Australian Football

Match Report

Richmond has established itself as a bona fide finals contender with a crushing win over the Western Bulldogs in front of more than 44,000 fans at Docklands Stadium. Brett Deledio grabbed the ball from the first ruck contest of the match, burst clear of the centre, and kicked a magnificent running goal within the first 10 seconds of the match to set the tone of the day for the Tigers.

Damien Hardwick's men dominated all facets of the game in the early going to race away to a 20-point quarter-time lead. It could - and should - have been a much bigger lead, as the Tigers wasted numerous opportunities in the first term, ending the quarter with a score of 4.9.

But any thoughts of squandering a good start were laid to rest throughout the remaining three terms. Richmond won each of those quarters quite convincingly to set up a 72-point win. The result was particularly pleasing given that the Bulldogs had been a form side over the first two rounds, easily accounting for Brisbane, and pushing Fremantle a long way.

The win was set up by Richmond's dominant midfield, with the trio of Dustin Martin, Brett Deledio and Trent Cotchin all magnificent. Their work was finished off nicely in the forward line by Jack Riewoldt (five goals), Luke McGuane (five goals) and Deledio himself (three goals).

There were few bright lights for the Bulldogs, although Liam Jones was a strong focus in the forward line, taking several strong contested marks and kicking four goals. The Dogs unfortunately lost Easton Wood to a hamstring injury in the first quarter and Tory Dickson to an ankle injury late in the match, one that will sideline him for up to six weeks. The news got worse after the match, with confirmation that Shaun Higgins had sustained a fracture of the navicular bone in his foot and would miss the remainder of the season.

Richmond has now won its first three matches for the first time since 1995, a year in which they made the preliminary finals, and will take on the Magpies at the MCG in round four in a match that should attract close to 90,000 fans and provide a guide to how far the Tigers really have come in 2013.

GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 5; Deledio, McGuane 3; S Edwards, Martin 2; Knights, Houli, Jackson, Tuck, Maric
Western Bulldogs: Jones 4; Cooney 2; Stevens, Griffen, Giansiracusa, Dahlhaus

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
Richmond: Martin, Deledio, Cotchin, Riewoldt, Chaplin, Houli, Grigg
Western Bulldogs: Jones, Griffen, Murphy, Cross

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Richmond: Martin, Deledio, Cotchin, Houli, Maric, Morris, McGuane
Western Bulldogs: Cooney, Griffen, Jones, Morris, Wallis

COACHES' COMMENTS
Damien Hardwick (Rich): I thought it was pretty solid. We were pleased with the fact that we won four quarters of good, solid footy. I thought we controlled the game really well through our offence. We denied the Bulldogs the ball, which has been a real strength of theirs.

Brendan McCartney (WB): They outplayed us in all areas of the game. The controlled a lot more positions as a result of that than what we did. Our expectations were that we'd be a lot better around the ball and a lot better defensively and we were quite poor.

INJURIES
Richmond: Jake Batchelor (ankle) replaced in selected side by Chris Knights
Western Bulldogs: Ayce Cordy (back tightness) replaced in selected side by Tom Campbell, Easton Wood (hamstring), Dickson (ankle)

SUBSTITUTES
Richmond: Chris Knights replaced by Brandon Ellis in the fourth quarter
Western Bulldogs: Easton Wood (hamstring) replaced by Clay Smith in the first quarter

UMPIRES: Stewart, Leppard, Kamolins