WE ALL know there’s no such thing as an honourable loss, but you just have to take your hats off to the boys after they nearly got over the line against the Tigers on Saturday.

At four goals down with just one fit player left on the bench you would have thought the Bombers faced an uphill battle just to keep the margin respectable in the second half, but we know now that they were able to do a whole lot more than that.

Andrew Welsh was concussed in the first quarter, Angus Monfries was carried off with an ankle injury in the second and Jay Neagle hobbled off early in the third term, but in a display of sheer guts and determination the lads put a second half to remember.

Leroy Jetta, who is going to be a gun, got the ball rolling with a brilliant snapped goal, Sam Lonergan followed it up and by the time Kyle Reimers slammed through our third in a row, Richmond were well and truly on the back foot.

Then Scotty Lucas gets in on the act with a couple of goals and suddenly the Dons are 12 points up! And what about Lucas’ second major? Adam McPhee’s goal against St Kilda earlier in the season looked a certainty to take out goal of the year honours, but Lucas’ left-footed volley might just get the chocolates.

It was an amazing turnaround given the importance of player rotations these days in keeping fresh legs on the park.

It was always going to be tough to keep that momentum going and surely enough the Tigers retook the lead in the last quarter, but the boys just kept coming.

After Nathan Brown’s third goal you thought that might be it, but the Bombers finished strong and had three shots on goal go wide before Joel Bowden stepped in and iced the clock with two rushed behinds.

It was an interesting tactic and certainly a frustrating one for everyone in red and black because you get the feeling that if the ball had come back into open play the Dons were going to finish the job.

It was a four-point loss at the end of the day, but it was also an effort worthy of a lot of respect.

Brent Stanton is in fine touch at the minute and his 27-possession performance was outstanding, while Jobe Watson was also important with 25 touches in a stirring team effort that allows us to go into next week’s Collingwood match reasonably confident.

As long as we can put 22 fit players on the park!