Australian Football

Match Report

The raw figures of this match seem to tell a familiar tale. A 40-possession game from Gary Ablett drags the Suns over the line against a Richmond team that appears set to deliver another year of disappointment to Tigers’ fans. But numbers rarely tell the full story. Yes, Gary Ablett’s game was his usual dominant one but at Carrara on Saturday night, the Suns showed possibly the strongest signs yet that they are a team that does not rely on a single player. And for Richmond, it may not have been so much a case of not playing well, as being beaten by a team that could challenge the best in 2014.

Saturday night’s match got off to a very fast start with Richmond’s Nick Vlastuin goaling on the run to give the Tigers the early edge after two minutes. But a quick reply from Dion Prestia in the goal-square a minute later sparked a burst of goals from Sam Day, Danny Stanley and Jaeger O’Meara that saw Gold Coast jump out to a 21-point lead midway through the first term. Richmond managed to arrest the onslaught and goals to Ricky Petterd and Jack Riewoldt (with a major to the Suns’ Brandon Matera sandwiched in between) saw the deficit cut back to a manageable 15 points at the first change.

After eight goals between the two teams in the first term, the game took on a different complexion across the next two quarters, with goals particularly hard to come by as both sides took on a more defensive mindset. Only five goals were registered in that period, with the Suns kicking 2.9, while the Tigers registered 3.6. The Suns, who had lost debutant Jack Martin to a shoulder injury in the first term, suffered a further setback in this period, with Charlie Dixon forced from the ground with concussion.

The Suns led by an even two goals at the last change, and with just two players available on the bench, there was an expectation that Richmond could well run over the top of them in the final term. And when Shane Edwards and Dustin Martin goalled within the first five minutes of the final quarter to give the Tigers a one-point lead, that expectation grew stronger.

But as it had done in the first term, a goal against the run of play sparked a Suns avalanche. Tom Lynch kicked it off with a mark and goal after some superb midfield play from David Swallow, and then Day, Swallow and Lynch again contributed majors to take the Suns out to a 25-point lead as the last quarter entered time on. Goals to Ty Vickery and Brett Deledio gave the Tigers brief hope but ‘that man’ Ablett secured a free kick after being caught high and kicked the final goal of the match to deliver an 18-point victory to Gold Coast.

The Suns’ win followed an upset win by GWS against Sydney earlier in the day, marking the first time that the league’s two newest teams had won in the same round. Whether this is a sign of things to come for those two fledgling teams remains to be seen. The Tigers, meanwhile, will get a better idea of how they are placed in 2014 over the next month, with matches against Carlton, the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood to come.

GOALS
Gold Coast: Day, Stanley, Ablett, Lynch 2; Prestia, O’Meara, Matera, Swallow
Richmond: Vickery 2, Vlastuin, Petterd, Riewoldt, Cotchin, Griffiths, Edwards, Martin, Deledio

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Gold Coast: Ablett, Prestia, Rischitelli, Swallow, Cameron, Lynch, Stanley
Richmond: Cotchin, Deledio, Thomas, Martin, Conca

BEST - THE SUNDAY AGE
Gold Coast: Ablett, Swallow, Prestia, Rischitelli, Harbrow, May
Richmond: Cotchin, Deledio

COACHES' COMMENTS
Guy McKenna (GCo): In terms of hanging on, I think that's probably more a mental maturation and a growth mentally to be able to hang on, because that controls your body for those boys to do that with two boys down in the second half really showed a sign of their ability to work through the game when Richmond were coming. It was pretty pleasing.

Damien Hardwick (Rich): At varying stages we didn't make the most of our opportunities inside 50. The count in the last quarter was 21 inside-50s to nine and we were attacking pretty hard but, as what tends to happen, if you don't make the most of your opportunities they [the Suns] get a couple the other way. We probably lost a couple of crucial one-on-ones and they kicked two goals from defensive 50.

INJURIES
Gold Coast: Jack Martin (shoulder), Dixon (concussion)
Richmond: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Gold Coast: Timmy Sumner replaced Jack Martin in the first quarter.
Richmond: Nathan Foley replaced Ben Griffiths in the third quarter.

UMPIRES: Chamberlain, Meredith and Ryan

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Brian Taylor, Luke Darcy, Matthew Richardson, Cameron Ling