Dustin Martin picked up 13 possessions before half-time but he also found himself in the umpire's book for striking Carlton's Simon White. The off-the-ball incident happened early in the second quarter, some distance off the ball in the Tigers' attacking 50. He grappled with White for some time in full view of the umpire, with both landing a handful of jumper punches before Martin connected one with force that attracted attention despite both players keeping their feet. If he is cited by the Match Review Panel, he has no carry-over points to worry about; Martin was last reported in 2012 for being involved in a melee for which he was fined.

 

It was a 26-point half-time lead the Tigers held before they were mowed down by the Blues in last year's elimination final. So, you can imagine the nerves of the yellow and black faithful when a 37-point second-quarter lead was whittled to one point 17 minutes into the last quarter. While the Blues were without Chris Judd, who was the saviour in that September triumph with a stunning third quarter, they were buoyed by Chris Yarran and Dale Thomas this time and a surge of final-term goals – despite a run of behinds in between – that got them within a straight kick. But this story had a different ending with an untidy goal from Tyrone Vickery with three minutes remaining after a turnover from Robbie Warnock ahead of Dustin Martin's sealer with seconds on the clock, which left the Blues to rue shocking kicking in front of goal.  

 

Lachie Henderson has spoken of how he doesn't favour one end to the other but he must have gotten dizzy with the number of times he changed positions. After starting up forward against Troy Chaplin, he was sent back midway through the first term to man Vickery when Sam Rowe went into the ruck. From there, he shifted from either end multiple times – sometimes to give the Blues another attacking options, sometimes to take Vickery and other times to provide a loose man in defence. He started the third quarter forward, with Jarrad Waite briefly moving down back, but both finished the game in attack where the former was involved in a few scoring opportunities and the latter was inaccurate from three set shots.  

 

After the Tigers' loss to Gold Coast in round one, Brandon Ellis and Reece Conca were singled out by coach Damien Hardwick as second-tier midfielders who didn't stand up. On Thursday night, they let their actions do the talking in the first half. It was 10 possessions and two goals to Ellis before the main break, and 15 disposals to Conca as the leading Richmond ball-winner behind Trent Cotchin. Both were quiet in the second half but Conca finished with 19 and Ellis with 18 and were among the Tigers' best.

 

There was much conjecture about round one being spread over two weekends without a game at the MCG because of cricket commitments. Before the first bounce, Richmond president Peggy O'Neal put moving the blockbuster match back to its previous position as the true season opener on the agenda by saying the Tigers expect it to be reinstated as the first game. With a crowd of 62,037 turning out for a weeknight game outside of school or public holidays, there was a strong case made for that to happen with a cracking match played out on a pristine MCG on a balmy autumn night.

 

Twitter: @AFL_JenPhelan