Media articles & Stats: Tigers in post-siren thriller over Demons

[one-eyed]

Tigers in post-siren thriller
By Jennifer Witham 3:47 PM Sun 02 August, 2009

RICHMOND midfielder Jordan McMahon has kicked an after-the-siren goal to seal a thrilling four-point win over Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers, who trailed by two points with just under three minutes to play after Ricky Petterd pinched the lead, won 12.14 (86) to 12.10 (82) after McMahon marked 45m out, almost directly in front, as the siren sounded.

The former Bulldog received the ball from Richard Tambling, before sinking his only goal for the day to steal the win from the Demons after a see-sawing contest.

Every Tiger on the field ran to McMahon after he nailed the goal, while Melbourne players sunk to the ground in disbelief after falling painstakingly short of claiming their fourth win.

Ben Cousins had 27 touches in another impressive outing, Brett Deledio gathered 24 and kicked two goals, while Daniel Jackson had 22 disposals.

McMahon had 23 touches and of course, one goal, while Nathan Brown was lively with three majors.

For Melbourne, James McDonald was best with 28 touches. Cameron Bruce collected 25 disposals, while Matthew Bate was solid up forward and Petterd (25 disposals, two goals) also played well.

It took over nine minutes for the first score in the opening stanza. It eventually went the way of Richmond after Mitch Morton marked and played on to slot his first six-pointer of the afternoon.

Melbourne responded through Neville Jetta, and after some inaccuracy from Jack Riewoldt cost the Tigers their second, Lynden Dunn gave the Demons the lead with a straight kick on the run.

The Tigers had four more opportunities to forge ahead as the term wound down, but managed just four behinds as they whittled the Demons' quarter-time lead down to one point.

It took just 50 seconds for Morton to get the Tigers' first in the second quarter, which was the only goal for seven minutes.

Bate kicked the next after a spate of points to keep the Demons in touch but again, shoddy kicking from both sides kept the match's scoreline moving slowly.

Richmond grabbed two unanswered to move out to an 11-point lead – the second of which came after Cousins cleverly delivered to Brown in the pocket – before Melbourne's Michael Newton kicked a major shortly before the siren.

The half-time difference was five points to Richmond, with Cousins and Jackson highly prolific and Jake King on top of Aaron Davey.

Melbourne opened up in a lively fashion in the third term and nailed two of the first three goals through Brad Miller and Davey – who upped his work rate considerably – before Dean Bailey began to trial some new moves.

He sent defenders Matthew Warnock and James Frawley into attack, and had Miller – at 194cm – pinch-hitting in the ruck.

Dunn provided the other big highlight of the quarter when he snuck a right-foot checkside through from the boundary line to put the Demons nine points clear.

The Tigers clawed back the margin to three points at the final change and drew first blood in the final quarter. Brown kicked the first after beating his opponent – ruckman Paul Johnson – before Tom Hislop was gifted a goal when Jared Rivers fumbled on the goal line.

Melbourne hit back through Nathan Jones, who marked and converted at the 11-minute mark before Miller snared his second six minutes later to regain the Demons' advantage.

Brown and Deledio goaled but the Demons came again through Grimes and Petterd, before McMahon snared the sealer.
 
Both sides have six-day breaks before they face their next opponents, with Melbourne to play North Melbourne at Docklands and Richmond to face the Sydney Swans at the MCG next Sunday.

Melbourne  2.0  4.3  8.7  12.10 (82)
Richmond  1.5  4.8  7.10  12.14 (86)

GOALS
Melbourne: Dunn 2, Miller 2, Petterd 2, Jetta, Bate, Newton, Davey, Jones, Grimes
Richmond: Brown 3, Morton 2, Deledio 2, Vickery, Nahas, Riewoldt, Hislop, McMahon

BEST
Melbourne: McDonald, Bate, Petterd, Whelan, Bruce, Grimes
Richmond: Deledio, Jackson, Brown, Cousins, Edwards, King, McMahon

INJURIES
Melbourne: Morton (illness) replaced in selected side by Spencer, Bennell (knee), Martin (corked calf), Whelan (foot)
Richmond: Nil

REPORTS
King (Richmond) reported by umpire James for wrestling Davey (Melbourne) in the first quarter
Davey (Melbourne) reported by umpire James for wrestling King (Richmond) in the first quarter

Umpires: Farmer, James, Keating
Official crowd: 37,438 at the MCG

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/81860/default.aspx

[one-eyed]

Jordan McMahon wins the game for Richmond in last kick
AAP | August 02, 2009

JORDAN McMahon has won the match for Richmond by four points in the last kick of the game after the siren at the MCG.

