Gritty Melbourne charge past RichmondMichael Gleeson
The Age
April 25, 2015MELBOURNE 4.2 6.5 10.9 12.11 (83)
RICHMOND 3.5 5.9 6.13 6.15 (51)
Goals:
Melbourne: C Dawes 2, J Garlett 2, J Hogan 2, A Brayshaw, A vandenBerg, B Vince, J Kennedy-Harris, J Watts, N Jones.
Richmond: S Edwards 2, B Griffiths, M Arnot, N Gordon, T Hunt.
BEST
Melbourne: Jones, vandenBerg, McDonald, Tyson, Vince, Hogan, Brayshaw, Michie.
Richmond: Edwards, Miles, Ellis.
INJURIES
Richmond: Drummond (knee), Griffiths (calf).
Melbourne: Kent (hamstring), Jetta concussion).
Umpires: Scott Jeffery, Luke Farmer, David Harris.
Official Crowd: 58,175 at MCG.
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This was a win for Melbourne that will be deemed an upset, but shouldn't be. This was a loss for Richmond that feels in hindsight painfully predictable.
Melbourne was the more mature, the more composed, the more talented side and beat Richmond for the second time in two years. They won with the arrival of young stars and a game that again rattled the belief in the Tigers' bona fides as a team heading for another finals appearance.
Melbourne has a history of turning teenage stars into adult busts, but Jesse Hogan will end that reputation. Hogan was not the best player on the ground but he was the most exciting. Melbourne fans will walk content from the game for having won, but they will stride from the dripping wet MCG giddy with excitement at what might be from Jesse Hogan.
Hogan worked hard all night to create opportunities for others but there were the three marks, all different and all against one of the league's best defenders, Alex Rance, that marked him as special.
But it was more than Hogan. Angus Brayshaw found his rhythm in senior football and the hefty body of Aaron vandenBerg was an arrival as well. Dom Tyson has become the sort of consistently diligent and industrious player they have longed for to join Nathan Jones and Tom McDonald enhanced his already bold reputation.
The Tigers were young, with their talisman Brett Deledio still injured and other key figures also still out and were left one short on the bench in the last quarter after Ben Griffiths tore a calf and the young Nathan Drummond lasted less than a half in his first game. But, in truth, the game was lost by then.
Richmond's attack was lacking and when the challenge came they lacked leadership. Only Shane Edwards stood out in offering defiance to Melbourne's spirit.
The game began with Hogan shifting Rance out of the way in a marking contest to set up a goal. He later jumped behind Rance to out-stretch him and out-read the ball to mark over the back. And in the last quarter when the game was already won, but needing the satisfying icing moment, he crashed over a pack to mark on his chest in a manner that draw cries of Brown and Carey and kicked his goal from a tight angle.
His was the game, along with those of Brayshaw, vandenBerg and Christian Salem to suggest the Melbourne rise will be constructed around a solid frame.
The first half was played like two sides knew a tempest was coming and were racing to get ahead before it did.
It was wildly fast but as sloppy as if the rain had already arrived. It was also unsustainably quick. The wearier the legs got the looser the disposal became.
Richmond began the fiercer but failed to turn possession into score as Jack Riewoldt, Edwards and Griffiths all missed.
Griffiths was channelling Levi Casboult, marking beautifully – he took a spectacular mark on McDonald's shoulders – but missed with shots it was harder not to kick a goal with.
Melbourne absorbed the early thrust and rallied moving the ball more purposefully. Trent Cotchin drew Bernie Vince and the short straw. After the Patrick Dangerfield experience, it threatened to be a long night. Cotchin won the first term but was shut down with Col Garland rolling off onto him – he had one touch for the second term.
Dustin Martin was largely ineffectual, unless you consider the push in the back that gave Jack Watts a certain goal effective.
Tom McDonald subdued Riewoldt in the Tigers' forward line and they had few others threatening the goal. Matt Arnott bent a shot in from the boundary on the run but the Tigers were being forced to work hard for every score they got. Melbourne was working as hard as Richmond around the ground but did not look to need to work as hard to score unless you count the five shots that hit the post. Every Richmond score seemed a trial.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/gritty-melbourne-charge-past-richmond-20150424-1msx7l.html
