Tigers take it up to Saints
10:15:04 PM Fri 7 April, 2006
Amanda Buivids
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au
The Tigers may not have won the four points, but they won back some much-needed respect with a gritty, feisty performance against St Kilda at Telstra Dome on Friday night.
Coming off a record opening round loss to the Western Bulldogs, Richmond wasn't fancied to beat the Saints, but they took the contest right up to one of the leading premiership contenders with the result in the balance right up to the closing minutes.
In the end, the Tigers went down by 11 points - 11.11 (77) to St Kilda's 13.10 (88).
Maybe, just maybe it was Terry Wallace and his Tigers troop who made the grander, more virtuous statement on Friday night.
They stood up, and in the end the Tigers were probably a little shy on class and polish, and movement of the ball, particularly from defensive kick-outs and delivery into forward 50m.
Wallace unearthed a talent in defender Will Thursfield, who played a close-checking game on champion Nick Riewoldt.
However, it was his serious knee injury and departure from the ground midway through the final quarter which unshackled Riewoldt who put the game beyond the Tigers' grasp.
Riewoldt, maligned for his kicking and sometimes his temperament, dominated the match when it was up for grabs. He took five marks and scored the first goal of the quarter - and the game breaker.
He finished with three goals, 13 kicks, four handballs and eight marks for the match.
For the Tigers, nursing injuries to Thursfield, Jay Schulz, Brent Hartigan and Chris Newman, they must soldier on for their tough interstate assignments against Brisbane and West Coast.
For the Saints, Fraser Gehrig was his imposing self out of the goal square with three goals, and the return to form and fitness of Aaron Hamill.
The Tigers started in similar vein as last week, scoring the first goal of the match, this time through Greg Tivendale after 83 seconds.
Saints gained some early momentum through Gehrig, when the big bloke booted two goals within 90 seconds.
Playing in his 100th game for the Saints, Gehrig kicked his side's first when he was awarded a questionable free kick against opponent Darren Gaspar.
The second was on the end of a passage of play which involved four possessions and no Richmond player handling the ball.
Taking full advantage of the AFL's new rules, Max Hudghton quickly played-on from a kick-out, and delivered the ball to the outer wing where Aaron Fiora took three bounces and centred the ball.
Gehrig then used his big, bullocking frame to dribble through a goal.
Nick Dal Santo extended the lead to two goals when he booted truly from 50m out.
However, the Tigers hung in and went into the first break just five points down.
Their second goal came via a clever interchange switch midway through the quarter when Thursfield left the field and replaced by Daniel Jackson.
Jackson sprinted more than 60m to his team's forward line, marked the ball and kicked his first career goal. Goals from Riewoldt and Matthew Richardson rounded out the quarter.
The Tigers took the lead briefly in the opening minute of the second term when Patrick Bowden delicately threaded a goal on the snuggest of angles.
Caught on the boundary line, Brown slipped him a handball, and pushed/shepherded his opponent to allow Bowden enough space and time to attempt a curling banana kick for goal.
The lead was short-lived, with the Saints pushing numbers around the ball and scoring two goals in quick succession through the busy Fiora and Clarke.
Riewoldt and youngster Thursfield were locked in a lively battle out of the goal square.
Lining up in his seventh game, the lean defender stuck closely to the flamboyant Saint, forcing him to lead out of the 50m arc and spoiling him in marking contests.
Riewoldt, however, showed his class, allowing space for his forwards and hurting Richmond's defence when it mattered.
His goal just seconds before the half-time siren, drove a stake through the heart of the Tigers. It attracted boos and jeers from the supportive and forgiving Tigers supporters.
Bouyant, but not brilliant, Richmond had battled hard to stay in the match against the smoother-skilled and polished Saints.
An illegal spoil from Thursfield allowed Riewoldt to line up from 40m out and score his second, and his team's ninth for the match.
Hamill exerted some of the intimidating presence we are accustomed when his body is fit and injury-free.
His tackle on Andrew Raines on the offensive side of the goal square was uncompromising and brutal. The subsequent free kick allowed him to set up Xavier Clarke's first goal from 35m.
Desperately needing to score the first goal of the second half, Robert Harvey, who had been limited to eight possessions by Kane Johnson, extended the lead to 24 points.
Harvey was able to position himself in a scoring position when Brett Deledio's wayward handball bobbled into his space.
The nature of the game shifted shortly after when acting captain Matt Maguire surrendered a silly 50m penalty when he got too cute with Kane Pettifer in the centre of the ground.
Maguire was dragged while Pettifer scored from close range.
The Tigers booted three of the next four goals, with Pettifer, playing at half forward, causing problems for Clarke.
He played a hand in the next goal two minutes later when his slippery short pass found the diving Patrick Bowden. He booted his third moments later, reducing the lead to just five points.
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Gehrig, who always looked dangerous, broke the momentum, when he roved his own dropped chest mark and scrambled a goal in the goal square.
But Bowden bobbed up again and had the opportunity to give the Tigers the lead at the beginning of time-on.
The shot from the Tigers' leading possession gatherer - he had 18 kicks and seven handballs until three-quarter time - hit the post, and less than a kick separated the two teams at the final change.
It was a heart-stopper with the first goal of the quarter not scored until after 12 minutes through Riewoldt and the sealer via Lenny Hayes at the 18-minute mark.
Skipper Luke Ball was a late withdrawal, struggling with a strained stomach muscles and was replaced in the Saints' team by Justin Peckett, playing his 237th match.
For Richmond, Greg Stafford was replaced for the second week in a row, this week by Daniel Jackson.
RICHMOND: 3.2, 6.4, 10.7, 11.11 (77)
ST KILDA: 4.1, 9.4, 11.6, 13.10 (88)
GOALS Richmond: P.Bowden 3, Pettifer 3, Jackson 2, Tivendale, Richardson, Simmonds St Kilda: Gehrig 3, Riewoldt 3, Dal Santo, Goddard, X.Clarke, Fiora, Montagna, Harvey, Hayes
BEST Richmond: J.Bowden, Simmonds, P.Bowden, Hyde, Raines, Coughlan St Kilda: Riewoldt, Hayes, Hamill, Hudghton, Montagna, Harvey
INJURIES Richmond: Thursfield (knee), Schulz (concussion)
St Kilda: Nil
CHANGES Richmond: Stafford in selected side by Jackson
St Kilda: Ball (abdominal strain) in selected side by Peckett
REPORTS - Nil
UMPIRES - Margetts, McLaren, McInerney
CROWD - 40,740 at Telstra Dome
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