McMahon kicked truly from 45 metres right in front after marking a centred pass from teammate Richard Tambling just seconds before the final siren.

His goal earned the Tigers a 12.14 (86) to 12.10 (82) victory, their fifth of the season and their second in succession, following their draw with North Melbourne in round 16.

The post-siren win was the second in the competition in as many rounds, after Geelong's Jimmy Bartel kicked a behind to sink Hawthorn last weekend.

Richmond looked to have the game in their keeping when they led by 11 points entering time-on in the last quarter, when Brett Deledio kicked truly.

But the Demons rallied late through two great goals, one to youngster Jack Grimes, who marked a kick-in and turned around and goaled, and another to Ricky Petterd, who pounced on a thump forward from Clint Bartram.

That goal put Melbourne two points up with 100 seconds remaining, but Richmond went forward along the boundary with the last play, and Tambling had the poise to find a teammate just before fulltime.

McMahon's kick rescued a poor individual performance, as he earlier missed two easy attempts when running into open goals.

The result had no bearing on the top eight, as it kept the Tigers in 12th spot and Melbourne last.
Richmond's best included midfielders Deledio, Tambling and Ben Cousins, defenders Will Thursfield and Luke McGuane and Nathan Brown, who booted three goals.

Melbourne's best James McDonald, Aaron Davey, Grimes and Lynden Dunn, who rolled through a miracle goal from deep in the pocket in the third quarter. 

Best:
Richmond: B Deledio B Cousins N Brown W Thursfield M Morton L McGuane R Tambling.
Melbourne: A Davey J McDonald J Grimes M Bate K Cheney C Bruce R Petterd.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25870857-19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Team Stats

Disposals:         360 - 343
Efficiency%:        70 - 70
Kicks:               180 - 201
Handballs:         180 - 142
Con. Marks:          6 - 6
Uncon. Marks:     82 - 94
Tackles:              62 - 71
Clearances:         36 - 28
Clangers:            44 - 41
Hitouts:              26 - 37  ( Pattison 14, Vickery 9 // Spencer 20, Martin 9, Johnson 5 )
Frees:                17 - 20
Con. Possies:    119 - 100
Uncon.Possies:  242 - 242
Inside 50s:         53 - 47
Assists:             22 - 13


Individual Stats

player D EFF% K H G B CM UM T CL C SC SCA

Cousins, B     27   67 13 14 0 1 0   1 5 5 2 
Deledio, B      24   50 11 13 2 1 1   3 6 2 3 
McMahon, J    23   48 14   9 1 2 0   6 2 4 3 
Jackson, D     22   68 12 10 0 0 0   6 3 2 4 
Tambling, R    22   64 11 11 0 1 0   3 4 2 2 
Brown, N        21   81 10 11 3 0 0   5 3 1 1 
King, J           20   75   8 12 0 0 0   6 2 2 5 
Morton, M      20   55 11   9 2 2 0   5 1 1 4 
Newman, C    20   95   9 11 0 0 0   0 3 3 0 
McGuane, L    16   63 10   6 0 0 0 10 3 0 2   
Cotchin, T      15   87   5 10 0 0 0   1 1 2 1 
Pattison, A     15   73   3 12 0 0 0   5 3 1 1 
White, M        15   80   5 10 0 0 0   1 6 2 4 
Edwards, S    14   79   7   7 0 1 2   0 0 1 2 
Polo, D          14   79 11   3 0 0 2   4 1 2 1 
Hislop, T        12   67   9   3 1 0 0   4 4 2 2 
Nahas, R        12   50   8   4 1 2 0   4 6 2 2 
Post, J           12   75   6   6 0 1 0   4 1 1 0 
Riewoldt, J     11   55   8   3 1 2 0   5 1 0 3 
Moore, K       10   90   3   7 0 1 0   4 6 0 0 
Thursfield, W   9   89   5   4 0 0 1   4 0 0 1 
Vickery, T        6 100   1   5 1 0 0   1 1 1 1

