Media article and Stats: Flat Tigers smashed by Port

[one-eyed]

Awesome Power thump Tigers to book semi-final date with Freo
Harry Thring 
afl.com.au
September 7, 2014 5:54 PM

AFTER setting the tone for the afternoon with a jaw-dropping first term, Port Adelaide annihilated Richmond by 57 points in Sunday's elimination final at Adelaide Oval.
 
Tigers skipper Trent Cotchin won the toss but elected to kick into a stiff breeze; a baffling decision he would immediately regret as the Power kicked the first seven goals of the game on their way to the big 20.12 (132) to 11.9 (75) win.

Just as Port coach Ken Hinkley predicted during the week, Richmond's nine-game winning streak counted for nothing and it struggled badly to settle into the game.
 
Power captain Travis Boak was inspirational from the opening bounce, collecting 10 first-term possessions and a goal on his way to 33 disposals.
 
Justin Westhoff was brilliant with 20 disposals and two goals, while Jake Neade oozed X-factor and bravery to boot a game-high three majors.
 
The usual suspects in Robbie Gray (25 disposals, one goal), Ollie Wines  (23 touches, two goals) and Chad Wingard (21, two) were all also influential and Tom Jonas (22 possessions, 12 marks) offered great rebound out of defence.

Few Richmond players had any meaningful impact on the contest, but Cotchin (six clearances), Anthony Miles (24 disposals), Brett Deledio (29 disposals, one goal) and Steven Morris could at least fly home to Melbourne with reputations in tact.
 
While the home side's scoreboard pressure was outstanding, it was set up by a superior work rate and a stirring attack on the football – as typified by Hamish Hartlett's courageous gather to set up a goal in the second quarter.
 
Richmond steadied itself for a period late in the first term, but another six goals to two in favour of the Power extended the margin to 69 points by the main break.
 
The half was soured though when Power speedster Matt White was subbed out of the game with a suspected fractured jaw.
 
A bake from Cotchin as the Tigers left the field at half-time failed to rouse his teammates as Port continued to control play through the third quarter.
 
With the result long settled, Port took its foot off the pedal in the final stanza but the Tigers' late goals through Jack Riewoldt, Shane Edwards, Nathan Gordon and Ben Griffiths counted for nothing; their season and winning streak finally coming to an end.
 
Port's win means it will travel to Patersons Stadium next weekend for the second time in three weeks to take on Fremantle in a semi-final.

------------------------------------------------------------

PORT ADELAIDE            8.1   14.5  19.8   20.12 (132)                         
RICHMOND                   1.1    3.2     6.5    11.9 (75)           
 
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Neade 3, Westhoff 2, Schulz 2, Polec 2, Wingard 2, Monfries 2, Wines 2, Ebert 2, Boak, White, Gray
Richmond: Riewoldt 3, Gordon 2, Conca, Maric, Grigg, Deledio, Griffiths, Edwards
 
BEST
Port Adelaide: Boak, Westhoff, Neade, Carlile, Gray, Wingard 
Richmond: Cotchin, Miles, Deledio, Morris
 
INJURIES
Port Adelaide: White (jaw)
Richmond: Foley (nose)
 
SUBSTITUTES
Port Adelaide: Matt White (jaw) subbed out for Andrew Moore in the second quarter
Richmond: Jake Batchelor subbed out for Ricky Petterd in the third quarter
 
Reports: Nil
 
Umpires: Farmer, Stevic, Mitchell
 
Official crowd: 50,618 at Adelaide Oval

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-09-07/power-thump-flat-tigers-

[WA Tiger]

Morris???

[(•))(©™]

GOOD, OLD FASHIONED RODGERING!

[WA Tiger]

GOOD, OLD FASHIONED RODGERING!

