Richmond vs St Kilda @ Etihad, Round 18, 2018

[one-eyed]

AFL Round 18

St Kilda vs RICHMOND

Friday night, 20th July @ Etihad Stadium

Start time: 7:50 pm


Odds: (Crownbet)
Richmond   $1.10
St Kilda      $7.00

http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/18/stk-v-rich

[pmac21]

8 point game

[one-eyed]

Road rumblings see Tigers take 'away' attitude to Etihad clash with Saints

Anthony Colangelo
The Age
16 July 2018

The issue of Richmond's away form won't go away after Tigers stars were forced to defend their side's interstate record again on Monday.

Richmond lost to GWS at Spotless Stadium on Saturday night, their fourth loss on the road in 2018.

At their MCG home the Tigers have won 17 consecutive games and if they win at the famous ground in round 19 against Collingwood they will set a new record for a winning streak at the ground.

However, first they must win another "away" game at Etihad Stadium against St Kilda on Friday. Sure, it isn't being played interstate, but Tigers forward Jack Riewoldt was happy to address it as an "away" clash given how infrequently they play at Docklands.

"They [St Kilda] are a form side of the competition,"Riewoldt told supporters on Monday.  "We are playing at a ground that we don't play a lot at here at Etihad Stadium and we are looking forward to the challenge.

"I think we are excited about playing here. It's good to play away from home. A lot will be made of the fact we haven't won away this year but we have played some pretty handy sides and pretty strong venues ... we know that we are playing a pretty good brand of footy. We are excited about where we are at but we know we have got so much room for improvement.

His teammate David Astbury was asked about his club's away form too.

"That wasn't a predictable question," Astbury joked. "It's just a fair bit of hype that we try to shut out. As Jack mentioned we have played quality sides interstate and we really respect them but you look at our group we take on any challenge, if you ask a lot of guys in the playing group they probably want to play interstate more to prove a point at the end of the year. We are happy with our record, it sits with the best in the AFL."

The Tigers have played at Etihad Stadium twice in 2018 and have won both matches. The first, against North Melbourne, they probably should have lost but Kangaroos forward Ben Brown wasted late opportunities on goal. The second was a typical Tigers' win against Sydney where they steam-rolled the Swans in a final quarter burst.

Friday night's round 18 game against a resurgent Saints will be the third annual "Maddie's Match" which raises funds for Maddie Riewoldt's Vision. Nick Riewoldt's sister and Jack Riewoldt's cousin Maddie died in early 2015 due to aplastic anaemia, a disorder that impacts bone marrow and blood cell production.

The Riewoldt family established the foundation to raise funds for a cure, and they are hoping to generate $300,000 in donations from Friday's game.

"The first two instalments of Maddie's Match were actually the largest attended games at Etihad for the year," Nick Riewoldt said on Monday, "It's well set up for a great game of footy and a great platform to make a significant difference for bone marrow failures in Australia."

St Kilda have won three of their past four games and smashed Richmond by 67-points in the 2017 editon of Maddie's Match, despite the Tigers going onto win the premiership that year.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/road-rumblings-see-tigers-take-away-attitude-to-etihad-clash-with-saints-20180716-p4zrs6.html

[one-eyed]

The AFL website is tipping us to win by around 6 goals.


Match preview: St Kilda v Richmond

Dinny Navaratnam
afl.com.au
Jul 16, 2018 5:09PM

SUMMARY

This Richmond side isn't accustomed to losing and after a tight contest with Greater Western Sydney last week, it will be confident about beating St Kilda. That's fair, considering the Saints' struggles this season, but they have looked better in recent weeks. Jack Steven is in impressive form, Seb Ross will return from gastro while Jade Gresham will be hoping to repeat his feats from last time he faced the Tigers, when he bagged six goals. Richmond is a proud team though and its ultra-impressive backline will be determined to ensure that Gresham doesn’t get loose again. The midfield battle should give Damien Hardwick's outfit an edge. Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin and Shane Edwards headline the onball division, with plenty of other reinforcements running through there. Meanwhile, St Kilda big man Tom Hickey will face a tough challenge when he comes up against Toby Nankervis. The Saints have chopped and changed their ruckmen this year, so Hickey will want to make the spot his own.

WHERE AND WHEN: Etihad Stadium, Friday, July 20, 7.50PM AEST

LAST FIVE TIMES
R10, 2018, Richmond 15.15 (105) d St Kilda 12.5 (77) at the MCG
R23, 2017, Richmond 19.8 (122) d St Kilda 12.9 (81) at the MCG
R16, 2017, St Kilda 21.12 (138) d Richmond 10.11 (71) at Etihad Stadium
R22, 2016, St Kilda 7.13 (55) d Richmond 6.10 (46) at the MCG
R16, 2015, Richmond 13.11 (89) d St Kilda 10.13 (73) at Etihad Stadium

THE SIX POINTS
1. The Saints led by 12 points midway through the third term earlier this season before Richmond kicked nine of the last 13 goals. Josh Caddy booted six for the Tigers.

