Media articles & stats: Tigers into another GF with comeback win over Cats

[one-eyed]

Yellow and back: Tigers into another GF with comeback win over Cats

AFL.com.au
Riley Beveridge
Sep 20, 2019 10:23PM

RICHMOND     3.3     4.5     9.7      12.13 (85)
GEELONG        4.3     7.8     8.9        9.12 (66)

GOALS
Richmond: Lynch 5, Martin 2, Castagna 2, Prestia 2, Lambert
Geelong: Kelly 3, Miers 2, Ablett, Narkle, Dangerfield, Henderson

BEST
Richmond: Lynch, Houli, Prestia, Martin, Edwards, Cotchin, Ellis
Geelong: Kelly, Selwood, Dangerfield, O'Connor, Stanley, Miers, Tuohy

Fans' Best on Ground, in partnership with Google: Dustin Martin

INJURIES
Richmond: Graham (shoulder), Broad (concussion)
Geelong: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Nicholls, Chamberlain, Ryan

Official crowd: 94,423 at the MCG

----------------------------------------------------

THERE it was.

For 60 minutes, it had been unlike Richmond. Nervous, scrambled and stagnant.

Then it turned.

Trent Cotchin laid a tackle, Dion Prestia delivered a precise pass and Tom Lynch did the rest.

Eyes on the prize: Brandon Ellis and Dylan Grimes want more silverware. Picture: AFL Photos

It took just 40 seconds of the second half to elapse, but the Tigers had found their mojo.

Five straight goals to begin the third term – sparked by Lynch's dominance in the forward line – laid the foundations for their 19-point preliminary final victory over Geelong.

They also laid to rest any lingering feelings of 2018 regret for Richmond.

Flashbacks of this very same occasion one year ago would have undoubtedly crept into the minds of Tigers players and fans when they found themselves 21 points down at half-time.

The raging premiership favourite looked destined to again fall at the penultimate weekend.

Geelong had done everything right. It had replicated Collingwood's thought, intent and execution of preliminary final night a year ago to stop the swell of momentum in its tracks.

It just couldn't withstand the wave of Tiger attacks for long enough.

From that moment on, it was the Tigers' spot in the Grand Final to grasp. And unlike last year, grasp it they did – easing to a nervous, yet rapturous 12.13 (85) to 9.12 (66) win.

Lynch was key to it all. His arrival at Punt Road as last season's most high-profile free agent seemed destined to bring Richmond more premiership success. Next week, he'll now get the opportunity to make that picture many Tigers fans dreamed of 12 months ago a reality.

His five goals on Friday night came from 19 disposals and 10 marks in an emphatic performance that also featured 12 score involvements and four strong contested grabs.

He kept Richmond in it when Geelong stormed clear and reaped the late benefits.

Bachar Houli (32 disposals, 11 marks) was also a classy contributor, while Prestia (28 disposals, two goals) was the man to spark things from the centre after half-time.

Geelong's first-half dominance had been conjured via the remarkable skill of Tim Kelly.

The subject of ongoing trade speculation, Kelly was determined for Friday night to not be his last in a Cats jumper, kicking three goals from 31 disposals in an influential display.

But the relentless and holistic nature of Richmond's pressure around the ball, its run off half-back and its strength up forward was enough to overwhelm his Cats counterparts.

This had been bound to be a nailbiter from the moment the two sides entered the arena.

The roar of Richmond's arrival would have been enough to send shivers down Geelong spines. It meant the popular belief resonating around a packed MCG was that it would be pivotally important for the Cats to therefore weather the impending Tiger storm.

Rather, they stoked the flames.

Gary Ablett kicked the game's first, Richmond responded with three in three minutes, Kelly answered back, then Gryan Miers chimed in to give Geelong the ascendency.

Having announced himself with a seven-goal haul for the Geelong Falcons in a TAC Cup Grand Final nearly two years ago to the day, Miers followed through on his junior reputation as a big-game player with seven disposals and two late goals to quarter-time alone.

It added to a pulsating, gripping and thoroughly entertaining quarter of football.

A solitary kick in front at the first change, the Cats sought to quickly extend their advantage.

Kelly continued to stamp his authority on the contest, kicking a brilliant second goal, before Quinton Narkle was the beneficiary of some good fortune to stretch the lead further.

All the while, Tigers were dropping like flies.

Jack Graham dislocated his shoulder and spent a significant period off the field, while Dustin Martin copped a nasty corkie, before Cotchin limped off with a leg problem.