We really should of seen it coming. I actually said to a couple of mates two days ago that I was worried Port would blow us out of the water in the first qtr to the tune of 6 goals......I was 2 out.. ;

[one-eyed]

Things we learned from Port Adelaide v Richmond
Jennifer Phelan 
afl.com.au
September 7, 2014 5:55 PM

How important it is to get the coin toss right
Will it be the decision that comes back to haunt Trent Cotchin for the rest of his career? The Richmond captain won the toss against Travis Boak and elected to kick to the northern end of Adelaide Oval despite the strong breeze blowing the other way. The result saw the Power pile on eight goals to one in the first quarter, with errant disposals and turnovers plaguing the Tigers and costing them a 42-point lead by the first break. The most damning comment about the call came from former Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown. "Captaincy 101. You should always kick with the wind when you win the toss," Brown tweeted at half time, when the margin was out to 69 points.

How quickly things can change
Tiger fans have dared to dream every week since their winning streak showed that playing finals wasn't an entirely crazy proposition. They've ridden all sorts of highs and lows this season, peaking last Saturday night when their brave three-point win over the Sydney Swans sealed them inside the top eight. But just as their fortunes changed after September looked impossible at 3-10, the season lurched again on Sunday in the dramatic 57-point thumping at the hands of Port. Now it's up to the Tigers to make sure this stark return to reality doesn't scar them going into next season.   

Tiger fans have a long night ahead
Walking through the streets of Adelaide on Sunday, you could have been forgiven for thinking you had been teleported back to Punt Road. There were supporters in yellow and black everywhere you looked after a convoy of buses and extra flights from Melbourne descended on the City of Churches. Those who boarded the buses on Saturday morning received a letter from Cotchin that thanked them for their efforts to make the game and included a $10 bill to cover "the first rest stop". But with the return convoy to leave Adelaide an hour after the final siren and arrive in Melbourne around 4.30am, the same fans have a very long night ahead of them.

That's the last of the jumper gates
The AFL's decision to direct Port Adelaide to wear the club's alternative strip for the game to alleviate a potential clash because of Richmond's lack of an appropriate away guernsey proved an interesting subplot in the game's lead up. The Power wore their SANFL traditional strip - rush-ordered through a company in Fiji and delivered on Saturday morning – instead of their white strip, with the Tigers donning their clash jumper anyway to emphasise the difference. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said before the game it won't happen again. "Who would have thought grown men would care what other grown men are wearing? But that passion is to be ignored at our peril."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-09-07/six-things-we-learned-power-v-tigers

[Chuck17]

GOOD, OLD FASHIONED RODGERING!

We really should of seen it coming. I actually said to my couple of mates two days ago that I was worried Port would blow us out of the water in the first qtr to the tune of 6 goals......I was 2 out.. ;

EFA

[one-eyed]

Port Adelaide smashes Richmond in elimination final

   Ashley Porter
     The Age
    September 8, 2014


Port Adelaide   8.1   14.5   19.8    20.12 (132)
Richmond        1.1    3.2     6.5     11.9 (75)

GOALS –
Port Adelaide: Neade 3, Schulz, Monfries, Polec, Wines, Wingard, Ebert, Westhoff  2, Gray, Boak, White.
Richmond: Riewoldt 3, Gordon 2, Grigg, Conca, Maric, Deledio, Edwards, Griffiths.

BEST –
Port Adelaide: Boak, Gray, Jonas, Westhoff, Wingard, Wines.
Richmond: Deledio, Martin, Houli, Riewoldt, Miles, Ellis.

INJURIES – Port Adelaide: White (broken jaw).
UMPIRES – L. Farmer, M. Stevic, A. Mitchell.
CROWD – 50,618 at Adelaide Oval.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adelaide: We shared Richmond's dream, and it will wake up on Monday morning with no place to hide.

The only solace for the Tigers coming out of Sunday's debacle at Adelaide Oval – a 57-point loss – was that its execution was swift. It didn't finish as Richmond's worst performance in 80 finals over 98 years – better than the 89-point drubbing it suffered at the hands of Geelong in the 1995 preliminary final – but for three quarters it was ugly, very ugly when Richmond trailed by 81.

While pride alone saved complete embarrassment, rarely have we seen a more ruthless opening to a cut-throat final than when Port Adelaide went on the rampage and ended the Tigers' dream in just 10 minutes.