player         FF FA CP UP I50 A 
   
Cousins, B   1 0 10 17 4 1   
Deledio, B    0 0   9 15 5 1   
McMahon, J  0 0   5 17 7 1   
Jackson, D   2 2   4 19 3 0   
Tambling, R 1 2   8 14 5 3   
Brown, N     0 1   5 16 0 3   
King, J         1 4   9 11 4 2   
Morton, M    0 1   8 12 3 1   
Newman, C  1 0   9 10 4 2   
McGuane, L  0 2   2 14 0 0   
Cotchin, T    3 0 10   8 2 0   
Pattison, A   2 0   4 11 0 0   
White, M      0 4   5 10 3 0   
Edwards, S   0 0  5   9 2 3   
Polo, D         1 0  6   8 1 0   
Hislop, T       1 0  4   9 4 3   
Nahas, R       1 2  3   8 3 1   
Post, J          1 0  3   9 0 0   
Riewoldt, J     1 0  4  7 3 1   
Moore, K       1 0  3  6 0 0   
Thursfield, W 0 1  1  8 0 0   
Vickery, T      0 1  2  4 0 0 

http://superstats.heraldsun.com.au/gamestatslive/5015572.html

[one-eyed]

Experimental game won with late priority kick
Jake Niall | August 3, 2009

FORWARDS played back, and backs played forward for Melbourne. But in a strange, low-standard game between ordinary teams, the most significant oddity was the last kick.

Jordan McMahon, who was credited with 10 ineffective kicks from a tally of 14, nailed a set shot after the siren from 45 metres.

At one level — the shape of the ladder and finals — there was absolutely nothing riding on McMahon’s left foot. But in terms of draft picks and the tanking debate, McMahon’s kick was highly significant.

One suspects that AFL boss Andrew Demetriou would have been willing McMahon to miss; for if the Dees snatched victory, with only 19 fit men, coming from two kicks behind in time-on, against a team rated slightly better, then Demetriou would be able to seize upon the result to back up his public statements that there was no thing as tanking.

Combine a Melbourne win with West Coast’s upset over Essendon, and the mute button would be pressed on those voices railing against Demetriou’s priority picks.

Regardless of how ambivalent the Melbourne Football Club administration and football department feels about the prospect of winning more than four games, the players who wore red and blue yesterday seemed more committed than their Tiger counterparts.

Questions were asked of Demon coach Dean Bailey, about what he called ‘‘experimentation’’ in positioning — especially the placement of the lumbering Paul Johnson at full-back for much of the game, on Jack Riewoldt and briefly Nathan Brown, while defenders Matthew Warnock and James Frawley were sent forward, where they are seldom seen.

It says something about the state of Melbourne’s forward line this year that the Dees didn’t lose anything at all with Warnock and Frawley deployed in attack.

The Demons had often seemed likely to be overwhelmed in the second half, given the limitations imposed upon them by injuries to Matthew Whelan (planta facia), Stefan Martin (corked calf) and Jamie Bennell (medial strain); ultimately, Whelan would be brought back on in the last quarter to stand limply in the forward line.

The Demon defiance was led by their bravest — skipper James McDonald, the improving Ricky Petterd, with Nathan Jones and Jack Grimes providing sturdy support.

During the back-end of time-on, the Demons booted two magnificent goals — one to Jack Grimes from an interception, then a beautiful finish by Ricky Petterd with one minute 40 seconds left — only to be denied by McMahon, who was found by Richard Tambling in a squared kick from near the boundary.

The Tigers won, thanks to McMahon leaving his straightest kick to last, but as their normally upbeat coach Jade Rawlings indicated, this was not a victory to get excited about.

They prevailed, too, because of the class of Ben Cousins and Brett Deledio (the former’s hard running an example to the latter), the competency of Nathan Brown and Chris Newman and the efforts of battling Jake King, whose serial pest tag on Aaron Davey was the most interesting subplot within the game.

