With Richmond taking on Essendon in a JLT Community Series match at Wangaratta on Saturday, Tony Greenberg reflects on the previous meeting there between the two teams.
Ricky Petterd was the hero for Richmond when it clinched a thrilling pre-season victory over Essendon before a sell-out crowd of 11,000 at Wangaratta’s Norm Minns Oval back in 2013.
The Tigers were trailing narrowly with just a few seconds remaining in the match when the versatile ex-Demon, who had been swung forward after being a solid contributor in defence, gathered the ball outside the team’s 50-metre arc and roosted it through the big sticks for a match-winning nine-point super goal.
It was a great start for Petterd in Yellow and Black colors following his departure from Melbourne at the end of the 2012 season.
Richmond went into the game with several senior players missing, including newly-appointed captain Trent Cotchin, vice-captain Brett Deledio, No. 1 ruckman Ivan Maric, Reece Conca and Steven Morris, while Essendon was close to full strength.
With Cotchin and Deledio out of the line-up, star key forward Jack Riewoldt was the Tigers’ captain for the day
It had been a see-sawing encounter throughout with little separating the sides before Petterd’s last-minute heroics.
Here’s AFL.com.au’s concise assessment of the match . . .
“A great win for the Tigers considering the players they were missing and a disappointing finish for the Bombers, who never really owned the game as most expected.
“Richmond has found a player in Nick Vlastuin (the Club’s first pick in the 2012 AFL national draft). The youngster continued his push for a full AFL debut and will likely line up in Round 1 against Carlton (he ended up debuting in Round 5 v Fremantle at Domain Stadium).”
“David Astbury, who has had an injury-ravaged two seasons, was important early, Shane Edwards won a lot of the ball. Luke McGuane showed he could play a part in Richmond’s attack with two goals, and ruckman Orren Stephenson put his hand up for a spot on the Tigers’ senior list with 14 disposals and 19 hit-outs.”
Here’s what Richmond coach Damien Hardwick had to say in his post-match press conference . . .
“We’re really pleased with what we got out of the game. We got some significant game time into players, so overall it was a good result for us.”
Match details
Richmond 1.2.4 1.4.9 1.7.11 2.8.20 (86)
Essendon 0.2.2 1.5.4 1.8.7 1.10.9 (78)
Goals – Richmond: Tuck 2, McGuane 2, Riewoldt, Petterd, Nahas, White, Arnot.
Best – Richmond: Grigg, S. Edwards, Rance, Astbury, Vlastuin, McGuane.