It unfolded with 10 mistakes that would have skewered the hearts of Tiger fans and coach Damien Hardwick – mostly as a result of Port's amazing pressure.

When Jake Neade swerved past flat-footed opponents, bounced twice and goaled on the run from 50 metres to give Port a 37-point lead at the 18-minute mark, there was a horrible cloud of death that hovered over the stadium with no chance of resurrection. So early, and no apology.

What unfolded from there was absolutely demoralising for Richmond. It started with mistake No.1 – Trent Cotchin winning the toss and kicking against the wind. Sir Donald Bradman would have been mortified at such a decision at this hallowed cricket ground. Within two minutes Port had two goals caused by turnovers from basic fundamental Richmond errors.

The Tigers had a chance to go inside 50 when Troy Chaplin, who copped heaps against his old teammates, needlessly dumped Justin Westhoff after disposing of the ball, and with a 50-metre penalty Port had another chance at goal. The sloppy kick-out gave Travis Boak a goal.

Matt White was found unattended 30 metres out, and when Richmond had chances for goal it played-on and was caught. The Tigers were in complete disarray. Game over, but there was no mercy rule and incredibly by half-time Port led by 69 points, 14.5 to 3.2.

Rarely has a finals team been so insipid, so bullied and embarrassed, but to dwell on Richmond's waste of a finals opportunity that so many fought for would merely deny Port the credit due to it.

The courage on this killing field was epitomised no better than when Hamish Harlett ran full bore into Steven Morris late in the second term to set up an easy goal for Jay Schulz. It was like being run over by a tank.

Yet, despite this first-half onslaught, the usual key indicators looked encouraging for Richmond – down five contested possessions, nine more tackles, and even in clearances. It wasn't so much the fact Port had 23 more disposals and took 20 more marks, but how effectively Port used them and how poorly Richmond disposed of the ball that was telling.

Above everything, Port just played like men possessed, as if they were the cast of Braveheart. But wouldn't you expect this of a finals side, and the opposition standing strong in defence to weather the storm? Port executed this game plan so well that the Tigers basically didn't know what hit them and without knowledge of the main forces in this dreadfully one-sided battle.

Richmond played poorly, but it really was a case of Port playing so well – or being allowed to dominate. Retrospective of round nine, really, when Port was top and Richmond was 16th; only the 10-in-a-row dream, as brilliant as it was, made us forget the best and worst in these sides.

As the scoreline suggests, Port had so many match-day heroes, especially its captain Boak and AFL coaches' favourite Robbie Gray who were outstanding on the ball, Westhoff for his tireless work in both defence and in the forward line, and the ever-emerging Ollie Wines.

The defence was obviously solid – it was only Richmond's display of pride in the last quarter that prevented a record finals loss – and Tom Jonas was brilliant. To have eight multiple goalkickers added to the impressive coach's report.

Richmond had a few good men such as Deledio, Bachar Houli, Dustin Martin and Anthony Miles, while Jack Riewoldt battled hard and did a lot of team things besides kicking three goals.

But as the game wore on and frustration levels soared, the Richmond performance got uglier. The last quarter made the damage less obvious. It wasn't a good day, and the fans let the Tigers know it.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/port-adelaide-smashes-richmond-in-elimination-final-20140907-10dn4p.html

[one-eyed]

Visitors fail to breach the 'Portress'

  Caroline Wilson
     The Age
    September 8, 2014


Exactly one year ago, just as Port Adelaide was winning its first final under Ken Hinkley, the Adelaide Oval too was looming as a promising piece of work but one still very much in progress.

Twelve months later, on the first Sunday in spring, the two forces came together in  devastating fashion. Football's favourite new home  has proved the happiest and most constant punctuation mark of 2014 and the elimination final provided a frightening full stop.

Within 15 minutes  it was clear that Richmond's season was coming to a crashing thud. It was in that first chaotic opening quarter, as the wind swirled towards the Riverbank Stand, that the "Portress" became everything its home club had plotted.