Richmond stank for large parts of the game, but remained ahead — or just behind — because of the similar ineptitude of the Demons, who fielded a team that possibly had more key components missing than did the Tigers.

Tanking speculation aside, the upshot was that the frenetic final few minutes salvaged one of the season’s worst standard games.

RICHMOND - 1.5 4.8 7.10 12.14 (86)
MELBOURNE - 2.0 4.3 8.7 12.10 (82)

GOALS -
Richmond: Brown 3, Deledio 2, Morton 2, McMahon, Riewoldt, Nahas, Hislop, Vickery.
Melbourne: Miller 2, Dunn 2, Petterd 2, Davey, Grimes, Bate, Newton, Jetta, Jones.

BEST -
Richmond: Cousins, Deledio, King, Jackson, Brown, Newman.
Melbourne: McDonald, Petterd, Jones, Grimes, Bate, Dunn.

INJURIES -
Richmond: Riewoldt (concussion).
Melbourne: Bennell (knee), Whelan (foot), Martin (corked calf); Morton (heel) replaced in selected side by Spencer.

REPORTS -
Richmond: King by umpire James for wrestling Davey in first quarter.
Melbourne: Davey for wrestling King.

UMPIRES: Keating, James, Farmer.

CROWD: 37,438 at MCG.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfmatchreport/game-won-with-late-priority-kick/2009/08/02/1249152508051.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[one-eyed]

Richmond Tiger's siren song as Jordan McMahon kicks winning goal
Mark Robinson | August 03, 2009

RICHMOND whipping boy Jordan McMahon whipped fans into a frenzy with a goal after the siren to snatch a four-point victory at the MCG.

As the Demons heavily experimented with positional placement - something Richmond players mockingly acknowledged after the game - McMahon turned an ugly afternoon into a lifelong memory.

He marked a Richard Tambling pass and slotted home a drop punt from 45m, slightly left of centre at the Punt Rd end, to seal the 12.14 (86) to 12.10 (82) win.

McMahon said he was confident, as did coach Jade Rawlings, although 10 of the Tiger's 14 kicks yesterday didn't find their intended target, including two soda shots at goal.

"You dream about it as a kid, you know, the goal after the siren to win a game, and I guess it came true," McMahon said.

"I didn't notice the breeze; it was really straight, it didn't move too much and the closer it got to goal the happier I was.

"To be honest, the emotion afterwards felt really good. It was very much relief and that's when it sunk in, the fact I had kicked the goal."

McMahon said he heard the siren moments after he marked, soon followed by a few choice words from Melbourne's Brad Miller.

"It wasn't that constructive advice," McMahon said.

He didn't panic.

"I just thought this was an opportunity to kick a goal after my two mistakes early on, so I tried to put it aside that . . . I could win the game."

As for the critics, McMahon declined to trade volleys.

"I haven't take a huge amount of notice of the criticism, and maybe even the positives, but I'm basically doing what Jade is telling me to do now.

"We've got a pretty good regime going with how he's running the club."

Richmond had led by 11 points in time-on of the last quarter, only for the Demons to snatch back what seemed a matchwinning lead through goals to Jack Grimes and Ricky Petterd. Enter McMahon.

In the coach's box, Rawlings had mixed feelings. His team had played poorly, he was presented with a topsy-turvy Melbourne team, and defeat was barely avoided in the most exciting of circumstances.

"Jordan McMahon having the courage to go back and kick the goal was excellent. I thought he was close to our best player," Rawlings said.

"I thought we were gone. Tambling had some good composure to get it to McMahon, but we did everything we could to make it harder for us.

"I was confident, I stood up, I backed him in. He's a good kick, even though a few times today he made some bad decisions, but 40 out, right in front I reckon he's pretty reliable."

Demons coach Dean Bailey, who conceded that he heavily experimented with his team's composition, said: "With five or six seconds to go I got up, I thought we had won the game. I heard the roar and McMahon's kicked the goal.

"(When) I walked out we had won the footy game . . . it's not often you get beaten with three or four seconds to go.

"I haven't been on the ground for a long time, but if we had won the game, it would've been nice to go out there."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25873280-19742,00.html