Media articles and stats - Tigers lose by 10 points to Saints

[one-eyed]

Tigers lose by 10 points to Saints
4:40 PM Sat 1 September, 2007
for richmondfc.com.au

RICHMOND will finish on the bottom of the ladder after a spirited Tiger outfit fell to St Kilda by 10 points at the MCG on Saturday.

The Tigers held a nine-point lead midway through the last quarter, but Fraser Gehrig, who announced his retirement on the ground after the final siren, kicked the last two goals of the match to seal the 14.18 (102) to 13.14 (92) win.

Richmond’s players showed plenty of grit and determination throughout the contest and registered 368 possessions to the Saints’ 282 for the match, but couldn’t get over the line in front of 42,472 fans.

Chris Newman was one of his side’s best with 32 possessions and a goal, while Kayne Pettifer provided plenty of spark in the forward line, leading the way with four goals.

Justin Koschitzke and Gehrig kicked four and five majors respectively for St Kilda.

The Saints had the better of a lacklustre first quarter, but failed to punish the Tigers on the scoreboard with some wasteful kicking in front of goal.

Luke McGuane was matched up on Koschitzke when the big Saint ruckman went forward and the defender had his hands full. Koschitzke bagged three goals for the term and was his team’s most important player, but the Tigers hung in there with Brett Deledio booting the home side’s only two goals of the quarter.

Matthew Richardson was having trouble propelling himself into the action with 23 minutes elapsing before he got his first touch on the defensive side of the wing.

Gehrig goaled as St Kilda opened up an 18-point lead at the first break and that soon stretched to 26 points as Nick Riewoldt got away from Andrew Raines to register the first of his two goals for the second stanza.

But just when the situation looked irretrievable, Richmond sprang to life with three goals from Pettifer the catalyst for a productive burst that saw the margin slashed to just one point at half time.

Shane Edwards was also prominent, kicking a goal and creating one of Pettifer’s, with Shane Tuck and Richard Tambling also converting set shots arising from the Tigers’ better work at the stoppages.

St Kilda hit back hard, threatening to put the game out of reach with the first four goals of the second half, but once again the Tigers were equal to the challenge.

Richardson started and finished a four-goal run with his first and second majors, with the big spearhead also setting up Nathan Brown, while Chris Newman scored a terrific goal from 50m out in heavy traffic.

The Tigers were up and about and hit the front for the first time in the match 28 minutes into the third quarter and took a three-point advantage into the last.

It looked like it would be Richmond’s day when Pettifer booted his fourth two minutes in, but the Tigers couldn’t manage another for the rest of the game with Gehrig icing the result after the final siren.

RICHMOND: 2.2, 8.5, 12.12, 13.14 (92)
ST KILDA: 4.8, 7.12, 11.15, 14.18 (102)

Goals: Richmond: Pettifer 4, Richardson 2, Deledio 2, Edwards, Tuck, Tambling, Newman, Brown. St Kilda: Gehrig 5, Koschitzke 4, Riewoldt 3, Milne, Montagna.

Best: Richmond:Pettifer, Newman, Bowden, Brown, McGuane, Raines, King. St Kilda: Gehrig, Riewoldt, Dal Santo, Montagna, Koschitzke, Birss, Fiora.

Injuries: Richmond: Nil. St Kilda: Ball (hamstring), replaced in selected side by Thompson, Harvey (corked thigh)

Reports: D Jackson (Richmond) reported by field umpire D Goldspink for allegedly engaging in rough conduct against L Montagna (St Kilda) in the second quarter.

Umpires: Kennedy, Allen, Goldspink

Official crowd: 42,472 at the MCG

http://richmondfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/6301/Default.aspx?newsId=50262

[one-eyed]

Outgoing Gehrig steers Saints home
Sunday Herald Sun
September 01, 2007

RETIRING St Kilda spearhead Fraser Gehrig booted five goals in his final AFL game to steer the Saints to a 14.18 (102) to 13.14 (92) victory over bottom-placed Richmond at the MCG today.

The match was in the balance until the final seconds, with Gehrig kicking his fifth goal after the siren.

He had earlier told his team before the match this would be his farewell game, joining veteran midfielder Andrew Thompson in retirement.

Thompson was a late addition to the side, with midfielder Luke Ball withdrawn from the selected 22.

The retirements of Gehrig and Thompson gave the Saints some incentive for victory, after their finals chances were blown when Adelaide downed Collingwood last night to seal the final spot in the top eight.

The Tigers' loss confirmed they will take this season's wooden spoon, but they had their chances, with the Saints building significant leads at several stages before Richmond reeled them in.

The Saints looked in total control in the first term, with only poor kicking for goal stopping them from destroying Richmond as they outscored them 4.8 to 2.2.

