Richmond warms up for finals by walloping GWS Giants by 121 points AAP
From: Herald Sun
August 26, 2013 RICHMOND 4.4 15.9 19.10 25.13 (163)
GWS GIANTS 3.0 3.1 6.4 6.6 (42)
Best
Richmond: D Martin, A Rance, T Chaplin, A Edwards, R Conca, B Houli, I Maric, D Jackson.
GWS Giants: D Shiel, T Adams, T Greene, P Davis.
Goals
Richmond: A Edwards 5 B Ellis 3 R Conca 3 B Houli 2 I Maric 2 R Petterd 2 S Grigg 2 T Vickery 2 J King J Riewoldt S Edwards S Morris.
GWS Giants: D Shiel K Jaksch L Sumner T Adams T Greene T Scully.
Umpires: Stuart Wenn, Ben Ryan, Tristan Burgess.
Crowd: 12,314 at Skoda Stadium.
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RICHMOND rolled to a 121-point victory against GWS in a game that was the antithesis of finals football.
Not since Fitzroy's penultimate game, a 151-point loss to the Tigers in 1996, has Richmond destroyed a team in such a ruthless fashion.
Coming off an upset loss to Carlton, the visitors made as big a statement as they could have against a young side that, like the Lions in 1996, look destined to finish the season with one win.
Aaron Edwards booted five goals for Richmond, who had 12 different goalscorers, while Dustin Martin had a game-high 33 disposals.
Richmond's percentage was given a timely boost ahead of their first finals campaign in 12 years, rising from 114.6 to 121.4 ahead of Saturday night's final-round clash against Essendon.
Coach Damien Hardwick said he wasn't doing the maths on what the result meant but welcomed the margin.
"I try not to think too much about percentage as a coach you just want to come away with the four points, where it puts us in the finals race I'm not too sure but it will certainly come in handy. Whatever helps us get a home final is a good result," he said.
He said there were still areas for improvement in the Tigers' game.
"Last week we were really disappointed the way we founded out but we've sort of gone through a phase of training that was a little bit tougher, we freshened them up a bit this week and we'll give them another light week this week."
He said skipper Trent Cotchin, who was subbed off in the third quarter, was given a rest and wasn't injured.
The Tigers claimed fifth spot on the ladder in the process, overtaking Collingwood and the Bombers. It was Richmond's sixth biggest winning margin in its history and the biggest since the Tigers put Fitzroy to the sword in its second-last game in 1996
Midfield/fowards Reece Conca and Brandon Ellis kicked three each but Jack Riewoldt could manage just one, a dribbled snap on his left foot, after playing with heavy strapping on his knee.
Fellow Coleman Medal contender Jeremy Cameron fared even worse, held to just two kicks - both in the first quarter and both ineffective - by Alex Rance.
The Tigers blew the game apart in a barnstorming second quarter, when they piled on 11.5 while the Giants could manage just one behind. It was just nine points shy of the highest-scoring quarter in Richmond's 105-year history.
There were few signs in the first quarter of the shellacking ahead.
GWS debutant Kristian Jaksch kicked the opening goal with his first AFL kick and Liam Sumner slotted a major on the stroke of quarter-time to reduce the Tigers' lead to 10 points at the first break.
The Giants' next goal wouldn't come until the eighth minute of the third term, with Richmond piling on 89 points in-between.
Far too many of Richmond's 14 consecutive goals resembled training drills, with loose men everywhere queuing up to get their name on the scoreboard.
Injured spearhead Jack Riewoldt dished off three goals and kicked one himself in the rot, while Edwards had already booted 4.2 by halftime.
The Giants found some resolve after halftime and stemmed the bleeding, while Tigers coach Damien Hardwick substituted captain Trent Cotchin out of the game in the third quarter.
The floodgates opened again in the final term.
With GWS away to Gold Coast in the last game of Kevin Sheedy's 29th VFL-AFL season as head coach, the match was heavily promoted as the four-time premiership mentor's Sydney swansong.
The Giants at least had a win in this regard, drawing a record Skoda Stadium crowd of 12,314 to the match.
Officials and players from both GWS and Richmond formed a guard of honour for Sheedy at the end of the match.
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