Media articles and stats - Richardson kicks nine to guide Tigers home

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Richardson kicks nine to guide Tigers home
26 August 2006   
Herald-Sun
AAP

SOME call Matthew Richardson a flawed genius. But it was Essendon that was left floored by the Richmond spearhead's genius tonight - Richardson proving the difference with a nine-goal haul in the Tigers' 16-point AFL victory at the MCG.
 
Richardson was at his brilliant best, with 19 marks - nine contested - in a best-on-ground performance to steer his side home 20.9 (129) to 16.17 (113) against a dogged Bombers side.

The 15th placed Bombers powered back from 28 points down early in the second term to push the Tigers all the way.

But while Essendon matched Richmond virtually everywhere else, it had no answer to Richardson, who kicked 9.5 and gathered 24 touches.

He monstered young opponent Kepler Bradley, kicking four goals to quarter-time and six by the main break.

Despite looking in trouble early in the second quarter, Essendon threw numbers forward midway through the term and it paid off with a six-goal quarter as they closed to within a point of the Tigers at halftime.

Bombers veteran James Hird was outstanding with 17 first-half touches as his side dominated the centre clearances.

Richmond led by nine points at three-quarter-time and Hird reduced the deficit to three points with the opening goal of the final term.

But Richardson booted his eighth soon after, with the Tigers putting the issue beyond doubt midway through the final term with three straight goals from the 15-minute mark.

First Kayne Pettifer and Troy Simmonds goaled to push the lead out to 18 points, before Essendon defender Mark Bolton made a horrible clanger, kicking across goal in defence straight to Richmond's Kane Johnson.

Johnson goaled to give the Tigers an unassailable lead.

Richardson fittingly capped the match with his ninth goal after the siren.

Bombers utility Dean Rioli kicked a goal in his 100th and last AFL game for the Bombers tonight after announcing on Friday he would retire because of a chronic knee injury which has dogged him in recent seasons.

The Bombers remain within sight of their first wooden spoon in more than 70 years after tonight's loss.

They are currently ahead of bottom-placed Carlton on percentage - both sides with three wins and a draw this year.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20265016%255E19771,00.html

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Tigers fight off Dons
Martin Boulton at the MCG
The Age
August 27, 2006
 
RICHMOND  5.2  10.3  14.8    20.9 (129)
ESSENDON   3.5   9.8  12.11  16.17 (113)

Goals:
Richmond: M Richardson 9 K Pettifer 3 T Simmonds 2 C Howat K Johnson A Krakouer A Pattison J Schulz R Tambling.
Essendon: S Lucas 4 J Hird 2 M Johnson 2 N Lovett-Murray 2 R Dyson C Johns M McVeigh D Peverill D Rioli B Stanton.

Best: Richmond: M Richardson J Bowden M Chaffey T Simmonds M White K Pettifer.
Essendon: D Peverill J Hird S Lucas N Lovett-Murray B Stanton M Johnson.

Injuries: Richmond: Nil. Essendon: D Rioli (wrist) .

Reports: R Hall (Richmond) reported for charging D Peverill (Essendon) in the second quarter.

Umpires: M Head C Hendrie S McInerney.
Official Crowd: 48,710 at MCG.

JUST when you think two football clubs are wrapping up their seasons, they put on a display that was a sight for sore eyes.

Tiger forward Matthew Richardson kicked nine goals to lead his side to a stirring 16-point victory in front of 48,000 supporters, while Essendon's Dean Rioli kicked one goal in his farewell game.

Richardson dominated the opening term with four goals and was well fed by fleet-footed teammates, including Andrew Raines, who started on Rioli.

Rioli led the team out before his 100th match and won the toss of the coin. He picked up a couple of touches early but was taken off with eight minutes left in the first term.

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy used the bench sparingly in the first quarter, making only two changes compared with the Tigers' 11.