Coach Hinkley pointed out in the hours leading up to the game that his players had learnt to adapt to the noise of the stadium by wearing earphones at training with the volume heightened as they practised goalkicking and set plays. The Tigers, by comparison,  appeared completely unprepared for the 40,000 home town fans.

Richmond's crisis began when its captain, Trent Cotchin, inexplicably chose to kick against the strong wind. Shortly before the Tigers won the toss, Port captain Travis Boak and his coach had seemed deep in conversation discussing the wind conditions,  pointing at either end. Retired Brisbane champion Jonathan Brown tweeted that Cotchin had gone against 'captaincy101'.

The ramification of Cotchin's call was that the crowd became part of an equation that Richmond could not decipher. At some point during his club's nine-game winning streak, every game had become an elimination final for the Tigers and this proved to be one too many. For the second year in succession, the club capitulated on the big September stage.

And what a stage. Close to 10,000 Richmond supporters had come to witness a game that had seemed impossible one month ago, but they were no match for the home crowd. A further 10,000 Port fans had marched from Adelaide's Rundle Mall into the Adelaide Oval where a further 30,000 were waiting. The decibel level as seven different Power players scored seven unanswered goals in the opening 18 minutes truly unwound the Tigers.

During the opening minutes of the Port frenzy that club's former defender Troy Chaplin was exposed in a race towards Port's goal alongside former Tiger Jay Shulz. The sliding doors moment was not lost on the crowd which deafened Chaplin – the ex-player whose parting email had so angered his old teammates – every time he went near the ball. Not long afterwards, Chaplin was shifted to the forward line.

When Reece Conca scored Richmond's first goal at the 21-minute mark to reduce the deficit to 37 points, Hinkley appeared to smash his telephone on to the surface in front of him. He still looked angry in the final term as the Tigers provided successive goals.

The final margin was 57 points, a limp yet emphatic finish to a brilliant first week of play-offs.

Every time Richmond looked to have regained composure, Port created another moment of brilliance. Of all the clanging symbols, perhaps the one that stood out was the sight of defender Steve Morris, early in the second quarter, stumbling towards the interchange bench blood gushing from his forehead after he had clashed with Angus Monfries in an attempt to stop a mark.

Minutes later, Cotchin managed to stop his old teammate Matt White with a brilliant tackle only to lose momentum when a free kick was paid 50 metres away after Shaun Grigg was punished for slinging Boak into the turf. The result was a Justin Westhoff goal.

"For our fans, they see this place as coming home," said Power chairman David Koch at three-quarter time when the result was beyond doubt.

"That's why we wanted to wear our jumper. For us it's the symbol of Port both pre and post our journey into the AFL."

Added club chief Keith Thomas: "When this place was being designed and even a year ago when the Riverbank Stand was almost finished but the other side was still a work in progress, we couldn't have visualised this."

His Richmond counterpart Brendon Gale had declared before the first bounce that whatever the result, the club would not be blinded by its stunning home-and-away run to the finals.

Still the Richmond hierarchy led by Gale and  president Peggy O'Neal looked as stunned as coach Damien Hardwick as the nightmare played out.

As the Tigers' soul-searching begins and the Port Adelaide Football Club plots its mission to take on Fremantle at Subiaco on Saturday, the stadium that has reshaped football closes its AFL doors until autumn next year having dictated that an away final against Port Adelaide is a task to be avoided at all costs.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/visitors-fail-to-breach-the-portress-20140907-10dob9.html

[one-eyed]

An ill-chosen wind, and Tigers are humbled again

   Michael Gleeson
      The Age
    September 8, 2014


 In 2002 at the Gabba on the first morning of the Ashes series Nasser Hussain strode to the wicket, won the toss and decided to put Australia in. It was a surprising decision. Australia made 492. England never recovered in that Test, nor the Ashes.

On Sunday afternoon, Trent Cotchin strode to the centre of a ground more familiar to cricket, won the toss and kicked against a heavy wind. It was a surprising choice.

