It was the nightmare scenario Richmond had been in before.
Prior to Sunday's thrilling last-gasp win over the Giants, it had been 12 games since the Tigers produced a victory in a match decided by under a kick. Instead, those 12 fixtures had yielded just three draws and nine defeats.
So when Kieren Briggs kicked truly to put the Giants six points ahead with just over three minutes to go, history appeared destined to repeat. Only this time, Dion Prestia struck back almost instantaneously before Marlion Pickett produced an heroic winner with just 24 seconds on the clock.
The win didn't just begin to correct Richmond's record in close games – it is now 1-3-9 from its last 13 games decided by under a kick – but it also gave the club's caretaker coach Andrew McQualter his first win in charge.
"Ultimately, it just comes down to moments late in games," McQualter said post-match.
"There's a little bit of structure stuff that goes on, but it's just moments. I thought some of our leaders really stood up late in the game today. I'd like to claim some stuff, there are always little moves that happen late in games for both teams. Some of it works and some of it doesn’t. A lot of it is just down to moments."
Pickett had three such moments in the game's dying stages. Not only did he set up Prestia to level the scores just seconds after Briggs put the Giants ahead, but he also kicked the winning goal and then laid an important tackle from the resultant centre bounce to ensure the Tigers went home with all four points.
"Marlion didn't have a great day, he'd be the first to admit that," McQualter said.
"There were things that didn't go his way. He's played in a bit of a unique position. But speaking about moments, Marlion had a big moment and he owned his moment. He was able to finish it for us and the team and I'm rapt for him that he was able to do that.
"Even the tackle with the last 15 seconds to go, he maybe had three big moments. After not a great game, that Marlion would usually expect, it was a great result for him to be able to own his moments."
Jack Riewoldt had carried Richmond throughout the game, with the veteran Tigers forward finishing with five goals – his most in a game since 2021 – and producing several clutch moments late in the match. Set to turn 35 later this year, McQualter heaped praise on the club's star forward but wouldn't be drawn on his future.
"I don't think I've ever met anyone as competitive as Jack," McQualter said.
"He's such a proud person. He's clearly not able to do what he did in 2017, but he just finds a way every week. He's been really competitive for us and he's playing a role for us. To be able to get a lick of the ice cream today was great reward for him.
"It's far above my pay grade (whether he can play on). That's for Jack and the club to work out. I'm not sure right now. I know he's really focused on this year and seeing what happens."