From the opening bounce, the Tigers moved the ball quickly and cleanly, while the Bombers looked tentative. Jay Schulz opened the Tigers' account with a goal inside the first minute after the Bowden brothers, Joel and Patrick, had worked the ball forward with ease.

Courtney Johns answered for the Bombers, then Richardson stepped up with his first goal and followed that up two minutes later with his second.

His opponent, Kepler Bradley, looked frustrated; after one mark taken by Richardson, the Essendon defender slapped the ball from the big Tiger's hands.

The 50-metre penalty that followed brought Richardson to the goal square and he slammed the ball deep into the crowd.

Raines streamed down the ground late in the quarter and delivered to Richardson, who kicked his fourth goal, from right on the boundary. The Tigers went to the first break nine points ahead.

The margin increased to 22 points early in the second quarter when Andrew Krakouer goaled, but the momentum then shifted the Bombers' way, with quick goals to Damien Peverill and Nathan Lovett-Murray.

Scott Lucas, Essendon's leading goalkicker going in to the match, with 55, kicked his second of the night after receiving a sharp handball from Courtenay Dempsey.

Adding to the Tigers' frustrations was Ray Hall being reported for charging Peverill.

Richardson's sixth goal increased the margin to 19 points before Mark Johnson chipped in with two quick goals to keep the Bombers in touch.

Enter Rioli, who added to his 90 AFL goals after James Hird had cleared from the centre. With only seconds left in the second term, Rioli marked Hird's high, floating kick before stepping towards the 50-metre arc and unloading a perfect drop punt. The siren sounded and Essendon went to the main break a point behind.

The third term had a buzz, as if the two teams were playing for spots in the finals. Richardson kicked his seventh goal early in the third term before teammate Kayne Pettifer found himself in some push-and-shove with Mark Johnson. Their exchange sparked further altercations on the members' wing but the game was moving too fast to pause for long.

For most of the second half, it seemed that anything Essendon could do, Richmond could do better. When Hird kicked a goal, Richardson and Pettifer combined to kick one for the Tigers.

No sooner had Lucas booted his third goal than Troy Simmonds kicked truly for the Tigers.

Hird's second goal, kicked early in the final quarter, came from his 23rd possession, and like so many times before, he lifted when the Bombers needed his leadership. But this was Richardson's night and within seconds, "Richo" had ended the Bombers' hopes by kicking another goal.

Rioli then jogged off the bench for one last mark, one last kick, and was chaired from the ground on the shoulders of his teammates.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/08/26/1156012795716.html

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Team Stats

Kicks       212 - 190
Marks      130 - 93
Handballs 109 - 146
Tackles      44 - 36
Hitouts       27 - 27
Frees        11 - 16

Individual Stats

Player             K H D   M HO T FF FA G B
M.Richardson 21 3 24 19 0 1 0 0 9 5
J.Bowden       15 8 23 6 0 3 0 0 0 0
T.Simmonds   15 6 21 11 21 0 1 1 2 0
N.Foley          11 9 20 0 0 1 2 2 0 1
K.Johnson      14 6 20 8 0 6 0 1 1 1
S.Tuck          10 10 20 6 1 2 1 0 0 0
M.Chaffey      8 11 19 8 0 2 0 0 0 0
B.Deledio        9 8 17 8 0 2 0 0 0 0
G.Tivendale   12 5 17 6 0 2 0 2 0 0
A.Raines         9 7 16 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
C.Howat        10 5 15 5 0 2 0 0 1 0
K.Pettifer       11 4 15 7 0 0 1 1 3 1
C.Hyde           7 7 14 4 0 2 0 2 0 0
D.Polo            8 6 14 8 0 3 0 1 0 0
R.Tambling    11 2 13 3 0 3 2 0 1 0
P.Bowden     12 0 12 5 0 1 1 0 0 0
R.Hall             7 5 12 6 0 4 0 5 0 0
M.White         5 6 11 4 0 6 1 1 0 0
J.Schulz         7 0  7 5 0 0 0 0 1 0
A.Krakouer     4 0  4 2 0 2 1 0 1 0
A.Pattison       3 1  4 2 2 2 1 0 1 1
G.Stafford       3 0  3 2 3 0 0 0 0 0