It could not be said to have cost the Tigers the game on a day when they were comprehensively outplayed, but it symbolised their day - even when things went their way, they didn't go their way. The moments that should have been theirs, they gifted to Port.

Within 17 minutes this game was over and with it Richmond's thrillingly resurgent season. Port had seven goals, Richmond none. Port had seven different goal kickers, Richmond, well, none.

Port had played like this early in the season, but so too had Richmond. Richmond had shown late in the year that they were a better side than this final would suggest but this game better resembled the side that was 10-3 not the one chasing its tenth win.

There was a strong sense of Richmond having played its final already by making the finals. That might be superficial psychology, but it was palpable.

So Richmond made successive finals for the first time since Tommy Hafey was coach. Their effort to recover a seemingly lost season was meritorious but now they have exited those successive finals series in successive elimination finals in successively humbling matches.

They are growing. They have unearthed talent - Anthony Miles, Ben Griffiths, Brandon Ellis and David Astbury among their best developers - but this game suggested the volume of work remaining for them. It might have been unrepresentative of their best football this year, but it was also a reminder that they remain capable of their early season football.

It felt like it was a game too far, that the effort to sustain their very best to keep the momentum going faltered as soon as they achieved what they had set out to. It cannot and should not be seen as consolation to have won the second half by eight goals to six when they had lost the first by 14 goals to three. Port's second half was about Fremantle, Richmond's was about frustration and saving face.

The Adelaide Oval heaved. Richmond fans had bussed, trucked, hitched, trained, planed and biked in in numbers. They were eager to scream yellow and black. But they were silenced before they had a chance to buy a pie.

Port looked complete, Richmond looked completely outclassed. Port's first quarter in particular was played like it was a release, Richmond's like it had found itself in the wrong lecture at uni, in the wrong course, in the wrong uni.

A floating Dylan Grimes kick on the wing that missed its mark created the turnover for the first goal. The monstering of clearances from the centre by Port - that is, by Travis Boak - created myriad more.

Once it was clear they had indeed lost the toss they had won, Richmond continued to still play to Port's game. Port played with maturity, composure and self-assurance while Richmond played like panicked boys. They tried to be bold down the middle of the ground and go long by foot only to find the ball hold in the air. They serviced the Port spare man behind the ball like he was a training helper.

The third goal of the game - less than 10 minutes in - came from Jack Hombsch taking a mark in defence as though he had called for the pass. The interception sent the ball scurrying to the other end for Jared Polec to goal.

Richmond was flustered and trying to match Port for speed and run and verve, but where Port ran in numbers and handballed to help the next player Richmond ran and handballed in panic. Throughout they played as if determined to be adventurous and aggressive in their speed and attack on the game but at times, especially early, the moment demanded the opposite. It asked that they acknowledge Port's momentum, absorb it and slow the game. 

Port sliced through Richmond with running overlap handball and Hawthorn-accurate foot skills but it began with the industry of Boak in the middle. He had double the number of clearances of any other player. Sixteen of his 33 touches were contested. He kicked a goal. Richmond had nothing like him.

Early on when Richmond had wrested the momentum for brief periods they were as responsible for halting their momentum by blithely offering the ball back to Port with mistakes and wanton free kicks.

Alex Rance's last-quarter fit of pique against Robbie Gray was not one of those moments. His moment cost nothing but his latent frustration and anger was understandable. They had come so far but it had all come to this. It was over. Again. Better but not yet good enough.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/an-illchosen-wind-and-tigers-are-humbled-again-20140907-10dn14.html

[one-eyed]

Port Adelaide defeats Richmond by 57 points at Adelaide Oval in first elimination final

Sam Edmund
Herald-Sun
September 08, 2014

AFTER two and a half months of elimination finals, it was the official one that sunk Richmond in the end.

The Tigers’ prize for a history-making surge to September turned out to be a one-way ticket to the lions den and a bloodthirsty Port Adelaide.

First overawed, then overwhelmed and finally humiliated — it was a reality check that split Richmond down the middle.

