Richmond’s three-game winning streak has grinded to a halt after it fell to the Seagulls by 22 points in wet and windy conditions at DSV Stadium on Saturday night, 8.10 (58) to 5.6 (36).
Courtesy of the conditions, the first goal of the night came twenty-one minutes into the first quarter through Tiger Jacob Bauer.
He then converted on the quarter-time siren to make it two goals in the quarter.
After his three-goal haul in Richmond’s most previous win against the Suns, he was potent again on Saturday night, finishing with 13 disposals and two marks to go along with his two goals.
The Tigers established an 11-point quarter-time lead off the back of impressive work from Joel Garner (27 disposals, seven tackles, seven hit-outs, five clearances), Nick Guiney (17 disposals, three marks, three tackles), and Cam Olden (17 disposals, 11 tackles, four clearances, one goal).
Impressively, seven of Olden’s 11 tackles came in the opening term.
As the rain started to pour heavily in the second term, the Tigers were held to a scoreless quarter, and registered just one inside-50.
The Seagulls kicked their first goal of the night five minutes into the quarter, and three more goals followed courtesy of their 29 forward entries.
Off the back of Williamstown’s’ forward-50 and territory dominance in the quarter, and Richmond’s lack-of-it, the hosts booted four goals from 10 scoring shots to establish a 19-point half-time lead.
A positive for the Tigers was the performance of 18-year-old Jagga Smith. Smith was strong in his VFL debut, finishing with 31 disposals, five marks and eight clearances.
The Seagulls kicked the first goal of the second half through 2023 Jim ‘Frosty’ Miller Medallist Brodie McLaughlin to establish a game-high 22-point lead.
Despite having seven shots on goal in the quarter, the Tigers failed to make the most of their opportunities and only converted once through Mohammad Yassine.
Yassine (six disposals, one tackle, one goal) kicked the first goal for the Tigers since the quarter-time siren from more than 50-metres out.
For all of Williamstown’s dominance, the Tigers had cut down the margin to just 14 points on the eve of three-quarter-time.
The Tigers came out of the blocks strong early in the fourth quarter and converted the first goal of the term through Olden to cut the margin down to eight points.
However, Richmond’s celebrations were cut short as Williamstown’s instant response pushed the margin back out to 14 points.
Then, two goals in as many minutes from the hosts extended the margin out to a game-high 27 points, shutting out any chance of a Richmond comeback.
In the end, the Tigers couldn’t capitalise on their momentum early in the fourth quarter, and were handed a 22-point loss, their sixth of the season.
As a result, Richmond have dropped to eighth on the 2024 VFL ladder.
The Tigers look ahead to their next challenge against arch-rival Collingwood in a double header at the Swinburne Centre next Sunday, July 28 from 10:05am.
Williamstown 0.1 4.7 5.7 8.10 (58)
Richmond 2.0 2.0 3.6 5.6 (36)
Goalkickers: Bauer (2), Yassine, Pollocks, Olden
Best: Wilson, Smith, Garner, Olden, Guiney, El Nour, Bauer