Top 5's

Ranking Points

Richo              247
J.Bowden        150
Watson           140
Hird                133
Lucas             122

Contested possies

Watson           13
Foley              10
Richo              10
Hird                 9
Peverill             9

Uncontested possies

Peverill             24
Stanton            18
Chaffey            17
Hird                 16
Simmonds        16

Effective kicks

Richo             21
Hird               15
Stanton          14
J.Bowden       14
K.Johnson      13

Inside 50

Stanton         6
Lucas           6
Pettifer         6
Richo           5
Hird             5

Rebound 50

J.Bowden      11
Stanton          5
P.Bowden      5
White            4
Solomon        4 

[one-eyed]

One final bad break for Rioli
Martin Boulton
The Age
August 27, 2006

ESSENDON'S Dean Rioli's brilliant but frustrating seven-year career ended on a sour note last night when he suffered a broken wrist in the 16-point loss to Richmond.

Coach Kevin Sheedy described last night's performance as "cameo Rioli" and said the club had done the right thing by nursing him to 100 games.

"Rioli played as well as he could under the condition he is … he could have been one of the really terrific players, but his legs never really let him in the end," he said.

"The fans understand what you're trying to do and I think it's an important decision for the coach of a club to make.

"And if I asked the fans would they have played Dean Rioli, I'm sure 85 per cent would say, why not."

Sheedy said he thought Essendon had the players to beat Richmond last night, but felt Tigers' forward Matthew Richardson was the difference between the two sides.

Richardson booted nine goals, had 21 kicks and took 19 marks and clearly had the better of opponent Kepler Bradley.

Richmond coach Terry Wallace said he took two positives from last night's win. "The ability to improve our own expectations and win games we're expected to win (and) I think our group and club believes we're designing a team for a successful future," he said. "Everyone can see there's light at the end of the tunnel."

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/08/26/1156012795713.html

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Richo runs riot, Bradley run ragged
Samantha Lane
The Age
August 27, 2006

KEVIN Sheedy could not call this match basketball crap. Matthew Richardson made sure of it.

Essendon and Richmond brought attacking game plans to the MCG last night, and the big Tiger forward was the personification of the mindset. In his nine-goal haul, Richardson led, ran, marked, kicked and scored like crazy. His teammates pumped the ball forward to him at every reasonable opportunity. Nine times out of 14, he converted.

The Bombers' best defender, Dustin Fletcher, was not available to handle the Richardson assignment. But he was out injured, and so the task was handed to a relative novice, Kepler Bradley. It turned out to be a match-up that was Anthony Rocca and Zac Dawson-esque in its lopsidedness. But in this case, Sheedy was clearly operating in the name of player development, as Alastair Clarkson had on the two occasions Hawthorn played Collingwood this year.

Bradley acted as Richardson's minder from start to finish. It was some education. The Richmond spearhead had four goals by the first break. Bradley officially was being towelled.

"Obviously, he's a young player and he's going to be a good player, but it would have been hard for any defenders tonight, all over the ground," Richardson said.

"It was one-on-one footy and the forward line was open, so that does make it easier as a forward. It was just one of those days. I knew it was going to be an open sort of a game in the forward line, so I thought there might be some opportunities there and it was nice to have a lot of space."

Just before half-time, Richardson had nailed six goals and taken eight marks. He looked a certainty to better his personal best of 10 majors but spent plenty of the third term out of his side's attacking 50.

"I was centre half-forward at that stage, so I had to get up the ground and give an option for the half-back line," he said.

"I'd rather play up the ground anyway because you can go up or back then, so that's my preferred position."

