Richmond 16.19-115 def Northern Blues 4.7-31

The VFL Tigers recorded their fifth victory of the season on Sunday afternoon, defeating Northern Blues by 84 points at the Swinburne Centre.

Neither side could be separated at the first break but the VFL Tigers booted 14 goals over the following three quarters, while holding the Blues to just two majors at the other end.

Richmond development coach Xavier Clarke said the side recovered from a closely fought opening term to blow away the travellers.

“I think we didn’t use the footy great when we won it in the first quarter,” Clarke said.

“We were a little bit jumpy, tried to go a bit fast at times and didn’t choose the right options.

“Once we knew we could fix that up, go forward and use our numbers and players around the footy, and improve our efficiency by foot, we started to get rewarded on the scoreboard.

“Everything structurally, we were doing pretty well, and we were winning the footy. We just had to use it a bit better”.

With the Blues keen to continue their impressive form in the VFL season to date, the Tigers battled hard to take the early ascendancy, and were rewarded when Tyson Stengle produced a crafty snap for the first of the day.

Jake Aarts also joined in the scoring action with his first and only goal for the day, however, a determined Blues outfit fought back with goals from Matthew Korcheck and Patrick Kerr.

Usual suspects Anthony Miles and Jacob Ballard were involving themselves heavily throughout the midfield, while the returning Nick Vlastuin showed constant poise and composure playing across the back half.

With the chance to square their season’s ledger at five wins and five losses, the VFL Tigers came out with a vengeance in the second quarter, putting six goals on the board to stretch clear by 32 points at the main break.

Taylor Hunt set the tone early in the term with a monstrous snap from 40 metres, while Ballard followed suit with a classy set shot from a similar distance on a tough angle.

Skipper Sam Darley was using the ball to deadly effect on the wing, and his pinpoint pass set up Mabior Chol, whose subsequent finish was equally as impressive.

While Hunt and Jake Batchelor both added majors to the ever-growing list of goalscorers moments later, it was a goal by a particular Tiger cub that proved to be the feel-good moment of the day.

After providing intense pressure at a series of contests in the forward-50, Jack Graham found himself with ball in hand only 15 metres from goal, and made no mistake with his effort.

The first-year player was instantly swamped by teammates from all corners of the ground, while the onlooking Tiger fans provided plenty of gusto celebrating in the Jack Dyer Stand.

While the Blues managed to peg a single goal late in the quarter, the Tigers maintained their fierce pressure into the second half to complete their second biggest victory this year, behind their victory over North Ballarat in Round 1.

Miles, after gathering 16 of his eventual 38 disposals in the first half, produced a clever dribbled finish to add to his well-rounded performance, while Corey Ellis produced a spectacular mark in the goal square to register his first goal.

With the midfield duo producing countless moments of quality, it was time for the big men to step up, Chol soccerring home his second before Ivan Maric snapped truly from close range.

A couple of 50 metre penalties resulted in quick-fire goals to Jacob Townsend and Ryan Bathie at the end of the third term, with the result all but sealed with a quarter still to play.

While the scoring slowed down at the Swinburne Centre, there was still time for Batchelor to nail his second goal, while Vlastuin also went forward to add his name to the 13 individual goal kickers for the day.

With two consecutive victories now under their belt, the VFL Tigers look to next Saturday’s clash with Essendon VFL at Windy Hill.

The match will commence at 2:10pm.