JADE Rawlings has engineered Richmond's third win of the season in his first game in charge with his side dispatching West Coast by 15 points at Docklands on Saturday night.
The fresh approach breathed new life into the Tigers, who jumped the Eagles with their best first quarter of the season before holding their nerve to see off a late challenge for the 13.14 (92) to 11.11 (77) victory.
For a match that threatened to be completely overrun by sub-plots – Rawlings, Ben Cousins pitted against his former side and debuts for Eagle Nic Naitanui and Tiger Tyrone Vickery – the contests around the ground were absorbing.
Even so, Cousins was prominent – particularly early in the last quarter – with his 28 possessions a major factor in the victory.
Richard Tambling was also outstanding for Richmond with 28 possessions and Nathan Foley (31) and Shane Tuck (30) found plenty of the ball.
Daniel Jackson got the job on Daniel Kerr and he won a spiteful-at-times battle in keeping West Coast's dangerman to 18 largely ineffective disposals.
Ex-Eagle Mitch Morton booted five goals for Richmond while Josh Kennedy was West Coast's leading scorer with four.
David Wirrpanda was influential for the visitors with 23 possessions and got plenty of support from Matt Priddis (33) and Chris Masten (29).
Gun youngsters Vickery and Naitanui showed plenty of promise. The Tiger finished with eight touches and a goal and the Eagle gathered 11 possessions and took a towering grab late in the game.
In the first quarter, the Tigers were many things they haven't been so far this season – quick to play on, accurate by foot and able to mark the ball inside 50 – and it paid off handsomely.
Angus Graham was an unlikely first goalkicker after he made the most of some poor defence to mark Tambling's pass. When Morton added the next two, Richmond was away.
Naitanui trotted onto the ground at the 10-minute mark and took up a position in attack, but it was Kennedy who registered his side's first goal soon after.
However, the Tigers were their worst enemies in front of goal and a run of four behinds in succession ruined an otherwise magnificent start to Rawlings' coaching tenure.
They soon got the radar working, however, with Morton and Brett Deledio giving their side an imposing 30-point lead. But Priddis, with a nice assist from Naitanui, dragged it back to 24 points shortly before the first break.
Kennedy took over from Morton as the most dangerous forward on the ground in the second quarter with the former Blue banging through three goals to reignite the Eagles' challenge.
But while the Tigers weren't able to move the ball at the same pace in the second term, they still managed to maintain a handy lead. Shane Edwards, Jack Riewoldt and Tom Hislop did the damage, but when Mitch Brown bounced through a goal from a Richmond turnover inside the last minute of the half there were only three goals in it.
Richmond managed to keep West Coast at arm's length for most of the third term, but despite Hislop's second, inaccuracy was again an issue.
Vickery converted a free kick and received the congratulations of the entire side to edge the margin out to 24 points, but the Eagles finished the quarter strongly with goals to Matt Rosa and Adam Selwood to draw within 11 at the last change.
West Coast looked the fresher of the two sides going into the last, but Morton – fed by Cousins, then Jackson – burst back onto the scene with two goals inside three minutes, making things difficult for the Eagles.
Naitanui climbed high but sent his checkside set shot crashing into the post. LeCras kept his side in it with his second, but Edwards answered late in the game to start the celebrations in the stands.
Richmond 5.6 8.8 10.12 13.14 (92)
West Coast 2.0 6.2 9.7 11.11 (77)
GOALS
Richmond: Morton 5, Hislop 2, Edwards 2, Deledio, Graham, Vickery, Riewoldt
West Coast: Kennedy 4, LeCras 3, Priddis, A. Selwood, Brown, Rosa
BEST
Richmond: Tambling, Morton, Cousins, Foley, Jackson, McGuane, Deledio
West Coast: Wirrpanda, Priddis, Kennedy, A. Selwood, LeCras, Cox, Masten
INJURIES
Richmond: Nil
West Coast: Nil
Umpires: Margetts, Nicholls, Jeffery
Official crowd: 30,117 at Docklands
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
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