Tigers hand crows winAndrew Stafford | July 5, 2009
FOR ALL Ron Barassi has done for football, he also has much to answer for. Handball, as we know, destroyed Collingwood in the 1970 grand final. It helped destroy Richmond yesterday, but the Tigers did it to themselves, eventually going down to Adelaide by 17 points after conceding a five-goal start and losing Nathan Foley in the first quarter to a calf injury.
It is a little distressing to see a player as gifted as Trent Cotchin kick the ball a mere four times in a game while racking up 15 disposals by hand. Ben Cousins managed 10 out of 30; Brett Deledio 10 out of 31; Shane Tuck 13 from 33. The sole Richmond player to buck the trend was Daniel Jackson, hardly his team's best player by foot.
Not that the Crows don't deserve plenty of credit. For all the extra attacking flair since Neil Craig remodelled his side's game plan earlier in the season, Adelaide has not forgotten how to pile on the pressure.
And like the side the Crows are locked in combat with for fourth place, Collingwood, they know how to hurt on the rebound.
The main beneficiary was Kurt Tippett, who put through five goals for the Crows, destroying an inexperienced opponent in Jarrod Silvester with a hand in four of Adelaide's five goals for the first quarter — all in the first 17 minutes before Richmond had time to draw breath.
The Tigers did well to make a contest of the match from there, with lively former Port Melbourne rover Robin Nahas one of the few players prepared to break the lines and Richard Tambling another to exert an influence.
Both players combined for Richmond's first goal for the second quarter, but two more goals to Tippett and another to Richard Douglas set the Tigers back on their haunches once more. Tippett was far too strong for Silvester, forcing coach Jade Rawlings to briefly push Jack Riewoldt into the back line to assist.
It might have helped Mitch Morton, who found enough space to keep the Tigers in touch with his first major, but David Mackay had the quick reply for the Crows.
Morton then blew the chance to give his side the momentum heading into the main break after missing a set shot on the stroke of half-time.
By then, Foley was back on the ground but hobbling, Cousins had been caught with the ball on a disturbing number of occasions, and even with Riewoldt repatriated into attack, it was hard to see how Richmond was going to find a clear avenue to goal.
Those goals the Tigers did kick came from chains of handball that zigzagged wildly across the ground as Adelaide zoned back in defence. Inevitably, the Tigers would come unstuck, either through poor skills — Jackson being particularly culpable — or lack of strength against the hardened bodies of the Crows.
Not that anyone told the tiny Nahas. After goals to Jason Porplyzia and Scott Stevens looked to seal the result for the Crows, Nahas almost gave the Tigers a sniff with two third-quarter goals, while another to Brett Deledio reduced the margin to 21 points.
But another turnover under pressure gifted a major to a running Andrew McLeod, Mackay snapped another around his body and Tippett kicked his fifth to finish the match going into the final term.
Any doubt about that was erased by another to Chris Knights early in the last quarter, and the Crows coasted from there, perhaps letting slip a chance to build their percentage, which is likely to prove vital in the battle for fourth spot.
ADELAIDE 5.3 9.6 14.9 15.12 (102)
RICHMOND 2.1 5.3 8.5 13.7 (85)
GOALS:
Adelaide: Tippett 5, Knights 2, Mackay 2, Stevens 2, McLeod, Porplyzia, Douglas, Thompson.
Richmond: Nahas 4, Jackson 2, Morton 2, Graham, Deledio, Riewoldt, Tambling, Hislop.
BEST:
Adelaide: Edwards, Bock, Tippett, Johncock, McLeod, Thompson.
Richmond: Tambling, Tuck, Nahas, Cousins, Deledio.
INJURIES Richmond: Foley (calf).
UMPIRES: Wenn, Pannell, Sully.
CROWD: 11,174 at Gold Coast Stadium.
MAIN MENKurt Tippett has faced tougher opponents than second-gamer Jarrod Silvester this year, but he continues to prove he is a genuine emerging full-forward. He was clearly the dominant attacking player on the ground, fed by the usual Crows suspects of McLeod, Johncock and Edwards.
TURNING POINTThis was a match the Crows were in control of from the outset, but it was always going to be difficult for the Tigers to match Adelaide's fleet of runners once Nathan Foley went off with a calf injury early in the first quarter. Foley reappeared to help keep his side afloat, but was obviously restricted and eventually was forced off for good.
THE UPSHOTAs with Collingwood, the Crows have won six in a row, and only percentage keeps the Magpies in fourth place as the battle for the last double chance intensifies. The distracted Tigers will take few positives from the match, other than a game performance by Robin Nahas, and are back in the hunt for the wooden spoon.
THE REACTIONNEIL CRAIG (Adelaide)
"They (the Tigers) didn't play like a side that had won just three games — that was a high-quality game."
JADE RAWLINGS (Richmond)
"I spoke to the group at three-quarter-time, asked them in the face of adversity what sort of performance they could put out. I was extremely pleased with how they ran it out."
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