Media articles - Tigers battle hard in NAB Cup loss

[one-eyed]

Tigers battle hard in NAB Cup loss
10:53 PM Fri 15 February, 2008
By Jason Phelan
richmondfc.com.au

RICHMOND bowed out of the NAB Cup on Friday night after St Kilda defeated the Tigers by 40 points in front of 23,329 fans at Telstra Dome.

The Tigers didn’t lead at any stage, but trailed by just 14 points midway through the third quarter before the Saints accelerated away to record the 1.15.12 (111) to 2.7.11 (71) win.

Nathan Foley was the leading possession winner for the Tigers with 23 with Shane Tuck (22 disposals) and Jake King (20 touches) also prominent, while Nathan Brown and Brett Deledio each scored two goals.

Jordan McMahon gathered 16 possessions off a half-back flank in his first game for the club, while fellow off-season pick-up Mitch Morton had eight touches and kicked one goal. 

Kelvin Moore finished with 18 possessions and provided an early contender for mark of the year with a towering grab over Jarryd Allen in the centre of the ground in the third quarter.

The Tigers were soon on the back foot as the match got underway with St Kilda jumping out to an early 18-point lead with goals to Stephen Milne, Robert Eddy and Fraser Gehrig.

Soon after taking a relieving mark in defence, Mathew Richardson found himself in more familiar territory, slotting his side’s first goal after Mitch Morton found him on a strong lead.

It marked the start of a brighter period for the Tigers with Brown converting from 50m and Deledio reacting quickly to snap a goal after Richardson’s nine-point attempt hit the post and bounced back into play.

Trailing by five points as the second term got underway, Richmond again found itself under pressure, but the Saints were wasteful in front of goal allowing Deledio to narrow the margin further with his second.

It was to be his side’s only major for the quarter, however, as St Kilda gained the upper hand around the stoppages leading to three goals in succession to Milne, Allen and Justin Koschitzke.

A super goal to Leigh Montagna blew the margin out to 28 points at the main break, but Kayne Pettifer replied with a six-pointer shortly after the restart.

It was a sign of things to come as the Tigers worked back into the contest with Greg Tivendale knocking nine points off the deficit with a long-range effort from inside the centre square.

Richardson turned provider to help Brown boot his second as Richmond moved to within 14 points, but the Saints were equal to the challenge and put on a three-goal burst to move clear once more.

Chris Newman clawed back nine points with just six seconds remaining in the third stanza, leaving the Tigers a 23-point margin to tackle in the final term.

It wasn’t to be Richmond’s night, however, as couple of critical errors deep in the defensive 50m led directly to St Kilda goals, effectively ending the Tigers’ challenge.

Richmond will now head to Cairns next weekend to take on the loser of the Geelong-Melbourne match in the NAB Regional Challenge.     


ST KILDA  0.4.1  1.7.5  1.11.9  1.15.12 (111)
RICHMOND  0.3.2  0.4.4  2.6.7   2.7.11   (71)

Goals:
St Kilda: Nine-point goals: L Montagna. Goals: F Gehrig 3 S Milne 3 J Koschitzke 2 J Allen 2 R Eddy X Clarke D Armitage S Birss C Gardiner.

Richmond: Supergoals: G Tivendale C Newman. Goals: B Deledio 2 N Brown 2 M Richardson K Pettifer M Morton.

Best:
St Kilda: N Dal Santo L Montagna J Koschitzke X Clarke C Gardiner S Fisher C Jones.


Richmond: N Foley C Newman J King N Brown M Richardson.

Umpires: D Goldspink H Kennedy T Keating J Armstrong.

Crowd: 23,329 at Telstra Dome.

Injuries: Nil.

Reports: Nil.

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/tabid/6301/News/NewsArticle/Default.aspx?newsId=55333

[Mr Magic]

That's us! 'the battlers'.

stuff me I am so over being the laughing stock of this comp.

[one-eyed]

Saints prove a worthy bet
Steve Butler | February 16, 2008

FIRST, it was revealed yesterday that the AFL had hit St Kilda in the pocket to the tune of $10,000 for an administration error which broke player payment rules. But the Saints last night hit back at the pockets of Richmond supporters with a 40-point victory over the Tigers at Telstra Dome.