The result was a disjointed Richmond performance and a 21-point half-time deficit.

To make matters worse, a contentious 50m penalty on the stroke of the break – putting Patrick Dangerfield to the goal line – only served to enrage the Tiger faithful even more.

Richmond needed a circuit-breaker. It took just 40 second-half seconds to find it.

Cotchin's tackle, Prestia's pinpoint pass, Lynch's cool set-shot.

All of a sudden, Richmond frustration was turning into feverish determination.

The hobbled Tigers all returned to the park, Martin surged into an open goal, Jason Castagna snapped truly and Lynch shot through his fourth after another strong grab.

Within 20 minutes of the restart, Richmond had snatched the lead.

Five straight Richmond goals had threatened to break the backs of Geelong, before Lachie Henderson's goal on the stroke of three-quarter time ensured the game remained alive.

However, Kane Lambert strolling into an open goal, combined with Lynch's fifth via an uncontested mark from close-range, would have eased any Tiger nerves that had created.

Prestia's bomb moments later, his second of the night, sealed the deal.

For the second time in three seasons, Richmond will be heading to the Grand Final.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-09-20/match-report-richmond-v-geelong-preliminary-final-2019

[one-eyed]

Tigers off ropes and into grand final after thriller against Cats

Peter Ryan
The Age
21 September 2019

Richmond have consigned last year's shock loss in the preliminary final to history in a courageous second half comeback that saw them fight back off the ropes to win their way into their second grand final in three years.

The Tigers looked in enormous trouble at the long break trailing by 21 points with the Cats dominating around the ball and Patrick Dangerfield, Tim Kelly and Joel Selwood in match winning form.

But the Tigers refused to yield and came out after half time inspired to kick a goal in the first 30 seconds of the second half through their free agent acquisition Tom Lynch and regain belief.

All of a sudden Richmond won the territory battle with Bachar Houli stopping any foray forward from the Cats and  the Tigers began to gain much needed momentum.

Lynch stood tall inside their forward 50 kicking five goals and his influence only highlighted how much the Cats sorely missed suspended forward Tom Hawkins. Although his replacement Lachie Henderson did well to keep Dylan Grimes honest and bring the ball to ground he was not the presence Hawkins may have been.

With the Tigers crowd beginning to find voice the Cats suddenly became hesitant and move the ball much more slowly, allowing the Tigers to take intercept marks and score on turnover. In less than 20 minutes they took the lead for the first time for the night and were never headed again.

They kicked eight goals to two in the second half and laid to rest their demons from 2018 while the Cats were left to rue their qualifying final loss which put them in too tough a position to recover despite their brave effort.

Turnaround Tigers

At half time Richmond was staring down the barrel of a second consecutive loss in a preliminary final as they trailed Geelong by 21 points and all statistical indicators were in the Cats' favour. The Tigers threw Dustin Martin forward and hoped their midfield could win enough supply.

Dion Prestia and Shane Edwards responded in the centre and their forwards did not let them down with Tom Lynch kicking a huge goal within a minute after Prestia exited the clearance at pace.

The Tigers dominated for the next 20 minutes with the ball living in Richmond's forward half as they kicked five unanswered goals to roar into the lead finishing four points ahead at the final break having managed 19 inside 50s to Geelong's nine in the premiership quarter. By that stage Lynch had kicked four goals.

Gryan Miers threatened to become Mason Cox

The Geelong forward earned a reputation as a junior for performing in big games when he kicked seven goals in a TAC Cup Grand Final and he doubled that with a 15-minute patch either side of quarter time that changed the preliminary final's momentum.

In that period he kicked two goals and created another for Tim Kelly with a deft intercept that got the Cats rolling in the second quarter. His endurance is elite and he made the outer wing his own as he ran his Tiger opponents ragged and at half-time it looked like he might reprise last year's unlikely hero Mason Cox.

The Prestia-Lynch combination

Drafted to the Gold Coast before being recruited to the Tigers the pair become Richmond's saviours in the second half when they lifted just as their club needed them. Their combination was like Ian Stewart to Royce Hart at times as Prestia burned off his Geelong opponents and put the ball lace out to Lynch. When the kick wasn't to the leading forward he put it to his forward's advantage over the head of the desperate Geelong defender.

RICHMOND
3.3 4.5 9.7 12.13 (85)
GEELONG
4.3 7.8 8.9 9.12 (66)

GOALS - Richmond: Lynch 5, Martin 2, Prestia 2, Castagna 2, Lambert.
Geelong: Kelly 3, Miers 2, Ablett, Henderson, Dangerfield, Narkle.

