Tigers pipped on line Brad Elborough, Perth
The Age
April 27, 2013 FREMANTLE 2.0 7.5 10.8 12.9 (81)
RICHMOND 5.2 7.3 9.5 12.8 (80)
GOALS
Fremantle: Ballantyne 4, Mayne 3, Walters 2, Suban, Crowley, Hill.
Richmond: Knights 3, Vickery 3, McGuane 2, Martin, Riewoldt, White, Grigg.
BEST
Fremantle: Barlow, Griffin, Fyfe, Crowley, McPharlin, Ibbotson
Richmond: Martin, Knights, Jackson, Vickery, Edwards, Cotchin
INJURIES Fremantle: Bradley (knee).
UMPIRES Donlon, Dalgleish, Chamberlain.
CROWD 36,365 at Subiaco.
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So it's 2013 and Richmond loses another close contest, going down to Fremantle by one point at Patersons Stadium on Friday night.
It's a scenario the Tigers fans have come to know all too often, although this time they found a new way to fall onto the wrong side of the scoreboard. The 12.9 (81) to 12.8 (80) loss did come with some controversy though.
And an inadvertent intervention by a goal umpire will undoubtedly be discussed in football circles this week.
The rule is that if the ball hits a goal umpire and stays in play, it remains alive.
So, here's what happened. With only a couple of minutes to go Richmond's Matt White looked to have slotted through a neat goal from a tight angle to give the Tigers the lead, only for the ball to hit the goal umpire, who was watching it ever so closely. This allowed the Freo defender to rush the ball through for a behind. To White and Richmond's credit though, they didn't allow it to get to them. White booted one right over the same umpire's head 30 seconds later to give Richmond the lead for the first time since the start of the third term - and with less than 90 seconds to play. But it wasn't to be.
The game the Tigers desperately needed to win after losing to Collingwood last week, was taken from them moments later when Hayden Ballantyne kicked his fourth goal shortly after.
Richmond is now back in the field with a 3-2 record after impressive wins to start the season against Carlton, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs. It plays Geelong next weekend.
A win over the Dockers would have been the proof Richmond had arrived. And at quarter-time, with a 20-point lead, it was looking exactly like that.
Trent Cotchin and Chris Knights were on fire in the midfield and there were players lining up to have shots on goals. They led 16-9 for inside 50s and enjoyed more than 20 more disposals than the home side.
It turned pear-shaped after that, though and despite the close margin, the Dockers had the run of play for much of the rest of the game.
And Ross Lyon's perfect record as a coach against Richmond was kept in tact - nine wins and a draw from 10 games.
Like Richmond, the Dockers have been known to find ways to lose these games in the past. We only have to look back two weeks to the debacle against Essendon. But this time they found a way to win, only at what cost? Kepler Bradley injured his knee in the second term and was subbed out. Early calls are he has damaged a lateral ligament.
With Matthew Pavlich down and out for at least another month, and Aaron Sandilands sidelined for who knows how long, Bradley had become an important player for the Dockers. He could go forward and back and help out in the ruck. Just as important is Nat Fyfe - a player who has emerged as a true superstar of the competition. But he, too, may be sidelined for next week's clash against the Gold Coast, at least, after the match committee checks out an incident in the second term where Nat Fyfe lashed out with his feet while on the ground and collected his tagger Daniel Jackson.
Jackson did a pretty good job on Fyfe after moving to him after quarter-time.
But Ryan Crowley's job on Brett Deledio was much more significant. As was Luke McPharlin's performance on Jack Riewoldt. The Tigers key forward kicked an early goal in the first quarter, but didn't look like having an impact after that.
McPharlin was right on his hammer at every contest and continued the big Tiger's poor record against the side - it now is 17 goals from nine outings.
DOCKER HEROBoth coaches were watching the official pre-match action very carefully. Being the Anzac Day round, there were a few extra people on the ground to oversee the playing of the Last Post and the national anthem. But the 191-centimetre Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, who recited the ode, would have had Ross Lyon and Damien Hardwick thinking overtime. And they would have both been imagining the Victoria Cross recipient looking right at home at centre half-forward of their respective sides. Roberts-Smith is the Dockers' No. 1 ticket-holder.
DAWSON'S TEAM GOALFremantle defender Zac Dawson has no sense of romance. He's not really known for his goalkicking ability, having spent much of his 99 AFL games in defence. In fact, going in to his milestone game against Richmond, he had kicked only six majors - none in 43 games for Hawthorn, four in 63 games for St Kilda and two last year for the Dockers. So when he lined up from around 50 metres after taking a mark, the crowd was right behind him. Instead he handballed backwards to goalsneak Hayden Ballantyne, who slotted it through to give the Dockers a two-point half-time lead.
VLASTUIN'S BRIGHT STARTNick Vlastuin became the first debutant in yellow and black for 2013 and showed some good signs. By the end of the first term,Vlastuin was up to his eyeballs in a football game. Half of his six touches were contested and he had three tackles next to his name. He didn't stop there either, doubling those stats by half-time.
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