Ruckman-forward Justin Koschitzke was on fire, with three goals for the term, with fellow big men Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt also looking dangerous.

That trio had seven goals between them by half-time, but after building a 25-point lead 18 minutes into the second quarter, the Saints allowed Richmond back in.

The Tigers kicked the final four goals of the first half to trail by just a point at the long break.

It was a similar story in the second half, with the Saints kicking four goals in the first 12 minutes, including one each to Koschitzke and Gehrig, before Richmond outscored them 4.4 to 0.1 for the remainder of the third term to carry a three-point lead into the last quarter.

The Tigers kicked the first goal of the last quarter, with Kayne Pettifer kicking his fourth for the day, to stretch their lead to nine points and it looked as though they were on track for an upset win.

But a scrambled goal to Riewoldt, who just got his boot to a bouncing ball in the goalsquare from a Gehrig handball, narrowed the margin to two points, before Gehrig marked and kicked his fourth goal to put St Kilda in front.

After a scrambled final few minutes, in which both sides wasted good scoring chances, the ball finally ended in Gehrig's hands as the siren blew.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22345487-11088,00.html

[julzqld]

Gehrig = one ugly dude

[one-eyed]

Team Stats

Kicks:        197 - 181    
Handballs:  172 - 101
Disposals:  369 - 282
Marks:       116 - 78
Hitouts:       30 - 33
Tackles:       49 - 62
Frees:          14 - 21

Inside 50s: 47 - 54
Clearances: 27 - 32
Errors:        53 - 35

Individual Stats

Player                       Kicks     Handballs     Marks     Frees Tackles Score  
                               1 2 3 4 T   1 2 3 4 T  1 2 3 4 T For Ag            G B

NEWMAN,Chris         5 4 5 7 21 4 3 2 2 11 2 2 2 5 11 0 0 1 1 0
BOWDEN,Joel           4 3 4 4 15 2 1 5 8 16 2 3 2 3 10 0 1 1 0 0
PETTIFER,Kayne        3 6 3 5 17 3 1 1 0 5 1 5 1 3 10 1 0 1 4 3
KING,Jake                 2 1 3 4 10 3 2 3 4 12 2 0 1 3 6 3 1 4 0 0
BROWN,Nathan G.     3 3 4 3 13 4 1 1 1 7 2 2 0 2 6 0 0 1 1 3
MCGUANE,Luke          2 1 1 6 10 3 1 2 4 10 2 1 0 4 7 3 2 3 0 0
RAINES,Andrew         4 1 2 3 10 1 1 4 4 10 4 0 2 2 8 0 2 2 0 0
HYDE,Chris                1 1 2 4 8 1 1 4 4 10 1 1 2 4 8 1 1 1 0 0
TUCK,Shane               1 3 2 0 6 6 3 3 0 12 0 3 1 0 4 1 0 1 1 0
TAMBLING,Richard      1 3 3 4 11 2 2 1 1 6 1 1 2 2 6 0 0 2 1 1
DELEDIO,Brett            4 2 2 0 8 2 2 2 2 8 3 0 0 0 3 2 1 2 2 1
PATTISON,Adam         1 2 1 3 7 1 2 2 4 9 2 1 1 2 6 0 2 2 0 0
FOLEY,Nathan             2 2 1 1 6 1 3 4 2 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 1
JOHNSON,Kane           2 1 0 2 5 1 6 2 1 10 1 0 0 3 4 0 0 4 0 0
POLAK,Graham            1 2 4 2 9 0 2 3 0 5 0 1 2 1 4 0 1 4 0 1
JACKSON,Daniel          1 2 2 3 8 1 2 1 2 6 0 1 1 3 5 0 4 3 0 0
TIVENDALE,Greg          2 4 2 2 10 0 1 2 0 3 2 2 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0
RICHARDSON,Matthew 3 1 3 0 7 0 2 2 0 4 2 0 3 0 5 1 3 1 2 1
THURSFIELD,Will          2 2 0 1 5 2 2 2 0 6 3 1 1 1 6 0 2 1 0 0
EDWARDS,Shane          1 3 1 0 5 1 2 1 0 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 6 1 1
MOORE,Kelvin              0 0 0 2 2 1 1 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0
RIEWOLDT,Jack            0 1 1 2 4 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 0
 Rushed  2
TOTAL 45 48 46 58 197 39 41 49 43 172 31 25 21 39 116 14 21 49 13 14
 
50m PENALTIES: 1
GOALS: Free 1; Play 5; Mark 7
DISTANCE OF GOALS: 0-15m 0; 15-30m 4; 30-40m 3; 40+m 6

Top 5's

Contested possessions

X.Clarke       12
Gehrig          11
N.Riewoldt    11
Birss              8
Gram             8