In a pre-match surprise, TAB Sportsbet punters had plunged into Richmond to win its opening NAB Cup match, backing the Tigers in from $2.30 on Thursday into runaway $1.50 favourites before the bounce. But aside from the odd burst — and an absolute screamer of a third-quarter mark by defender Kelvin Moore — they never really looked on the money.

St Kilda revealed on Thursday they would be without star forward Nick Riewoldt, who was to rest knee tendonitis for a fortnight, and gritty tagger Steven Baker with an ankle injury.

But discarded Geelong forward Charlie Gardiner provided a sound lead-up replacement for Riewoldt and any Saints team which is afforded space in the attacking 50-metre zone for twin towers Fraser Gehrig and Justin Koschitzke, with Steven Milne snapping at their feet, is going to be a good one. For good measure, versatile 20-year-old Jarryd Allen often provided another strong target.

Just a day after the football world was again reminded of former West Coast ruckman Michael Gardiner's off-field exploits in a report from an Eagles internal investigation into player behaviour, the past All-Australian ruckman was able to do what he hasn't been able to do for the best part of the past five years … play.

Although he clearly lacked his old touch, timing and influence, some of his tap-work, which once put him in contention for a Brownlow Medal , was still promising.

He started the match in something akin to an old western derby, opposed to former Fremantle big man Troy Simmonds.

Just 10 minutes into the new part of Gehrig's career, after he had temporarily retired at the end of the last, he banged through a goal to stamp the Saints' early dominance. The Tigers were looking anything but the plunge team.

Matthew Richardson was typically being asked to do too much at both ends of the ground and it wasn't until Richmond went more direct early in the second term that they looked like making the game a real contest.

But just when they had snuck back into the match, they became too unaccountable and St Kilda kicked three goals in five minutes to lead by 26 points at the main break.

As controversial field umpire Darren Goldspink wound down to retirement in his final game with the whistle, the Saints were winding up for a promising season.

The Tigers trailed by 23 points at the final change and it was worse after just two minutes into the last quarter when Shane Birss goaled from a set shot to extend the margin to 29 points and virtually seal the game against a disappointing Tigers who had few key players missing.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfmatchreport/saints-prove-a-worthy-bet/2008/02/15/1202760608104.html

[one-eyed]

It's summer, and footy's back
Martin Blake | February 16, 2008

THE pre-season cup may have started in the Middle Eastern desert last weekend, but it was 13 minutes into the third quarter of the Richmond-St Kilda match at Docklands last night when a player conjured some of the athletic brilliance that makes the game so great, and the crowd emitted one of those primal screams, and everyone knew that footy was back. Officially.

For the record, it was the first big mark that told us so. St Kilda surged forward, a looping drop punt directed towards the Saints' young centre half-forward, Jarryd Allen. The football floated and Allen was momentarily caught out of position, propping on his heels. His trailing opponent, Kelvin Moore, promptly leapt on to his shoulders, twisting in the air and pulling down a sensational two-grab mark.

It was the first official match in the heartland and it had some familiar themes. Darren Goldspink umpired his final match, looking like he was running in quicksand but forthright and decisive, as ever. Matthew Richardson tried hard all night, but it took just two minutes of football in a new season before a teammate smashed a short pass straight over his head and into the hands of his opponent, Sam Fisher. This would be a metaphor for a night when Richmond's ball use was substandard.

Familiar, too, was St Kilda's emergence at the start in traditional guernsey, at a time of year when experimentation is a byword. By contrast, Richmond had a predominantly yellow guernsey with a few strategic black stripes and butchered the football.

No, it was the Saints who looked the more serious, right down to the presence of 36-year-old Robert Harvey, Old Man River himself. Harvey surely has earned the right to sit out a NAB Cupper in summer, but that is not the way he operates. Beginning his 21st season at this level, he rollicked into space like he always has; he hunched over and grabbed his shorts and looked spent at the stoppages, as he always has.