With the margin only nine points at three-quarter-time, Richardson helped settle the result after marking and kicking his eighth early in the last quarter. Bradley, now run ragged, was still in tow.

Fittingly, Richardson's ninth goal, a product of his 21st kick and 19th mark, floated through as the final siren sounded. He raised both hands triumphantly. It signalled Richmond's third straight victory and a season's best performance for him in what has been an injury-interrupted year. With finals out of reach for the Tigers, though, it must have felt a pity it was round 21.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/08/26/1156012795719.html

[one-eyed]

Hot Richardson rocks Bombers' night
27 August 2006   
Sunday Herald Sun
Mark Harding

 IT was a Hot August Night that needed none of Kevin Sheedy's suggested rock music gimmicks to make it brilliant theatre.
 
All last night's Richmond-Essendon encounter required was a couple of cagey, proud coaches and a full-forward named Richo.

Matthew Richardson played one of the great games of the season _ he kicked nine goals and took 19 marks, including a season's record nine contested marks.

When you consider there was only a kick in it more than half-way through the last quarter and the winning margin was only 16 points, you can see what a giant contribution it was.

Rarely has a team missed an injured player more than the Dons missed Dustin Fletcher last night.

Sheedy was forced to give the role at full-back to Kepler Bradley, who just didn't have the strength to go with the Tiger forward.

Right from the start the match belonged to Richo. He kicked four of the Tigers' five first-quarter goals, but it was obvious Sheedy was going to stick with Bradley as his opponent. Not that he had too many options.

To be fair to Bradley, he could do little about two of the early goals _ one a downfield free after a late tackle by Dean Rioli and the other an unjust 50m penalty after Bradley had spoiled a mark by Richo.

But the big Tiger was too strong in the air. The Bombers matched the Tigers everywhere else, except where it counted in front of goals. They had more inside 50s and won the centre clearances 20 to 14. But the Tigers had Richo.

The other piece of theatre for the game was the battle of wits between Sheedy and Terry Wallace, who have been at odds this year over Sheedy's reference to ``basketball crap'' and a warning earlier in the week about flooding being a cancer on the game.

Wallace started the game by employing a loose man in defence, but late in the first term Sheedy decided he would not allow it. He sent down an extra forward and Wallace responded by sending down another loose man.

Then Sheedy would send down an extra forward and before long the Dons were running an eight-man forward line.

Richo kicked two more goals in the second term and on one occasion he spilled a mark only for Richard Tambling to shark the loose ball and convert, as the Tigers opened up a 22-point lead.

The Dons hit back late with the last three goals as David Hille and James Hird took over in the middle.

The last 10 minutes of the half was played almost exclusively in the Dons' forward zone with Wallace employing the flood that Sheedy so despises.

The Dons found their way through traffic with Mark Johnson goaling twice and Rioli leading and kicking truly as his teammates swamped him with congratulations in his 100th and final game.

Rioli finished with only eight possessions, but several times displayed the silky skills which have made his all-too-short career a delight. He was chaired from the field in tears.

The game opened up again in the third quarter as the two coaches and their teams put on an entertaining and tactical contest.

Bradley was trying to run off Richo, but that wasn't working either. The Tiger forward marked again for his seventh goal and then started roaming further afield and had a direct hand in his side's next two goals, passing to Adam Pattison and Kayne Pettifer.

After a vintage second term, Hird attracted the attention of Kane Johnson and after his impact was lessened he took Johnson forward and got a goal from a soft free, which drew the ire of Tiger fans.

Troy Simmonds kicked a rare non-Richo-assisted goal to enable the Tigers to turn nine points in front at the final change and, if the entertainment had been great, it got better.

Hird cut the lead to three points when he marked in front of Johnson on the boundary line and ran around him to snap a goal. Richo responded with his 15th mark and eighth goal.

The game was still being played at an open and fierce pace, swinging from end to end and although the Tigers kept edging clear the Bombers wouldn't go away.

