RICHMOND has turned on a stunning 11-goal second quarter to blow away West Coast by 77 points at Subiaco Oval – the Tigers’ biggest-ever winning margin over the Eagles.
Jack Riewoldt finished the game with five goals and Nathan Brown four as the Tigers cruised to a 24.8 (152) to 11.9 (75) victory.
The big win has given the Tigers a handy percentage boost as the race for the top eight continues to tighten.
Missing Matthew Richardson and Graham Polak, the Tigers found 13 individual goal-kickers to help build just its second-ever win over West Coast at Subiaco.
The Tigers had appeared sluggish early in the game, and the Eagles were quickly out of the blocks with an early goal to Mark LeCras.
Brown opened the Tigers’ account with a goal at the 16-minute mark, but the Eagles’ forward line continued to look more threatening before Jay Schulz was moved into defence in what would prove to be a key move.
With the home side leading by 11 points at the first break, there was little to indicate the Tigers were about to break the game open.
Schulz drifted forward early to goal for the Tigers less than two minutes into the second quarter, and the floodgates opened.
It was to be the first of a string of seven unanswered Richmond goals as the Tigers established their dominance across the ground.
The Tigers' 11 goals for the quarter were interrupted by a solitary West Coast goal to Ben McKinley at the 20-minute mark, which fortuitously came from a 50-metre penalty.
Kane Johnson, Nathan Foley, Trent Cotchin and Shane Tuck were simply outstanding around the stoppages as the Tigers won 16 clearances to the Eagles’ three for the quarter – despite Dean Cox dominating the hit-outs.
Riewoldt was strutting his stuff inside the forward 50 while Brown and Mitch Morton were also providing targets for the dominant Richmond midfield.
Schulz was winning the aerial duels in defence and feeding the run of Jordan McMahon, Dean Polo, Joel Bowden and Kelvin Moore as the Tigers continued to punish every turnover from the Eagles.
The Tigers went to the long break with a commanding 48-point lead.
The Eagles opened the third quarter with McKinley’s third goal, but the Tigers responded through Riewoldt, Brown and Morton to snuff out any hope of a home-side resurgence.
Frustration crept into the West Coast’s game with Cox counselling Daniel Kerr after he was penalised for a high challenge on Matt White off the ball.
West Coast looked like a broken side midway through the quarter when Foley collected the ball at the centre circle and bounced three times as he ran unchallenged in a straight line deep into the forward 50 to kick the Tigers’ 16th goal.
Ahead by 63 points at the final break, Richmond continued to run hard with Riewoldt’s fifth goal deep into time-on providing the icing on the cake.
The Tigers had winners all over the ground with superb leadership from Johnson (26 possessions) and with McMahon (33), Foley (24), Tuck (30), Riewoldt, Brown and Schulz all prominent.
David Wirrpanda, Dean Cox and Andrew Embley battled hard for the Eagles.
Richmond 1.3 12.4 18.6 24.8 (152)
West Coast 3.2 4.4 7.9 11.9 (75)
GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 5, Brown 4, Morton 3, Cotchin, Deledio 2, Tuck, Johnson, Foley, White, Edwards, Schulz, Tambling, Hughes
West Coast: Wirrpanda, McKinley 3, Embley, Lynch, Hansen, Armstrong, LeCras
BEST
Richmond: Riewoldt, Cotchin, Tuck, Foley, McMahon, Brown, Morton
West Coast: Cox, Wirrpanda, Embley, Houlihan, McKinley
INJURIES
Richmond: King replaced in selected side by Edwards, Deledio (knee)
West Coast: LeCras (hamstring)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Head, Jeffery, Mollison
Crowd: 37,085 at Subiaco Oval
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