2. St Kilda is ranked third for disposals per game with 389.4. In contrast, Richmond is ranked 14th, averaging 367.9.

3. The Tigers have dominated St Kilda recently, winning eight of the past 10 contests. That came after the Saints had 10 wins from 11 games in 2005-11.

4. Richmond is one of the best defensive teams this season, conceding only 71 points per match, and have given up 100 in a game only twice. St Kilda has given up 94 points per match.

5. Richmond hasn't lost consecutive games since rounds eight and nine last season, while St Kilda will be looking for successive wins for just the second time this year.

6. Shane Edwards has been a big riser for the Tigers in the Schick AFL Player Ratings, going up from No.57 at the start of the season to No.27 ahead of the clash with the Saints.

IT'S A BIG WEEK FOR… Jack Steele.
He's been playing the run-with role in recent weeks and an assignment on Dustin Martin could be coming his way.


PREDICTION: Richmond by 37 points.


http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-07-16/match-preview-st-kilda-v-richmond

[wayne]

Crunch ball game

[pmac21]

I think we should come out all guns blazing and put them away early.  Tackle hard and they will drop their heads.  Give them a sniff and they are dangerous.  Swans beat them by 70 points at Etihad 6 weeks ago. 

[one-eyed]

Bad memories: Tigers revisit Saints' horror show

Michael Ramsey,
AAP
Jul 16, 2018 7:47PM

RICHMOND has revisited last year's nightmare loss to St Kilda in a bid to avoid being jumped by the Saints in the annual Maddie's Match.

The Tigers were powerless to stop the rampant Saints in a stunning 67-point upset at Etihad Stadium in round 17 last season.

Richmond went on to win nine of its next 10 games on the way to the flag while St Kilda faded to an 11th-placed finish.

The Tigers nonetheless need no reminding of the threat posed by the Saints ahead of Friday night's third annual Maddie's Match to raise awareness of bone marrow failure syndrome.

Maddie Riewoldt, the younger sister of Saints great Nick and cousin of Richmond forward Jack, died in 2015 aged 26.

Tigers backmen Alex Rance, Dylan Grimes and David Astbury lowered their colours during last year's game with Riewoldt, Tim Membrey and Josh Bruce, who will miss the remainder of the season with a broken leg, running riot for the Saints.

Astbury appeared alongside Bruce and the Riewoldts at a promotional event on Monday and admitted the Tigers had been powerless to stop the onslaught.

"I'm sort of happy to see Joshie on crutches to be honest," Astbury joked.

"Nick gave us absolute nightmares in that game as well - we thought he was going to play for another five years after that.

"I think they were 90-something points at half-time and we felt like we'd just been chucked in a hurricane.

"We did review the game and we were just out-muscled at the contest. I think if you ask anyone at St Kilda, that's probably the best game of footy they've played for a while.

"We're hoping we don't come up against the same thing but we'll be prepared for it and we hope that we give the fans a better showing than we did last time."

The Tigers have remained a force to be reckoned with this season and sit top of the ladder with six rounds remaining.

St Kilda is stuck in the bottom four but has looked much-improved over the past month, winning three of its past four games.

"I think it's probably more of an attitudinal type of thing," Bruce said of the Saints' turnaround.

"I think we went away from our one-wood which is our pressure and our ferocious tackling intensity. We've been really focusing on that and reviewing that really strongly at training and at games so I think that'll be the main difference."


Josh Bruce, Jack Riewoldt, Nick Riewoldt and David Astbury pose for a photograph with Maddie's Vision hero Elliot Vanderland.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-07-16/tigers-revisit-saints-horror-show

[Lebowski]

Danger game for mine. Saints are a different side to earlier in the season and have found a bit of
Confidence.

[wayne]

Danger game for mine. Saints are a different side to earlier in the season and have found a bit of
Confidence.

They nearly beat us earlier in the year.

Definite danger game.

[sugark]

Danger game for mine. Saints are a different side to earlier in the season and have found a bit of
Confidence.

They nearly beat us earlier in the year.

Definite danger game.

Not so sure they nearly beat us, 30 scoring shots to 17 suggested that we should have won by 8 or 9 instead of 5

[pmac21]

Real powerhouse teams win these games by 8 goals plus. Be interesting to see what attitude we take into this game. 
To be honest they should get nowhere near us.

[Lebowski]

Danger game for mine. Saints are a different side to earlier in the season and have found a bit of
Confidence.

They nearly beat us earlier in the year.

Definite danger game.

Not so sure they nearly beat us, 30 scoring shots to 17 suggested that we should have won by 8 or 9 instead of 5

regardless of the scoring shots, when they hit the lead by 13 points it really looked like theyd beat us, thankfully we clicked into gear and ran all over them.

We really need to do something about our easy misses at goal, its keeping sides in the contest a lot longer than they should be

[Dougeytherichmondfan]

Danger game for mine. Saints are a different side to earlier in the season and have found a bit of
Confidence.

They nearly beat us earlier in the year.

Definite danger game.

My feelings as well.

Although, I didn't think they were that great against Carlton. The scum are just that bad IMO. Might even help us, they may as well have had a week off.

[Slipper]

$7.00 for the Saints.

Crazy!

[Chuck17]

100+ win

Just like last year we are going to up the ante on our run home

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