This was a contest for no longer than the first 17 minutes. The Tigers had been blown away 43-0 by that frantic period before trailing by 69 points at half time and 81 at three-quarter time.

Riddled by mistakes and spooked by Port’s pressure, speed and ferocity, Richmond’s misery ended with a final score of 20.12 (132) to 11.9 (75).

Nine consecutive wins had dared the Tiger army to dream, but any hopes of the fairytale continuing were obliterated under a warm sun in this stadium of noise.

Captain Trent Cotchin won the toss and chose to send his side into a strong wind. But that was merely the first in a series of inexplicably poor decisions.

In the Adelaide Oval cauldron, the Tigers melted. Countless basic mistakes and bad decisions resulted in countless basic Power goals.

Bachar Houli missed targets breaking from defence and even lost control while bouncing, Dylan Grimes missed the target with a simple centring kick and Troy Chaplin — booed throughout — had several look-away-now moments in defence.

Even Cotchin, blanketed by Kane Cornes, kicked out on the full under little pressure.

Ollie Wines danced around tackles, Jared Polec basically ignored them and Jake Neade made anyone who could get near him look silly.

But the passage of play that best summed up this game arrived in the second term. Richmond shuffled the ball around the middle of the ground by hand like a game of hot potato until Dustin Martin ran into a cul de sac.

Jasper Pittard swooped, Chad Wingard handballed, Westhoff toe-poked and Hamish Hartlett committed his body in a big 50-50 with Steven Morris which allowed Robbie Gray to handball to Schulz to kick an incredible team goal.

All the while Damien Hardwick sat stone-faced and arms folded in the box, looking every bit the defeated and helpless coach long before half-time.

When Port wasn’t feasting on Richmond turnovers, it was winning the contested ball (116-113) and clearances (37-30) before charging forward with incredible venom and precision to accumulate 17 more inside 50s.

They are a one-of-a-kind side when they’re up and going, the Power, and this sort of form can certainly trouble the remaining contenders.

If the footy world had been seduced by the yellow and black renaissance, then it should be besotted by the re-emergence of the Power as a force to be reckoned with.

It was the sort of performance that had them on top of the ladder half way through the season and they put Richmond under a furnace-like heat they weren’t close to coping with.

Wearing the controversial prison bar jumper, surging Power players resembled a bunch of escapees. Jared Polec, Jake Neade, Brad Ebert and Matt White — before being subbed with a suspected fractured jaw — repeatedly ran into open goals.

Skipper Travis Boak was unstoppable, seeing off Vlastiun and Shaun Grigg. Robbie Gray, Westhoff and Wingard made up a case of the usual suspects.

But Neade proved untouchable in an eye-catching jack-in-the-box performance. The goalsneak kicked two brilliant majors — the first from 50m after a searing multiple-bounce run through the middle and the latter an exquisite set shot from 40m out near the boundary.

The Tigers couldn’t live with him. For Richmond, it was rabbit in the headlights stuff — a reminder of what life was like in a miserable first half of the season.

There was missed tackles, misplaced kicks, sloppy handballs and chronic indecision. Alex Rance went from hero to zero and had lost the plot by the final siren, Cotchin had no impact and the midfield was given a hiding.

It was a fairytale that ended in a nightmare.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/port-adelaide-defeats-richmond-by-57-points-at-adelaide-oval-in-first-elimination-final/story-fndv8t7m-1227050675761

[one-eyed]

The Tackle: Port Adelaide’s demolition of Richmond was as brutal as it was stunning

Mark Robinson
Herald-Sun
September 08, 2014


BY halfway through the first quarter it was nothing short of a one-sided street fight.

It was brutal as it was stunning, a helplessness versus systematic savagery.

Sitting at ground level between the two interchange benches, the differences in the camps reflected the atrocity that closed out the first week of the AFL finals.

Port Adelaide was energetic and barking confidence. Richmond was urgent and trying to bark encouragement.

As Port Adelaide piled on eight goals in the first quarter and six in the second quarter to lead by 69 points at half-time, it was a calamitous Richmond bunker.

