Tigers defeat Geelong at the Cattery

Richmond 17. 8 (110) def. Geelong 12.18 (90)

After a week in which both teams have been under pressure, Geelong for their rapidly diminishing premiership aspirations and Richmond for the manner in which they won their game against Adelaide last week, both teams came to Skilled Stadium with something to prove.

For Geelong, the day ended on a sour note as a goalless final quarter saw them 20 points behind at the final siren as Richmond registered their first win at Skilled Stadium in 15 years.

In a massive blow to the home team, both defender Tom Harley and veteran Peter Riccardi were late withdrawals, replaced by Paul Kolouriotis and debutant Matthew Stokes.

The game started with Joel Bowden loose in the Richmond backline, but after contesting the centre bounce, Brad Ottens went forward to ensure Bowden had to mind an opponent.

The move by Geelong had immediate results with Ottens marking strongly against Bowden to register the first goal of the game.

With Richmond able to transfer the ball down the ground with ease, Chris Hyde scored Richmond’s first goal with a clever snap around his body. And when a good lead and mark to Richard Tambling ended in a goal, Richmond had taken the lead.

From that moment, however, it was all Geelong for the next 15 minutes as they scored the next four goals with some very good run. Richmond’s Troy Simmonds and Trent Knobel were winning the centre hit outs, but Geelong were winning clearances at will with Gary Ablett leading the way.

Richmond worked their way back into the game with the last three goals of the first quarter, and could’ve drawn level but Matthew Richardson failed to capitalise on a down field free kick, missing his third set shot at goal for the quarter.

Leading by six points at the start of the second quarter, Geelong came out firing. They had all the run and kicked when Dean Polo was penalized for holding the ball in front of the Geelong goal, Jarrad Rooke extended the home teams lead.

This seemed to jolt Richmond into action as Chris Hyde took control and kicked two goals in a minute followed by a Kane Pettifer spectacular mark, his third in three weeks, and goal.

When Troy Simmonds took a good contested mark 25 metres out and converted, Richmond had taken an 11-point lead and Geelong had no answers to Richmond’s centre bounce dominance.

Just when Geelong needed someone to step up, Gary Ablett steadied the ship with a goal from a free kick which bought the margin back to five points. After Hyde was not paid a mark in the Richmond forward line, Geelong capitalised through Shannon Byrnes who finished off some good work with a snap on his wrong foot that dribbled through for a goal.

Geelong dominated the remainder of the quarter, but was unable to transfer this to the scoreboard as both Ablett and Wojinski registered behinds and Andrew Mackie dropped an easy mark just 25 metres from goal.

For the final two minutes of the quarter, Geelong pushed every player behind the ball in an attempt to maintain their slim lead. The flood worked as Richmond was unable to find a forward target and the home team went to the main break with a four point lead.

The second quarter saw Brett Deledio go from the field with a knee injury, and after running around the boundary towards the end of the second quarter, he emerged from the half time break in his tracksuit to take no further part in the game.

Richmond started the first quarter with Simmonds’ scoring his second goal to effect the 5th lead change of the match.

An incident in the Richmond forward 50 which saw Gary Ablett felled is sure to come under scrutiny this week, but Ablett didn’t let that affect him as he made his way through the centre of the ground and ended up on the end of a pass to put Geelong back in front.

Richmond proceeded to kick the next three goals to put their stamp on the game and extend their lead to 16 points and seemed to be comfortable.

Matthew Richardson, who had been ineffective up forward all day, was moved into the defensive 50 as a loose man, but all this did was deprive Roichmond of any target up forward. With nobody to kick to, Richmond could nmot capitalise on the amount of ball they had.

Geelong used this to their advantage as Steve Johnson kicked a great goal from in the middle of a pack, followed by majors to Rooke and Bartel which gave Geelong the lead going into the final change.

The final quarter started with Richardson back at full forward, and with a big target to kick to, Richmond moved the ball forward with a lot more confidence. Trailing by three points, Pettifer registered his third goal to give Richmond the lead.

Two goals to Andrew Krakouer extended the lead, and try as they might, Geelong just could not find the goals. Kicks falling short, being touched on the line and fading across the face of goal combined to whittle away any chance Geelong may have had.

When Chris Hyde kicked his fourth goal with his 20th possession of the game with a clever roving goal, the game was all Richmond’s. Richardson iced the game with his first goal to put the result beyond doubt.

Richmond, with their dominance at the centre bounces, pulled away from Geelong in the final quarter, as the home team registered a staggering nine behinds to Richmond’s five goals two.

Kayne Pettifer, Chris Hyde and Troy Simmonds with ten goals between them was too much to handle for the Geelong defence as they struggled to contain the flow of ball into the Richmond forward 50.

Brett Deledio’s injury was the only sour note of the match, as Simmonds, Pettifer Richard Tambling and the Bowden brothers set up Richmond’s first win at Skilled Stadium since 1990, and their first win against Geelong in six years.

For the losers, Gary Ablett Jr was sublime with 25 possessions, two goals and numerous clearances. Shannon Byrnes started the game well, but couldn’t continue into the final quarter whilst Jimmy Bartel, Joel Corey and James Kelly were all solid contributors.

A lack of a target in their forward line cost Geelong dearly, and the goal less Kent Kingsley continued his indifferent from of late. Steven Johnson and Jarrad Rooke tried to provide some spark, but could not ignite an otherwise lackluster forward set up.

The Geelong fans showed their team what they thought of their performance as they booed them off the ground after the game, and with a home game against the West Coast Eagles next week, the pre season premiers face an uphill battle to kick start their 2006 campaign.

Richmond, on the other hand, are on the way up. With their second win in a row lifting them to five wins and four losses, an away game against Fremantle next week is crucial to their September aspirations.

•  Have a view on this story? Send us your feedback!