They had four shots at goal, but missed them all, the last by Mark Johnson costly because the Tigers went coast to coast from the kick-in.

The floodgates finally opened and the Tigers kicked four goals clear before the Dons kicked two late goals to reduce the margin to 10 points with less than a minute to go.

Fittingly, the match finished with Richo's ninth goal after the siren.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20265839%255E20322,00.html

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Matthew Richardson lauded
27 August 2006   
Sunday Herald Sun
Ken Piesse

KEVIN Sheedy says Matthew Richardson is getting better with age and could be a key as Richmond continues its momentum towards next year's finals.

Soon after Richardson had kicked nine goals in a superb performance to down the Bombers at the MCG, Sheedy said Richardson had improved all facets of his game and, at 31, was still the outstanding athlete for his height and size in the AFL.

``Don't get me wrong, we should have won tonight. Richo won the game for them,'' he said.

Backing his decision to leave inexperienced Kepler Bradley on the Richmond superstar all night, Sheedy said the experience would be invaluable in the young Bomber's development.

``I asked him immediately afterwards how fit Richardson was and Kepler said: `Super fit.' He was also one of the strongest he'd ever played against,'' Sheedy said.

``Out of a negative can come a positive and if you get young players under the pump they can really learn from the experience.''

Richmond coach Terry Wallace said he would love to have coached Richardson 10 years ago.

Wallace said Richardson had been setting a fine example to the club's younger players and his contested marking in packs was superb.

Last night's match was the third game in a row Richmond had kicked more than 20 goals.

Wallace said he was looking forward to playing West Coast next week, so his young Tigers could experience playing against the league leader.

Last night almost 50,000 attended, even though neither team had a chance of playing off.

An ankle injury to Andrew Krakouer and the report of Ray Hall were the only disappointments for the Tigers as they accelerated clear of Essendon after the Bombers had closed to within two points early in the last term.

``Our turnovers cost us and our shots at goal hurt us,'' Sheedy said.

Richardson paid tribute to skills coach David Wheadon for his improved kicking and said he was relaxing more on his set shots.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20266227%255E19742,00.html

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Richo's nine sinks Bombers
9:53:48 PM Sat 26 August, 2006
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to afl.com.au

Matthew Richardson kicked nine goals on Saturday night as the Tigers saw off a stern challenge from Essendon to record their 11th win of the season - 20.9 (129) to 16.17 (113) - at the MCG.

The Richmond spearhead was simply outstanding with 24 disposals and 19 marks to go with his goal tally in a game that was still in dispute midway through the final term.

Leading by just three points early in the last, the Tigers held their nerve to put down the gutsy Dons and register the 16-point win.

While the result has no impact on this year's finals series, history buffs will note that the win was the final leg of a Tiger clean sweep of their traditional 'big four' rivals Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon - a feat the club has not accomplished since 1931.

Full article at: http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=292525

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Tigers look to the future
11:57:40 PM Sat 26 August, 2006
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au

With their 16-point victory over Essendon on Saturday night, the Tigers surpassed their total number of wins for last year and Terry Wallace felt it was a concrete sign of his team's improvement this season.

"The graph has risen, it's all very well to talk the talk and try to sell or paint a picture and say, 'yeah we think we've improved', but at least now, statistically, we have improved," the Richmond coach said from the MCG.

"I think that our group and our club generally believes that we are putting forward or designing a team for a successful future and I think that most people around the place - our players, our staff and everyone involved with the footy club - can start to see light at the end of the tunnel."

The result caps a three-week period where the Tigers have defeated three opponents - Brisbane, Carlton and now Essendon - when they were favoured to do so which is something the club has struggled with previously.

"At stages in the past, and probably even earlier on this year, we've gotten a little bit nervous in games where we've gone in as favourites," Wallace said.

"But we've had three weeks in a row where we've gone in favourites now and we've got the job done, so we think that's a step in a positive direction for a young team."

Full article at: http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=292524