St Kilda, with half its best team in absentia, gave a passable imitation of the finals chance it is expected to be. Even without Lenny Hayes and Nick Riewoldt, the captains, without Luke Ball, who was one of the skippers last year, and without Matthew Maguire, Leigh Fisher, Jason Gram, Steven Baker, Brendon Goddard and recruit Adam Schneider, the Saints began with a slickness that you would not have expected so early in the season. Xavier Clarke instigated much of this, and watching this young man from Darwin, you had to wonder how much he had gained from a week in which Australia said "sorry" to its indigenous people. Clarke has an acute sense of where he has come from and a lethal left leg which he used to dynamic effect last night.

Last night, Clarke started in an on-ball position, ran harder than he has in the past and looked like a potential superstar of the competition.

St Kilda was impressive, playing with thin stocks and against a team that was close to full-strength. Steven King and Michael Gardiner were serviceable without being brilliant in ruck, Gardiner finally donning the red, white and black a full year after West Coast traded him.

The more impressive recruit, though, was former Geelong half-forward Charlie Gardiner, who presented nicely all night. Allen, a rangy forward from Calder Cannons who is yet to play a senior regular-season game, booted two goals and also showed up nicely.

The Tigers applied no defensive pressure, took the ball around in circles when they got it and could scarcely have been less impressive. What were those wooden spoon odds?

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfmatchreport/its-summer-and-footys-back/2008/02/15/1202760608107.html

[one-eyed]

Saints defeat Tigers by 40 points
AAP | February 15, 2008 10:20pm

ST KILDA comfortably overcame the absence of a stack of stars to beat Richmond by 40 points in tonight's AFL pre-season game at Telstra Dome. Although both sides finished outside the eight last year, it was the Saints who looked a class above at times and they won 1.15.12 (111) to 2.7.11 (71).

Midfielders Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna were impressive and Justin Koschitzke (two goals) dangerous as a marking target in attack, but coach Ross Lyon would have also been pleased with the improvement in his side's depth of talent.

Ex-Eagle Michael Gardiner provided strength in the ruck, ex-Cat Charlie Gardiner (no relation) was useful around the ground, forward Clinton Jones set up a couple of goals and youngsters Luke Miles and David Armitage showed some spark.

Their showing will be vital in St Kilda's campaign in 2008 given stars Nick Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Luke Ball and Matt Maguire were among a long list of absentees.

The Saints began well by booting the first three goals, overcame a Richmond fightback in the second term by pulling away before half-time, and had the game stitched up in the third quarter.

Chris Newman's nine-point goal just before the final change brought the Tigers within 23 points, but the Saints' strong tackling in their forward line earned them two goals from free kicks early in the last quarter, which sealed the win.

St Kilda will now play the winner of tomorrow's Geelong-Melbourne game in a pre-season quarter-final in Canberra next weekend.

In contrast to St Kilda's encouraging performance, Richmond were almost at full strength - minus a couple of tall defenders - but the skill problems were evident, along with a midfield which was beaten.

The endeavour was what it should be for a side aiming to move on from last year's wooden spoon, but coach Terry Wallace would not have enjoyed watching the same old turnovers, fumbles under pressure and kicks which fell short.

Brett Deledio booted two goals in a new role as a leading forward, ruckman Troy Simmonds got through the match after last year's injury setbacks and recruits Mitch Morton (ex-West Coast) and Jordan McMahon (ex-Western Bulldogs) did enough to suggest they will earn regular games this season.

For St Kilda, Fraser Gehrig and Stephen Milne each booted three goals while Montagna dobbed a nine-pointer.

Richmond's best were midfielders Nathan Foley and Newman, while Nathan Brown kicked two goals.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23220739-19742,00.html

[Little Jackie]

That's us! 'the battlers'.

eff me I am so over being the laughing stock of this comp.

And it wont get any better  either I am sorry to say

[{X}]

the gold coast tigers, here we come

[one-eyed]

Dees, Tigers timing couldn't be worse
17/02/2008 1:58:04 PM
Paul Gough
Sportal

... the AFL's 18-team push is designed to pressure Melbourne clubs into either ensuring they can stand on their own two feet in Melbourne (without AFL funding) or face the threat of total extinction.

And there is no doubt Melbourne and to a lesser extent Richmond, as well, of course, number one targets the Kangaroos are the sorts of clubs the AFL has in mind.

