Tigers grab a thriller at Subi
richmondfc.com.au
By Chris Pike
11:45 PM Sun 15 February, 2009
RICHMOND has beaten Fremantle by three points in a thrilling NAB Cup match at Subiaco Oval on Sunday, inspired by evergreen champion Matthew Richardson.
Richmond found itself down 28 points early in the first quarter and still behind by 23 at half time, but a five-goal to nil third quarter and first two goals of the last put the Tigers up by 16 points.
However, Fremantle hit back once again to lead by nine points 16 minutes into the last term before Richardson's second had the margin back under a kick. He then sealed the game with his third and a mark in defence on Fremantle's last foray forward.
Richardson, who turns 34 in March, is coming off one of the best seasons of his decorated career in 2008 finishing third in the Brownlow Medal in a new role further up the ground.
It worked a treat once coach Terry Wallace tried it at Subiaco Oval against Fremantle in round 4, and on return he was brilliant again.
Spending most of the night on the wing before moving forward for the last quarter, Richardson dominated with 25 possessions, nine marks, a super goal and two regulation goals.
Mitch Morton and Nathan Brown also kicked three goals each, Jack Riewoldt two and 21 possessions, with Nathan Foley racking up 33 possessions, Brett Deledio 29, Daniel Jackson 29, Andrew Raines 27 and Shane Tuck 24.
Ben Cousins and Adam Thomson didn’t play and will have to wait at least another fortnight to turn out for a first game in Tigers colours, while Trent Cotchin, Mark Coughlan, Kane Johnson, Jake King, Will Thursfield, Jordan McMahon and Adam Pattison were also missing.
Fremantle got the jump on the Tigers with the first three goals of the game before Riewoldt nailed the Tigers first goal at the 15-minute mark and Richardson kicked a nine-pointer soon after.
Brown then kicked the first two goals of the second to bring Richmond within touch, but Fremantle kicked the last two goals to take a 23-point lead into the main break.
Riewoldt kicked his second goal to start the third quarter after taking a gutsy mark in the goal square that brought the Tigers within 17.
Shane Edwards then set up Morton with tremendous vision and he was able to kick truly to make the margin just 12. Brown then crumbed beautifully from a Richardson marking attempt to kick his third goal and the Tigers were on a roll early in the third term.
Rookie-listed player Robin Nahas, who came in as a replacement for Thursfield, then snapped truly from 15 metres with his first kick to make his mark on the contest and to bring the scores level at 56.
Morton marked and snapped truly near three quarter-time to put Richmond in front for the first time in the match, where they stayed at the last break to the tune of three points.
Morton's third when he snapped on his left boot was the first goal of the final quarter and the Tigers had the last six goals of the game to be up by 11 points.
Richmond's dominance when Cleve Hughes marked and goaled to put his team up by 16 points, but then a goal to Kepler Bradley and super goals to Stephen Hill and Garrick Ibbotson suddenly saw Fremantle lead by nine again.
Richardson's dribbled snap went through to make the margin three points and in the dying seconds, Morton found himself in plenty of space inside 50. Riewoldt managed to get it to him, he handballed over to Richardson who ran into an open goal to seal the win.
Richmond will now face Collingwood in a fortnight's time in the next round of the NAB Cup.
MATCH DETAILSRichmond 1.1.5 1.3.5 1.8.5 1.12.8 (89)
Fremantle 2.3.2 3.4.4 3.4.8 5.5.11 (86)
GOALS
Richmond: Nine-point goals: Richardson. Goals: Morton 3, Brown 3; Riewoldt 2, Richardson 2; Hughes, Nahas.
Fremantle: Nine-point goals: Browne, Schammer, Solomon, Ibbotson, Hill. Goals: Grover, Bradley, De Boer, Murphy, Dodd.
BEST
Richmond: Richardson, Deledio, Foley, Riewoldt, Brown, Jackson
Fremantle: Hayden, Solomon, Mundy, Hill, DeBoer, Browne, Sandilands
INJURIES
Fremantle: Nil
Richmond: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Stephen McBurney, Simon Meredith, Jeff Dalgleish, Gavin Statham.
Crowd: 14,517 at Subiaco Oval
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