Uncontested possession

Newman       27
J.Bowden      21
Raines          17
King             16
Pettifer         16

Effective Kicks

Newman       16
Montagna      14
N.Riewoldt     14
J.Bowden       13
Pettifer          13

Inside 50

Montagna        8
N.Riewoldt      8
Pettifer           6
Birss              6
Tambling        6

Rebound 50

Gram            5
Montagna      4
R.Clarke        4
Polak             4
Gilbert           4

[bluey_21]

Gehrig = one ugly dude

what about the poor little girl who took a photo with him she must have been thinking 

[one-eyed]

Saints make hard work of it
Rohan Connolly at the MCG | September 2, 2007 | The Age

THE real interest in yesterday's Richmond-St Kilda game evaporated about the time Adelaide's Brent Reilly sealed Collingwood's fate with a late goal at Telstra Dome on Friday night. And by the time Richmond coach Terry Wallace had spoken on radio pre-game yesterday about the tanking issue, this clash seemed a real lemon.

St Kilda woke up yesterday knowing it could deliver the performance of a lifetime and still have the finals series off to pursue other interests.

Wallace conceded it wasn't in his or his club's interests to win, the Tigers standing to lose a priority draft pick should they win. There can't have been (until Carlton plays Melbourne this evening) too many games in living memory where either side had less incentive.

Which is about how things panned out. For most of St Kilda's eventual 10-point win, you would have found more intensity at an Auskick clinic, or in retiring Saints' spearhead Fraser Gehrig's little jostle with a member of the Richmond cheer squad over the fence just on the half-time siren.

The running players, save for Richmond's Nathan Foley, well held by Leigh Fisher early, then Shane Birss, were granted not just metres, but hectares of space. The missed tackle attempts were more frequent than those that stuck. The disposal was sloppy. And the kicking for goal woeful.

At least the last factor kept what contest there was alive. It should have been completely dead by quarter-time, when St Kilda had racked up 12 scoring shots to just four, and 16 inside 50s to six, but led by only three goals rather than the 10 its mortgage on possession dictated it should have.

Richmond had a winner in Chris Newman, and triers in Shane Tuck in Nathan Brown, but it had neither the height, strength or experience to counter St Kilda's trio of talls in Gehrig, Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke, the latter of whom had three goals to the first break. It looked like it was going to be a massacre. And it might have been, had the Saints not clearly believed their day's hard work was done.

The first signs of life for Richmond were shown in Kayne Pettifer's exuberant celebrations after his second goal. It seemed a little over-the-top at the time, with the Tigers still more than three goals down.

But it triggered something. That goal came a tick into time-on. By siren time, Richmond trailed by just one point, after follow-ups from Tuck, Richard Tambling and Pettifer again.

The pattern would be repeated after half-time. By midway through the third term, the margin was back to four goals. Koschitzke and Gehrig, Stephen Milne and Leigh Montagna within 10 or so minutes making a rout appear inevitable. Which was again the signal for the Saints to take the foot off the pedal. And Richmond to sense that while it might cost a priority draft pick, here was a chance to make a statement of sorts.

That came through acts like Brett Deledio's tackle on a lazy Sam Fisher amble out of defence, Matthew Richardson pouncing on the spoils. A terrific goal to Newman. Another to Brown after the Saints' Aaron Fiora had spilled a sitter of a mark at the other end, then another to "Richo", which put the Tigers in front for the first time all day.

When that lead had become nine points after Pettifer's fourth goal at the start of the final term, and an inspiring chase on the wing from Richardson forced a St Kilda turnover, the Saints looked shot. It was a pretty poor send-off looming for the "G-Train" and fellow retiree Andrew Thompson.

Cue the only good news story of the afternoon.

A Gehrig handball bobbled on the goal line long enough for Riewoldt to get a faint touch. The G-Train's fourth put his team back in front. And with the siren having sounded, Gehrig's fifth made the margin a cosier 10 points.

A nice touch to finish. And one that at least ensured that this game would be remembered for something.

BEST - Richmond: Pettifer, J Bowden, Newman, Tuck, Deledio, King.

http://realfooty.com.au/news/rfmatchreport/saints-make-hard-work-of-it/2007/09/01/1188067438410.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[one-eyed]

Gehrig thunders to golden stop
02 September 2007   Sunday Herald Sun
Mark Harding

 CAREFREE footy is often cited as a good thing. Kids are encouraged to get out and play like it doesn't matter and coaches are always looking for ways to take the pressure off their players.

But if you think carefree footy is a good spectacle then you weren't at the MCG yesterday.

St Kilda defeated Richmond by 10 points in a match which had the life sucked out of it by the Adelaide win on Friday night.

