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RICHMOND 16.14 (110) def ADELAIDE 10.12 (72)
AFTER being flogged at home last week by Sydney and needing the win to keep their waning finals hope alive, the Adelaide Crows responded with a lackluster prefromance against Richmond yesterday and went down by 38-points to the Tigers at the MCG.
Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson petty much summed it up afterwards.
“It’s not impossible, we’ll need to be at our best,” he said after the game.
“We thought we damaged our brand pretty badly last week and didn’t really make amends today.
“We just made some fundamental errors at critical times and just weren’t good enough on the day, which is really disappointing because it was a must-win game for us.”
After finishing second on the ladder and making a Preliminary Final appearance last year the Crows have managed just five wins so far this year and will probably need to win at least seven games out of their remaining 10 if they are to have a hope of playing September footy.
For the Tigers however yesterday’s victory, in which it took an early lead and put together four solid quarters of play, signals the very real possibility that they will be in the thick of things come finals time.
With their second consecutive win, and seventh on the season, Richmond is now at 6th spot on the ladder and playing the sort of footy that the club’s faithful have been waiting to see for a very long time.
But for Richmond coach Damien Hardwick, the goal is to get even better.
“You always think you can be better than what you are,” said Hardwick in his post-match press conference.
“I still think we’ve got enormous upside. We competed around the stoppages pretty well today but we weren’t overly pleased with the movement from stoppages.
“Our transition from the back half at stages wasn’t good enough.
“We can certainly find things we need to fix.”
Leading the way for the Tigers were their star players who are now delivering the sort of consistency that long term success is built upon.
Brett Deledio led the way for Richmond with 28 disposals and five tackles as the Crows strangely seemed to let him run free in the first half but it was Dustin Martin (four goals) and Jack Riewoldt (three goals for himself and a key player in two more) that did most of the damage on the scoreboard.
For the Crows it was Patrick Dangerfield (28 possession, two goal) and Scott Thompson (29 possessions, 1 goal) as the main contributors.
“They boys are disappointed – everyone at the Club is disappointed,” said Dangerfield said after the game.
“We’re not in the position we’d like to be in.
“But what’s done is done. We can’t undo the games we’ve lost. It’s disappointing, but it’s a test for the group. You’ll find something out about the group and how the group is willing to respond.”
The Crows will have two weeks to prepare that response as they move into a bye week before taking on the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium.
The Tigers meanwhile will have a winnable game next week against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
Here are the highlights from the game:
RICHMOND 5.2 9.7 11.10 16.14 (110)
ADELAIDE 2.1 5.4 6.10 10.12 (72)
GOALS
Richmond: Martin 4, Riewoldt 3, Grigg 2, Ellis 2, Cotchin, Newman, Maric, King, Edwards
Adelaide: Dangerfield 2, Callinan, Jenkins, Lynch, Porplyzia, Jenkins, Thompson, van Berlo, Mackay
BEST
Richmond: Deledio, Riewoldt, Martin, Ellis, Conca, Chaplin, Houli
Adelaide: Dangerfield, Sloane, Porplyzia, Thompson, Rutten
INJURIES
Richmond: Batchelor (knee soreness) replaced in selected side by Astbury, Astbury (head)
Adelaide: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Richmond: Matt White replaced David Astbury (head knock) in the third quarter
Adelaide: Ricky Henderson replaced Shaun McKernan in the third quarter.
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Margetts, Stewart, Meredith
Official crowd: 43,615 at the MCG