Tigers miss the mark right to the end
By Peter Hanlon
August 29, 2004
SYDNEY 3.2 6.7 10.10 16.12 (108) defeated RICHMOND 4.4 4.7 5.8 6.8 (44)
Goals: Sydney: N Davis 5, M O'Loughlin 3, R O'Keefe 3, B Hall 2, P Williams, B Kirk, J Bolton. Richmond: M Richardson 3, M Coughlan, A Krakouer, D Gaspar.
Best: Sydney: N Davis, J Bolton, S Maxfield, J Ball, B Mathews, A Schauble, M O'Loughlin. Richmond: W Campbell, N Brown, M Richardson, B Hartigan, J Bowden.
Injuries: Nil.
Reports: Nil.
Umpires: K Nicholls, G Dore, S Wenn.
Offical crowd: 29,777 at MCG.
Giddy Richmond souls dreaming up a farewell gift for Danny Frawley enjoyed a few minutes of titillation yesterday, then the wrapping came off and they were left with a depressingly familiar booby prize. At least their latest former coach was not sent off dishonestly.
The Tigers' abuse of the game's most basic skills was such that they could aim to start "mad Monday" in a Swan Street pub tomorrow and not hit the target until mid-October. That Terry Wallace's "things to do" list should include teaching AFL footballers to kick and handball points to the size of the job at hand.
Richmond kicked only two goals after quarter-time, did not manage one from late in the first quarter until the end of the third, and then had the drought broken only by that most unlikely football occurrence, a Darren Gaspar goal from 45 metres.
Matthew Richardson threatened to repeat his round-seven demolition of the same opponent when he goaled twice within nine minutes, but settled for having a wonderfully "Richo" afternoon instead.
A first-quarter miss from 12 metres out, directly in front, hooked off his ankle and almost out on the full, was the comic masterpiece. His other staples were all working beautifully - the 50-metre goal from the boundary, the huge pack mark, the invisibility to umpires until they penalise him for mouthing off, the hands-on-hips, head-shaking disillusionment.
Sydney played Andrew Schauble and Leo Barry on him in tandem for much of the match, a defensive move thatpooped the Richardson party but was hardly necessary given the way the Tigers used the ball.
This was best illustrated in a woeful third quarter, when on the odd occasion they mounted what could legitimately be called an attack, the ball was bombed to Richardson no matter how great the odds against him. Once, he was the preferred target despite being surrounded by five Swans.
Of course there was nothing else on offer (hence Gaspar's appearance in the forward line), and even the most prolific Tigers, Wayne Campbell in his last game as captain and Nathan Brown, were dragged into going short, sideways, backwards and ultimately nowhere.
Sydney will move on from this dismal encounter happy that the engine room of Paul Williams, Brett Kirk and Jude Bolton is purring into the finals. Yesterday, they fed off Jason Ball and Stephen Doyle's bullying of the ruckless Tigers that stretched to a hit-out ratio of five-to-one.
Stuart Maxfield and Ben Mathews were telling contributors, while Nick Davis' five goals and three from the dangerous Ryan O'Keefe overrode a relatively quiet afternoon from Barry Hall, whose opponent, Joel Bowden, conceded plenty in size but nothing in nous.
Bowden's switch to defence has been a rare plus for the Tigers this season, and even in yesterday's torpor there was something to build on in the work of the busy Brent Hartigan and fellow teen Daniel Jackson, who stuck to his task against Michael O'Loughlin.
The appearance of a Raines in yellow and black was also notable, and Geoff's son Andrew was running down the wing and kicking long into attack within seconds of coming on for his first run.
He failed to find a teammate, but this merely confirmed that he was a Tiger from day one.
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