BEST - Richmond: Houli, Lynch, Prestia, Martin, Castagna, Edwards, Ellis.
Geelong: Selwood, Kelly, Miers, O’Connor, Dangerfield.

INJURIES - Richmond: Broad (concussion).

UMPIRES: Ryan, Chamberlain, Nicholls.
CROWD: 94,423 at MCG.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-off-ropes-and-into-grand-final-after-thriller-against-cats-20190920-p52thr.html

[one-eyed]

Richmond can thank new favourite Sun

Jake Niall
The Age
21 September 2019

Mid-second quarter, Richmond fans were surely wondering if they were headed for a repeat of last year, when they entered the preliminary final as smoking-hot favourites and were ambushed by Collingwood.

The signs weren’t great.

At half-time, the Tigers trailed by 21 points, following a contentious 50-metre penalty to Patrick Dangerfield just before the siren, when Trent Cotchin mistakenly handed the footy to Bachar Houli.

Geelong’s first half was obviously much less of a knock-out than Collingwood’s 12 months ago, but some of the same elements were there – the Cats were winning the midfield jousts, as Joel Selwood reprised his captain’s semi-final, while the Tigers were making more than their usual quota of errors.

Perhaps the extended break – the one game in a month caused by the pre-finals siesta – impacted on Richmond’s arousal levels in early in the match, when they were dominated by Geelong in key facets, especially ground balls.

But the most troubling signs, aside from the score and patterns of play, were that neither of Richmond midfield playmakers, Dustin Martin or Cotchin, were as productive as usual, and Jack Graham had dislocated his shoulder and could barely raise that arm when he came back on. Cotchin was, at that point, restricted by an apparent knock to the shin, though he seemed to overcome that in the second half, when his attack on the ball early in the third quarter was important.

Martin wasn't as effective as he has been in every final bar last year's preliminary final. His kicking was strangely awry – missing a crucial second-quarter goal when the Tigers had a surge of entries, and botching a couple of kicks to forwards that he typically nails.

That the Tigers overcame that 21-point deficit – which was wiped off rapidly in their third-quarter surge – and won a berth in the grand final was due to a variety of players, to a lift in pressure around the ball, to the excellence of Bachar Houli in defence, to Cotchin’s leadership.

But no player in this match was more telling and towering than Richmond’s key forward and recruit Tom Lynch, whose five-goal contribution was pivotal to Richmond’s survival in a game that was close to slipping away, bearing in mind Graham’s shoulder and a concussion in the third term to Nathan Broad that ruled him out of the game and will have him doubtful for the grand final against either Collingwood or the Giants.

Indeed, should the Tigers go on to win the premiership next Saturday, the landing of Lynch, ahead of Collingwood, will represent the most important free-agent signing in the seven-year history of free agency.

As yet, none of the blockbuster signings of superstars in the past dozen years have yielded a premiership. Dangerfield, like Chris Judd and Lance Franklin and Gary Ablett (both leaving and arriving back at Geelong) have not won flags after making the big move.

Key forwards find marks hard to take and goals scarce in finals – there are so many numbers behind the ball, kicks tend to be scrambled. Lynch grabbed several in contests, out-pointing the likes of Harry Taylor. In the third quarter, he took one mark between a pair of Cat defenders.

In the opening quarter, Lynch booted two goals against the tide from strong marks, one when he edged Taylor under the ball with sufficient skill to avoid giving away a free for a push.

Gold Coast’s role in Richmond's passage to the grand final was not confined to Lynch, when you consider that Dion Prestia, too, was outstanding, surpassed only perhaps by Lynch and Houli for influence by Richmond players.

Geelong’s supremacy in the first half was based upon a significant territorial edge. They locked the ball in their attacking territory with repeat entries – the Richmond template.

In the absence of Tom Hawkins, Chris Scott deployed Lachie Henderson as a foil to Esava Ratugolea, who was lively in the opening period. But the first-half damage was on the deck, where Ablett – subdued in the first two finals – rose from his September slumber and Gryan Miers was exceptional, booting two goals.

The Scott strategy was clear – get the ball to ground in the attacking territory, preferably deep. It didn’t matter that there were few marks taken. The ground-ball victories were sufficient to build a lead that would prove insufficient, as the Tigers owned the second half.

The Cats didn’t have enough legs, talent or belief.

And, without Hawkins, they had no one of Lynch’s ilk.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-can-thank-new-favourite-sun-20190920-p52ti5.html