Australian Football

Match Report

Richmond has kept its top four chances alive with a workmanlike win over Carlton at the MCG on Friday night. The match never reached any great heights but the Tigers did what good sides do - get a victory on the board, even when they are not at their best. Richmond was only four points ahead at the first break, buy won every quarter to lead by 10 points at half time and 22 at the last change before running out winners by 30. 

The Tigers could not have started the match any better, with spearhead Jack Riewoldt scoring a goal within the first minute but the game quickly turned into a dour affair after that with goals at a premium. For the next 20 minutes the two sides could do no more than register behinds until Brett Deledio marked and goaled to put the Tigers 10 points clear. A late free kick went the way of Blue Levi Casboult and he converted to keep the Blues in touch. The Tigers' lead at the first change was four points.

Goals continued to be hard to come by in the second term. The two sides traded behinds once more until Shane Edwards crumbed a pack and goaled to out Richmond 10 points ahead at the nine-minute mark. Andrejs Everitt responded for the Blues a few minutes later but there was to be only one other goal for the quarter kicked by Richmond skipper Trent Cotchin at the 22-minute mark and it was the Tigers by 10 at the half. 

The first half of the third quarter was a crucial phase in the match, with the Tigers looking every bit a top-four side as they kicked 4.1 while holding Carlton scoreless, the goals going to Shaun Grigg, Cotchin and Riewoldt (two). That burst put Richmond 35 points ahead but the Blues clawed some of that deficit back in the second half of the term, with majors to Lachie Henderson and Matthew Kreuzer cutting the difference to 22 at the last change of ends. 

Carlton had a big chance to put scoreboard pressure on the Tigers at the start of the last quarter, but Andrew Carazzo missed a very easy shot within the first two minutes of the term after being awarded a free kick. Richmond then counterattacked, and a goal to Ty Vickery at the eight-minute mark more or less settled the result. The last 19 minutes of the match saw each side add just one goal to their total, with the Tigers grinding out an unattractive but important win.

Alex Rance (22 disposals) played a fine game for the Tigers, with Grigg (25 possessions, seven tackles) and Deledio (21 touches, seven marks) also very good. For the Blues, Carrazzo (23 possessions), Kreuzer (seven tackles, seven marks, 16 hitouts) and Bryce Gibbs (21 touches) were amongst the best.

The fifth-placed Tigers will meet St Kilda (13th, 5-9) at Docklands next Sunday while Carlton (16th with three wins), who have lost Gibbs for the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle, will travel to Perth to take on ladder leader Fremantle at Subiaco next Saturday night.

GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 3; Cotchin 2; Deledio, Edwards, Grigg, Vickery, Martin
Carlton: Casboult 2; Everitt, Henderson, Kreuzer

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Richmond: Rance, Riewoldt, Deledio, Grigg, Cotchin 
Carlton: Carrazzo, Kreuzer, Gibbs, Tuohy, Murphy

BEST - THE SATURDAY AGE
Richmond: Rance, Grigg, Deledio, Ellis, Riewoldt, Cotchin, Martin, Morris
Carlton: Carrazzo, Kreuzer, Cripps, Gibbs, Bell, Buckley

INJURIES
Richmond: Edwards (leg) 
Carlton: Jamison (concussion), Armfield (arm)

SUBSTITUTES 
Richmond: Shane Edwards replaced by Kane Lambert in the third quarter
Carlton: Michael Jamison replaced by Jason Tutt in the first quarter

UMPIRES: Farmer, Bannister, Pannell

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Bruce McAvaney, Dennis Cometti, Cameron Ling, Wayne Carey, Tim Watson