Australian Football

Match Report

A top four finish remains an outside possibility for Richmond after the Tigers had a relatively comfortable win over Essendon at the MCG on Saturday night. With one home-and-away round remaining, the Tigers could sneak a double chance if they cab defeat North Melbourne next Friday and Sydney has an upset loss against the Gold Coast Suns a day later. The Tigers took the best part of three quarters to shake off Essendon, mainly as a result of their inaccuracy and the opposite from the Bombers, but kicked away in the last term to win by 27 points. 

The match never attained any great heights and started slowly with only three goals kicked in the first term. Irish recruit Conor McKenna made a dream debut for the Dons, running in and goaling with his first kick in AFL football, and a goal soon after to Cale Hooker gave the Bombers a 10-point lead after 12 minutes. Richmond worked its way into the match after that but while they held the Bombers scoreless for the remainder of the term, they added  only 1.2 themselves - the goal going to Ivan Maric - to trial by two points at quarter time. 

Richmond's ascendancy carried through into the early stages of the second quarter, the Tigers adding 2.2, with both goals going to Ty Vickery in the first 10 minutes as they took a two-goal lead. But the next three goals went Essendon's way as majors to Shaun McKernan, Cale Hooker and Ben Howlett saw the Bombers back in front by four points after 23 minutes. The Tigers snatched back the lead through a Brett Deledio goal and a couple of behinds after that saw Richmond ahead by four at the half. 

Goals continued to be hard to comer by in the third quarter, only four being scored between the two sides. The first two went the way of Richmond via Dustin Martin and Matt Thomas as the Tigers extended their lead to 15 points, but Courtney Dempsey cut that back to nine with a major at the 14-minute mark. The Bombers did not score again in the term, and a goal to Richmond's Shaun Grigg early in time-on saw the Tigers lead by 16 points at the last change.

The final term again only produced four goals, but the first two significantly went the way of Richmond, majors to Brett Deledio and Anthony Miles putting the Tigers 28 points clear after four minutes. The last 24 minutes of the match was uninspiring, each side scoring just the one goal as Richmond maintained its hold on fifth place with a comfortable win.

Deledio (22 possessions, two goals) and Kamdyn McIntosh (27 touches) were among Richmond's best, while Essendon's better players included Brent Stanton (29 disposals) and Dyson Heppell (28 possessions).

An intriguing encounter at the MCG against North Melbourne on Friday night. The two could meet again in an Elimination Final a week later. The Dons will see out a miserable season against Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday. 

GOALS
Essendon: Hooker 3; McKenna, McKernan, Howlett, Dempsey
Richmond: Vickery, Deledio 2; Maric, Martin, Thomas, Grigg, Miles, Edwards

BEST - THEAGE.COM.AU
Essendon: Stanton, Hooker, Hurley, Heppell, McKernan
Richmond: Deledio, Houli, McIntosh, Ellis, Miles, Vlastuin, Grigg, Edwards

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Essendon: Heppell, Hurley, Hooker, McKernan, Stanton, O'Brien
Richmond: McIntosh, Lennon, Thomas, Deledio, Houli

INJURIES
Essendon: Nil
Richmond: Deledio (possible concussion)

SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Jackson Merrett replaced Conor McKenna at three-quarter time.
Richmond: Sam Lloyd replaced Chris Newman in the third quarter.

UMPIRES: Hosking, Schmitt, Ryan

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

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