It’s too easy to say Richmond players looked shell-shocked when they were rotated through the interchange.

It was worse than that.

Because rotations are slick and compulsory, and as Port kicked goal after goal, and Port players ran in numbers and broke lines and spread the ball, and came off in twos and were replaced by two others, the Richmond players came off the ground dumbfounded.

They sucked air and bowed heads. Some spoke to the coach, all of them heard a bellowing Mark Williams. Absolutely all of them had their heads spinning. Nothing worked for them. They couldn’t get the ball and when they did, Port took off them or the Tigers gave it to them.

When Port had the ball, they broke tackles, found free teammates and kicked goals.

The first 60 minutes was as furious football played this season - by any club.

Of course, this wasn’t supposed to happen.

The Tigers had won nine in a row. They were calm and confident pre-match, but their fans were cock-a-hoop. Planes were packed, buses were rolling and Tiger Time was more than a fairytale.

But there’s few fairytales in sport.

On Sunday, Richmond choked on the biggest stage.

It’s the second time in two years under coach Damien Hardwick. Last year they coughed up a four-goal lead at half-time against Carlton and lost by four goals.

Sunday, the game was over inside 12 minutes.

The Richmond way, as told by Hardwick, was beaten up Port Adelaide’s way.

Tigers fans might satisfy themselves with the nine wins in a row to make the finals, but the 2014 season won’t be remembered for that.

It will be remembered for the total humiliation at Adelaide Oval.

It’s called finals football and for two straight seasons, the Tigers came up flaky.

And it’s too convenient to solely heap praise on Port Adelaide for their incredible performance. The Tigers crumbled. They panicked. They were overawed. Port helped inflict it, of course, but it was Richmond who decided to accept it.

Next year, or the year after that, we could perhaps then look back and discuss how yesterday’s loss set Richmond upon a path of a success. But that’s two years away.

In the meantime, they return to Punt Rd knowing this finals caper is a tough gig.

Conca, Ellis, Vlastuin, Grimes, Griffiths, Martin, Cotchin, Gordon, Miles will be better for the experience. They have to be. We hope they will be.

Don’t mind the final quarter scores. One team was playing for respect. The other was playing for next week.

Port Adelaide heads back to Fremantle in better nick than what they were two weeks ago.

The Dockers are a seasoned team, unlike the Tigers. They use the ball better than Richmond under pressure. They pressure to cause turnovers and rarely turn it over when they’ve got the ball. Heck, the Dockers have played fishbowl pressure for three years.

It should be another beauty.

As for the Tigers, the season has to be a disappointment. They blundered the start, recovered to make the finals which was commendable and exciting and then were belted in their only final. On the ladder, they had fewer wins than last year.

Satisfaction cannot be to make the finals. Tiger Time can’t start until they actually win one.

http://www.news.com.au/national/the-tackle-port-adelaides-demolition-of-richmond-was-as-brutal-as-it-was-stunning/story-e6frfkp9-1227050711131

[WA Tiger]

GOOD, OLD FASHIONED RODGERING!

We really should of seen it coming. I actually said to my couple of mates two days ago that I was worried Port would blow us out of the water in the first qtr to the tune of 6 goals......I was 2 out.. ;

EFA

FOCS

[WilliamPowell]

The Tackle: Port Adelaide’s demolition of Richmond was as brutal as it was stunning

Mark Robinson
Herald-Sun
September 08, 2014


BY halfway through the first quarter it was nothing short of a one-sided street fight.

It was brutal as it was stunning, a helplessness versus systematic savagery.

Yep

On Sunday, Richmond choked on the biggest stage.

No matter how painful it is to read it especially considering who wrote it - can't disagree

Sunday, the game was over inside 12 minutes.

Disagree, thought it was over in 10 minutes to be honest

As for the Tigers, the season has to be a disappointment. They blundered the start, recovered to make the finals which was commendable and exciting and then were belted in their only final. On the ladder, they had fewer wins than last year.

Satisfaction cannot be to make the finals. Tiger Time can’t start until they actually win one.

Yep....again