Tiges vs Eagles game articles

[one-eyed]

Gritty Tigers drop a thriller
5:13:31 PM Sat 4 June, 2005
Paul Gough
Exclusive to afl.com.au

The West Coast Eagles have taken a giant step towards securing a top two finish and the prospect of two home finals in September after a thrilling two-point win over a courageous Richmond at the MCG on Saturday.

The Eagles proved, after their recent shock loss to Collingwood in Melbourne a fortnight ago, that they can win the big games in Victoria as they held off a fast-finishing Richmond to win one of the best games of the season so far 15.15 (105) to 15.13 (103).
 
But the Tigers were magnificent in defeat and those that were predicting doom and gloom for Richmond after they lost their best player Nathan Brown to a season-ending broken leg injury last week had better think again.

And if not for a dreadful second quarter the Tigers could well have prevailed against a team that could finish this round three games clear on top of the ladder if Melbourne loses to the Kangaroos in Canberra on Sunday.

The Tigers were kept goalless in the second term as their forward line looked like it would struggle without the brilliant Brown, who was their leading goalkicker in the first 10 rounds with 34 goals.

Just three goals to the main change meant the Tigers trailed by 31 points at half-time and it seemed an insurmountable lead against a side that has lost only one game all season.

But the Tigers showed they are made of far sterner stuff these days under Wallace as they launched a brilliant second half comeback - inspired by four second half goals from Matthew Richardson and three from Kayne Pettifer.

The Tigers got to within three points at the 22 minute mark of the third term when Richardson had the chance to put his team in front for the first time and missed.

And it proved a costly miss as the Eagles then rallied to kick the last three goals of the term to go into the last change with a 20 point lead and the game seemingly back in control.

But Richmond would simply not be denied and with youngster Brett Deledio proving inspirational - his goal on the run got the Tigers back to 13 points at the 10-minute mark - the Tigers had one last surge at the visitors.

And when Richardson kicked his fourth goal of the game at the 16 minute mark they were in front for the first time and it looked like they would pull off a fairytale win first-up without Brown.

But the Eagles, who had won just four of their past 17 games at the MCG, were simply determined not to let another game slip in Victoria and quickly hit back with a great goal from Sam Butler.

The Tigers again regained the lead through Wayne Campbell but a great snap from Phil Matera, who was superb with five goals and his performance showed just how badly the Tigers missed Brown at the other end, saw the Eagles again hit the front in a fantastic final term.

It was then the sheer class of Chris Judd again came to the fore with the reigning Brownlow Medalist kicking a great banana goal to give the Eagles a seven point lead and vital breathing space.

There was still time for Richardson to kick another to cut the margin to a point with just under two minutes remaining but the Eagles won the vital centre clearance to ensure victory and it was the Eagles dominance of that area of the game which ultimately proved the difference.

These two teams had gone into the game ranked number one and two for clearances but the top ranked Eagles smacked Richmond 37 to 21 in that area which ensured Judd (23 possessions and 11 marks), Michael Braun (27), Ben Cousins (23), Chad Fletcher (22) and Daniel Kerr (22) all had plenty of vital touches although Mark Coughlan (25 possessions) and skipper Kane Johnson (24) tried their heart out for the home side.

On top of the season-ending knee injury to gun forward/midfielder Nathan Brown, Richmond coach Wallace said the loss capped off a miserable time for the club.

"That finishes off what's been a pretty diabolical week, doesn't it?" Wallace said after the match.

"But it's a game of football and they're won and they're lost and they're won and lost in some amazing ways at times and unfortunately it was very, very frustrating for our supporters to get that close and not get a result."

RICHMOND: 3.4 3.7 8.10 15.13 (103)
WEST COAST: 5.3 8.8 11.12 15.15 (105)
GOALS - Richmond: Richardson 5, Pettifer 3, Campbell 2, Coughlan, Deledio, Hilton, Johnson, Krakouer
West Coast: Matera 5, Judd 3, Edwards 2, Butler, Chick, Kerr, Lynch, Seaby
BEST - Richmond: Richardson, Tuck, Coughlan, Johnson, Deledio, Bowden, Kellaway
West Coast: Judd, Matera, Cousins, Braun, A.Embley, Fletcher, Edwards
INJURIES - Richmond: Nil
West Coast: Nil
CHANGES - Richmond: Nil
West Coast: Nil
REPORTS - Richmond Nil
West Coast: Nil
UMPIRES - McBurney, Head, Hendrie
CROWD - 31,704 at the MCG.

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=207252

[one-eyed]

Structure, not ankle sidelines Stafford
6:28:54 PM Sat 4 June, 2005
Matt Burgan
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au

Richmond coach Terry Wallace has said the limited time on the ground from ruckman/forward Greg Stafford in the Tigers two-point loss to West Coast at the MCG on Saturday was not due to an ankle injury.

Wallace said Stafford, who missed three matches from rounds eight to 10, spent time on the pine - and just nine minutes on the ground - simply because of match-ups and not because of his injury.
 
"It wasn't that. We put him down there (up forward) and I just thought the way the game was and the way that we were delivering the ball and the way the ball entry was going at that stage, I just thought that we looked too top heavy early down that end of the ground," Wallace said after the match.

"I thought when we re-jigged ourselves and played a smaller forward line, it probably worked better for us. It's week-in-week-out and you never know.

"I think it's just horses for courses and what's happening during each game and how you're playing it - it's nothing against Stafford, but it was just those were the circumstances of the day."

Wallace said the dramatic loss capped off a miserable week for the club.

"That finishes off what's been a pretty diabolical week, doesn't it?" Wallace said.

"If you're looking at positives in any sense - and I find it very difficult to get positives when you get beaten - but when we've played top four sides over the last 10 weeks, we haven't been able to be competitive against top four sides and it looked, at one stage, like that was going to be the case again today.

"But we were able to turn that around and really work it right to the line and it would've been just very nice to win in that situation, but we've won close games in the early part of the season, so you know that if you keep playing in them, you're going to fall over eventually somewhere along the line."

Despite a goalless second term, Wallace said he didn't perceive the game to be over at half-time.

"We honestly thought at half-time we were a chance," Wallace said.

"In the long run, it was the fact that we only kicked three goals in the first half that probably hurt us and as a side that wants to hit the scoreboard regularly - three goals is just unacceptable in a half of footy."

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=207253