to drive his team with his tremendous balance of class and hardness at the contest, said after the game his team, which had last week given Essendon a seven-goal start yet recovered well enough to hit the front late, knew it had to concentrate harder for longer.
''We've started to develop that mental resolve,'' he said. ''We've let teams in within just a 15-20 minute period, so that was our focus going into the game, to make it a four-quarter effort, and I think, to the guys' credit, we dug deep and got the margin back to where it was. I thought we did that really well.''
Richmond's entire midfield group was completely dominant, Cotchin, Nathan Foley, Brett Deledio, Shane Tuck all outstanding, Dustin Martin not far behind, Maric superb in the ruck. But so was its defence, where Alex Rance blanketed an increasingly frustrated Lance Franklin superbly, Steve Morris was in turn resilient and adventurous enough to kick one of the goals of the season, and Ben Griffiths gave his raking kicks a fair old workout.
Finally, the forward line cashed in, in particular Riewoldt, who finished with six goals, and little battleship Jake ''Push-up'' King, the most loveable ''villain'' the modern game might have seen.
Shaun Burgoyne too often seemed a lone hand for Hawthorn, and later on, Roughead, while Jordan Lewis, Brad Sewell, Grant Birchall and Brendan Whitecross at least had a crack. But the Hawks just didn't seem to have the heart or appetite for it yesterday, disturbing given their win last week against Fremantle had been arguably their most complete performance to date.
As Essendon had found last week, give Richmond any sort of breathing space at your peril. The Hawks gave it too much from the word go, and perhaps thought a little too arrogantly that if they remained within some sort of striking distance, they'd eventually get their way.
And that cockiness, after all the near-misses Richmond has endured in its gradual climb back towards football respectability, was like a red rag to a … well, to a Tiger.
SON OF A GUNKevin Morris managed four grand finals and two premierships, for Richmond in 1973-74, in his 181 VFL games, so still has significant bragging rights over son Steven. But Steven, 23, can at least mount an argument that none of his old man's 124 goals were as good as his first, after he pushed up off Cyril Rioli early in the second quarter, weaved inside 50, took two bounces and nonchalantly goaled off the outside of his boot.
PURPLE PATCHJack Riewoldt has played better games for fewer goals than his six-goal bounty yesterday, but after slogging away for a couple in three quarters, he turned the final term into his own personal picnic with four more. Three came within four minutes, the last of them following a towering grab made all the more remarkable by driving rain that turned ball-handling into a bit of a lottery late in the piece.
HERE COMES THE RAINFriday's downpour closed the MCG car parks, making the crowd of 51,617 impressive considering the conditions. It was made even more impressive with the elements they had to contend with, as the heavens opened midway through the second quarter. It was good news for the Tigers, who had kicked ahead. It happened again at the start of the last, the cue for a Richmond goal shower.
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