That is why the performances of the Tigers and Demons this weekend were so disappointing and badly-timed, in stark contrast to the Kangaroos who always over-achieve on the field (but lack support off it) and were gallant in defeat against the Bulldogs in Darwin.

The Tigers should have been pumped to the hilt for their first round clash against a St Kilda side missing half its best line-up while the Tigers were only without long-term knee victim Mark Coughlan.

After all, they were coming off their worst season since 1960 and coach Terry Wallace, now in the fourth season of a five-year deal, is under intense pressure to improve the side this year.

Instead the Tigers dished up the same rubbish they have served up for the past two decades - a general lack of skill, an inability to find team-mates by hand or foot even when not under pressure and no plan to kick goals other than to bomb it long to Matthew Richardson, who again found himself having to beat multiple opponents and deal with kicks either too short or over his head.

And to think Richardson constantly gets criticised!

Just how this man has kicked nearly 750 goals over 15 years with a team as bad as Richmond over that period is truly astonishing and it beggars belief just how bad the Tigers would be without him.

While the Tigers have the kind of supporter base other embattled Victorian clubs such as Melbourne, the Kangaroos and even the Bulldogs would die for, there is a limit to their patience after 25 years of misery and right now Richmond fans are entitled to be feeling as pessimistic as ever and wondering where all that optimism under Wallace in 2005 and 2006 vanished to.

Full article at:
http://sportal.com.au/AFL-opinion-display/dees,-tigers-timing-couldnt-be-worse-43333/page/2

[one-eyed]

Poor skills the root cause of Tigers demise
 Mark Robinson
February 16, 2008 12:00am

HATE to jump the gun after just one game of the Mickey Mouse Cup, but I expected more from Richmond.

Don't know why. Maybe because it's a new season.

Hope does that and Tigers fans know all about that. They forget the winter of discontent and their heads are full of midsummer night's dreams.

It's February, and the cycle of expectation, misguided or not, begins again.

Last night the Tigers were good in parts - their pace and linking - and they looked particularly sharp when their two best users of the ball, Nathan Brown and Brett Deledio, had it in their hands.

The pair started out of full-forward and were used up the ground when the Tigers were in trouble.

That might be coach Terry Wallace's signature move this year; like John Worsfold switching Adam Hunter from back to forward. When in strife, send in the big guns.

It is the single, biggest question at Punt Rd this year: is the midfield good enough for both Brown and Deledio to stay in the forward line?

In that regard, both the Tigers and Saints have shown their hands.

Bereft of talls, Wallace started Deledio and Brown out of the square with Matthew Richardson and Graham Polak 35m from goal.

Up the other end, St Kilda coach Ross Lyon started Fraser Gehrig and Justin Koschitzke out of the goalsquare with a host of smalls 35m up the ground, with Nick Riewoldt to play primarily at high forward when he comes back.

Wallace and Lyon are after the same result with vastly different strategies, and time will tell who will be more menacing, although the artistry of Brown and Deledio at the 'G might be something else.

The Tigers' problem last night was that of last year and the year before and even the preceding decade: skill.

Their first 15 minutes last night was dreadful.

Anyone who has watched them will know what I'm talking about. It revolves around missing targets by hand and foot, kicking the ball over leading forwards, or short, kicking around corners, missing stationary teammates.

It meant St Kilda, an eventual winner by 40 points, began its 2008 campaign mopping up Richmond errors. They had three goals before the Tigers scored and they were away. It was a pity and pitiful.

It was just as bad in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the last term.

Four times the Tigers were caught with the ball and penalised. It resulted in two goals to the Saints and the game was over.

Getting collared with the pill is a trait of bad teams. It means the player is trying to do too much, is slow to think, or his teammates aren't talking to him.

Richmond showed glimpses of promise. Mitch Morton, the boy from West Coast, has tricks; Kelvin Moore looks to have fitted in at the back, but again it was the senior players who led the way. Nathan Foley was tagged and had a game-high 23 touches.

The Saints were more accomplished with the ball and and Kosi and Gehrig (three goals each) were rewarded although Frase showed he could still lose his head with a couple of brain fades. It was good to have him back.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23223075-11088,00.html