Victory at last for young Tigers

By Domenic Favata

If you saw the inner sanctum of the Richmond song at the end of the game, you knew something special had happened. Richmond had finally broken through to their first win of the year, with a 47 point drubbing over lack lustre Port Adelaide.

The rain was pelting down and an extreme weather front was forecasted. Port Adelaide, who were coming off a tough, hot encounter up north and Richmond, coming off an inconsistent performance against Essendon. From the outset, it looked like it was going to be a damp day in the city of Churches.

Both teams sprawled out onto the very wet and muddy surface. With the strong winds adding to the treacherous conditions, the game was set to be a scrappy affair. The Tigers in their alternative strip, knew that they had a chance against the fatigued Power.

The tigers started well in the wet, with goals to the inform Riewolt and livewire, Robbie Nahas. The mud was on the sash, which resembled a game from the 80’s; the tigers were showing all the fight early. Ebert and Hitchcock responded for Port, but were stalled when Ebert (concussion) was taken from the ground on a stretcher and Hitchcock injured his shoulder. Salopek then also injured his shoulder adding to the Power’s injury woes (both would return later). Goals to Tambling and Hitchcock would see a tight encounter at quarter time.

Riewolt kicked the opening two of the second quarter (one of them an unbelievable soccer goal) to establish a twenty point buffer that would seem like 6 or 7 goals in the conditions. Dreadlocked young gun Ben Nason would cap of a great term for the Tigers with a goal that extended their lead to five goals at half time. The Tigers jogged into the rooms, covered in mud, but knowing that they could get their first win today.

The third quarter saw a tired quarter from both sides, with port mounting some sort of a comeback. As a tiger fan I feared the worse, but the Tigers were holding off the Power who had the breeze. Relentless tackles (Total of 140 odd) , from the Tigers saw them keep the power to one goal for the term. Shane Tuck, Trent Cotchin and veteran Ben Cousins were excelling in the wet, especially ‘Cuz” who was proving his critics wrong. Young tall’s Angus Graham (13 tackles, 30 odd hit outs) , debutant Ben Griffiths and Luke Mc Guane were all proving their worth in the wet.

The end of the last quarter looked set for a Richmond rarity, a win. The Tigers had a good lead that they would build, through goals to Nahas, Nason and Riewolt. The Tigers built a 47 point lead. I was bouncing up and down like a child hooked on chocolate. We were winning, we were going to win! A terrific last quarter capped off a great day for Richmond and for Damien Hardwick. His first win as coach and he couldn’t keep the delight off his face as the final siren sounded.

One line of the team song summed up today’s effort,

“In any weather you will see us with grin, risking head and shin”

GO TIGERS!

Port Adelaide     2.3   2.4   3.10   3.12 (30)
Richmond     3.4   6.9   7.11   10.17 (77)

GOALS
Port Adelaide:
Ebert, Hitchcock, D.Stewart
Richmond: Riewoldt 4, Nason 3, Nahas 2, Tambling

BEST
Port Adelaide:
Boak, K.Cornes, Carr, Cassisi, Thomas
Richmond: Tuck, Cotchin, Martin, Newman, Deledio, Riewoldt, Graham, Cousins, Nason

MY VOTES:

3- Shane Tuck

2- Trent Cotchin

1- Angus Graham

Comments

  1. Great report Dom

    It’s so heartwarming to see Richmond win, I listened to the last quarter on the radio and everyone seemed to be wanting the Tigers to get up. I only believed that they would win halfway through the final quarter.

    I’m assuming you have Foxtel, or did you venture to a pub/mates house to watch this?

  2. No, no foxtel, used the radio and watched highlights to gather perspective

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