Media articles & stats: Tigers survive Freo scare to roar into top four

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MATCH REPORT

Tigers survive scare to roar into top four

Richmond prevails over Fremantle in Wednesday night footy at Metricon Stadium
 
By Callum Twomey
afl.com.au
2 September 2020 10:30pm

RICHMOND      2.2     4.3     4.4     8.8     (56)
FREMANTLE     1.0     1.2     3.4     4.5     (29)

GOALS
Richmond: Lynch 3, Aarts, Graham, Higgins, McIntosh, Riewoldt
Fremantle: Crowden 2, Taberner, Walters

BEST
Richmond: Short, Pickett, Graham, Houli, Lynch, Vlastuin
Fremantle: Acres, Serong, Fyfe, Brayshaw, Cerra, Conca

INJURIES
Richmond: Nil
Fremantle: Nil

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MARK this one down as a sigh of relief for Tigers coach Damien Hardwick.

Richmond won't look back on its 27-point win over Fremantle as much more than that – a win that simply had to be completed as the Tigers continue their push to lock in a top-four spot.

The 8.8 (56) to 4.5 (29) result at Metricon Stadium on Wednesday night won't go down as one of the Tigers' great victories. Truth be told, they will probably move on very quickly.

Hardwick had his frustrations throughout as the Dockers managed to negate Richmond's scoring power, but the two-time premiership coach can relax knowing his side will enter its round 16 bye with another win under its belt. 

Not that it was pretty.

Richmond jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and held the Dockers at arm's length for the rest of the contest.

Fremantle clawed back to get within a goal at the final change in a low-scoring affair, proving to be dogged in the midfield and organised in defence, but the Tigers were able to win ugly, booting four goals to one in the final term.

It was the Tigers' ninth win from their past 11 games and although not their best, was equally as important as Hardwick's charges keep their momentum ahead of their next finals tilt.

Is Graham in to stay?

The out-of-contract Tigers midfielder has been in and out of the Richmond midfield this season but is doing a good job to retain his place ahead of this year's finals series. The 2017 premiership player entered the clash averaging 20 disposals in the Tigers' last two games and was again busy against the Dockers with 18 touches and a goal. Rival are watching the 22-year-old closely but he is doing a solid job of holding his spot even with some quality Tigers to return in coming weeks.

Serong strengthens Rising Star claims

Freo youngster Caleb Serong is atop the betting ranks for this year's NAB AFL Rising Star for a reason. He showed why again on Wednesday night against the star-studded Richmond midfield when he was Fremantle's best onballer, gathering 22 disposals and five clearances in a typically hard-working and clever display. The Dockers' No.8 draft pick has been excellent in his debut season.

Solid return for Hogan

The Dockers brought back Jesse Hogan for his first game since round five, but it was difficult circumstances to be a returning player, let alone a target in Fremantle's forward half. Hogan has had another disrupted season with injuries and has even been trialled in defence at scratch match level, but came back as a forward and worked hard to get into the game. He took a couple of impressive contested marks that were reminders of his immense ability and finished with 13 disposals. 

https://www.afl.com.au/news/495097/tigers-survive-scare-to-roar-into-top-four

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Tigers shake off dogged Dockers

By Daniel Cherny
The Age
September 2, 2020 — 9.47pm

On a day the banana-benders were officially awarded the grand final, Richmond nearly slipped on a banana peel which threatened to jeopardise their run to the second-last Saturday night in October.

Justin Longmuir's "Dockers Dam" came close to stopping another premiership aspirant in its tracks. Down by 19 points at half-time on Wednesday night at Metricon Stadium, Fremantle – playing off a four-day break and having made the long trek from Western Australia – dominated the third quarter, cutting the margin back to a goal as the Tigers tried helplessly to get their hands on the ball.

But Richmond weathered the storm. As they do so well, the Tigers capitalised on Fremantle turnovers, with goals to Jake Aarts and Jack Riewoldt ultimately proving enough to break the Docker resistance. A couple of late majors meant that Richmond came close to doubling Fremantle's score in the final analysis, but this was a scare for the Tigers.

The early stages of the game belonged to Richmond. The Tigers dominated territorially, with Fremantle barely creeping into their offensive half, let alone into their attacking 50, as Richmond had the first 10 inside-50s of the match.

An early goal to Jack Graham and a second to Tom Lynch made for a handy buffer in little over seven minutes, and for a while that looked like it might just about be a match-winning lead, so rarely were the Dockers venturing forward. Lynch got his second early in the second term, and when Kamdyn McIntosh pounced and snapped truly, Richmond had a three-goal advantage, one they would take into the long break.

The Tigers jumped to second on the ladder with two home-and-away games remaining.

STARS ALIGN

One-on-one match-ups don't get much more enticing than the one which appeared at the first bounce when Nat Fyfe stood shoulder to shoulder with Dustin Martin.

Between them, the pair have won three of the last five Brownlow Medals and two of the last three Norm Smith Medals. But the battle of the champions wasn't quite as good as advertised.

Martin floated in and out of the game and wasn't a huge factor for the Tigers. When he ventured forward, Martin was manned by former teammate Reece Conca, who did a stellar job.

Fremantle captain Fyfe won a lot of the ball but got most of it in defence with his side hemmed in. His clearance excellence helped stem the bleeding for the Dockers in the first half.

KEEP TABS ON HIM

He's the star key forward that continues to float under the radar, particularly in Victoria. But Freo's Matt Taberner keeps on keeping on in 2020, continuing a streak in which he has kicked at least one goal in every game, no mean feat in any team but especially playing for the lowly and defensively-minded Dockers.

Taberner proved a major handful for emerging Richmond defender Noah Balta, and threatened to haul his side back into the contest, only to be let down by some wayward kicking for goal. But the Bright product has become a seriously good player. He's due to be a free agent at the end of next year, and a host of Victorian clubs would be mad not to be asking questions about luring him back to his home state.

Meanwhile after two stop-start years, Jesse Hogan played a reasonable game as Taberner's foil, suggesting there could still be plenty of solid football left in the former Melbourne spearhead.


RICHMOND 2.2 4.3 4.4 8.8 (56)
FREMANTLE 1.0 1.2 3.4 4.5 (29)

GOALS
Richmond: Lynch 3, McIntosh, Graham, Aarts, Riewoldt, Higgins.
Fremantle: Crowden 2, Walters, Taberner.

BEST
Richmond: McIntosh, Short, Lynch, Graham, Pickett, Aarts, Balta.
Fremantle: Acres, Fyfe, Ryan, Serong, Conca, Darcy.

UMPIRES
Donlon, Deboy, Findlay.

CROWD
1818 at Metricon Stadium.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-survive-scare-from-dockers-20200902-p55rur.html