AFL Report Card: Round 8Will Faulkner, Ben Cotton, Catherine Healey, Ben Waterworth
Foxsports
5 May 2025RICHMONDIn fairness, the 65-point loss to Hawthorn on Sunday went about as expected, but it still wasn’t a great showing. The positives? They were able to prevent the Hawks from deploying slingshot football in it’s optimal form. “We didn’t see as much end-to-end play that we might normally see from Hawthorn, so that’s credit to Richmond,” Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley said on Fox Footy during the match. “Their energy’s been great, they’ve had 18 front-half turnovers (but) they just haven’t been able to get bang for buck.” Bigger picture, their tough task over the weekend will hopefully serve them well for a very winnable date with West Coast next round that would take them to three wins from their first nine games… not bad for all the pre-season talk!
In the votesThere won’t be any Tigers who poll come Brownlow night from this match, but former Giants duo Jacob Hopper (28 disposals, five clearances, one goal assist) and Tim Taranto (26 disposals, eight tackles, five inside 50s) kept themselves busy around the ground. Down back, Luke Trainor (21 disposals — 90.5 per cent efficiency, eight marks) continued his upwards trajectory in just his eighth AFL game.
Room for improvementRichmond actually led the inside 50 count at quarter time 16-10, but it all went downhill from there. The Hawks managed 117 more disposals, 33 more contested possessions, 26 more marks, nine more inside 50s and seven more clearances. Additionally, they had 11 more turnovers — despite having significantly less of the Sherrin. Given Hawthorn are touted a genuine premiership chance, this could’ve ended much worse for Adem Yze’s side, but it was still a tough watch for the vast majority of the match.
GradeD-
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