It was a night chock-full of Yellow and Black highlights at Optus Stadium, with the performance of talented Tiger teenager Maurice Rioli Jnr against West Coast right up there.
Rioli, in just his third game of AFL football, and first this season, had 14 disposals, eight contested possessions, six intercepts, nine score involvements, an equal team-high four tackles, took three marks and kicked three goals, including two in about a minute during the third quarter.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick heaped praise on Rioli during his post-match press conference.
“He’s fantastic in and around the Club,” Hardwick said.”
“He put in a lot of work over the course of the summer and his performances at VFL level have just grown and grown.
“We just sit there and marvel at the defensive parts of the game that he can do. He’s just so quick . . . closes space very well. And, generally, his offense stems off that.
“He played a great game of footy tonight.
“Defensively, he was very good. It was good he got some offensive reward as well.
“We were really pleased for him.”