Any mild interest in whether Richmond could avoid its seventh wooden spoon was then buried by Tiger coach Terry Wallace's pre-game comments when he said he felt compromised by the AFL draft rules.

Rarely has a close match had less tension.

Without question, the players were trying to win, but for one team (the Saints) a loss didn't matter and for the other a loss had considerable draft compensations.

This element of carefree footy frequently led to displays of careless footy.

Richmond "won" its wooden spoon - a "victory" it earned with a goal-less last 25 minutes - despite sneaking nine points clear of a disinterested St Kilda early in the final term.

Wallace's suggestion before the game that his coaching performance would be scrutinised in the event of a close loss was eerily prophetic as his young team was overrun by Fraser Gehrig on the final ride of the "G-Train" express.

It was obvious the Tigers were keen to win, but it was also fortunate for the game's integrity the result was decided by a match-winner.

Gehrig's fourth goal regained the lead for the Saints at the 15-minute mark and then his fifth came from a typical display of strength with a contested mark 35m out.

When he slotted the goal after the siren his teammates swamped him.

There was more emotion in the final 30 seconds than there had been all day -- save for a few exuberant goal celebrations earlier by Tiger Kayne Pettifer.

Pettifer had played a crucial role in dragging the Tigers back into the contest in the second quarter after the Saints had threatened to blow the game away early.

They kicked 4.8 in a careless first term to lead the hapless Tigers by 18 points when it should have been more like six goals.

Pettifer kicked three goals in the second term as the Saints led by only a point at half-time.

The pattern for the game was that every time they were challenged, the Saints kicked clear only to get cocky and stop digging in.

It happened again in the third term as they moved out to 24 points in front when best-on-ground Leigh Montagna was gifted a goal from sloppy defence from a boundary throw-in. Suddenly, the Saints stopped to a walk.

Matthew Richardson got busy for a 15-minute cameo, kicking two goals and giving another to Nathan Brown as the Tigers kicked the last four goals of the quarter to turn three points in front at the final change.

Pettifer's fourth goal from a high snap shot gave them the nine-point buffer after two minutes, but the Saints got serious again.

Gehrig not only kicked the last two goals, but a few minutes earlier he had handballed to Nick Riewoldt in the goalsquare and the Saint star was able to scrub a goal off the ground.

The Saints should be annoyed at themselves for not winning by more.

They clearly had the best talent on the ground and with Gehrig, Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke kicking 12 goals between them, the difference in potency was clearcut.

Perhaps the best thing to come from yesterday was the game by former Bulldog Shane Birss who, in his 12th game for the club, stopped Tiger midfielder Nathan Foley and picked up plenty of the ball himself. Pettifer was Richmond's best while Chris Newman was excellent early on Robert Harvey and then continued to get plenty of the ball.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,22346783%255E20322,00.html

[one-eyed]

Win-win for Saints, Tigers
03 September 2007   Herald Sun
Michael Horan

IN AN odd sense both St Kilda and Richmond walked away from their dead rubber and the 2007 season at the MCG with a feeling of achievement.

The Saints will rue finishing ninth and missing the finals by only half a win, but can take heart from the fact they recovered from an injury-riddled start to the season to all but snatch a place in the finals.

And the Tigers, apart from choice draft picks that come with the wooden spoon, sent their fans away filled with renewed hope after going within a whisker of winning three of the last four games.

Had Saturday's contest been a final, one could have added another 30,000 to the 42,472-strong crowd and given the contest they put on, it would have made the atmosphere electric.

Twice St Kilda strolled out to a 25-point lead - midway the through the first term and early in the third - before Richmond stormed back to the point where it had grabbed the lead by the last change.

From there it was just a classic see-saw battle to the bitter end. The Saints' talls were the keys to success. As Richmond played the possession game - it had 369 disposals to St Kilda's 282 and 89 defensive-50 disposals to 56 - the Saints got the ball and went long and direct to allow the big forwards Fraser Gehrig (five goals), Justin Koschitzke (four goals) and Nick Riewoldt (three) to kick 12 of the side's 14 goals.

Andrew Thompson had a winning farewell, although his final term won't be one to remember.

He spent the entire last quarter on the bench and finished with just 37 minutes for the match. In 2007 he played just 50 per cent of game time when selected in the team.

It was a different story for Gehrig, the Saints' other retiree. There could not have been a more fitting finale when Gehrig stepped up and into retirement in heroic style.

The veteran forward kicked the last two goals of the game, the first midway through the term to put St Kilda back in front and the last after the final siren when there was still less than a kick in it, to ice the win in style.

On a day when the Saints tried hard to kick themselves out of the match, Gehrig's career-ending bag of 5.2 took his 255-game total to an imposing 540 goals.

For a battle of the also rans on the first day of spring, it was a great contest.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,22350030%255E19771,00.html