Australian Football

Match Report

On the city's western fringes, over the railyards of Mile End at  Richmond's City Mazda Stadium the Bloods hosted the Redlegs. This was to be an interesting match up, aside from an expected win against the Roosters, the 'Legs have taken a few costly losses in the latter half of the season and at the time of the game were sitting third. Westies had dropped to fourth, some losses of their own to top five opposition had some pundits putting a question mark over how far they would go come finals time. Their last encounter came down to a single kick, back in Round 9 the Redlegs survived the Bloods challenge to win by a goal at The Parade. The last time they faced off at Richmond, a low-scoring affair saw the Bloods go down by 21 points so home ground advantage in recent times had not been an issue.

Early on, it seemed the Redlegs had addressed their ill-timed form slump as they went into the first change with a 14-point lead after kicking 4.2 to the Bloods' two goals. But the reigning premiers would be in for a shock as the Bloods went bonzo in the second term to kick 7.3 to a paltry 1.1. At the long break, Westies were ahead by four goals. Both teams had a hard time finding the big sticks when play resumed, the Redlegs took just one point but the Bloods peppered their goal continuously for little reward for 1.7. By the final change, the home side were out to a six-goal lead. But it looked as though the Bloods saved their best for last, putting the exclamation point on the final result as they rammed through 8.4 to Norwood's 3.1. The final gap would be blown out to 69 points, the Bloods perhaps sending a warning to the Magpies ahead of their final round match. The result would also have the effect of putting the Redlegs into fourth position, their last match against the Eagles could see them facing a sudden death premiership defence.

The Bloods would vote in Chris Schmidt as their best afield, while the 'Legs named Matt Suckling as their best on a dirty afternoon.