RICHMOND fell to Hawthorn by just 12 points on Sunday after pushing the unbeaten Hawks all day in a tight contest at the MCG.
Hawthorn held on to win 14.22 (106) to Richmond's 15.4 (94) in front of 46,076 fans at the MCG.
After a first half of negating, ineffectual football Richmond pushed a wayward Hawthorn side all the way.
Hawthorn left the door ajar by its wasteful kicking for goal. Richmond’s tenacity deserved credit even though they had just over half the scoring shots of the opposition.
From the outset Richmond was under siege with Hawthorn doing all the attacking.
At all times the Tigers were trying to push numbers back to block the path to the big Hawk forwards Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead, and Richmond looked at times to be overly conscious of the in-form Franklin.
Matthew Richardson started well up the ground at each centre bounce, stationing himself on the wing and attempting to drop into Franklin’s leading space to assist the big Hawk’s direct opponent Kelvin Moore. Hawthorn had control of the ball in the first 15 minutes with Franklin, Mark Williams and Roughead finding the target.
Mitch Morton opened Richmond’s goal account and it sparked a yellow and black surge as Nathan Foley and co began to win a share of the ball out of the middle. A minute later Nathan Brown fashioned something out of nothing to goal from a confined space 40 metres out from goal.
When Kane Johnson and Shane Tuck kicked truly the Tigers had rattled on four goals in eight minutes and had cut the gap to five points.
Richmond was racking up plenty of touches but were falling into the trap of being corralled by Hawthorn. The Tiger defence was under plenty of pressure. Moore was sticking with Franklin, and while Richardson was totting up plenty of possessions he was not an attacking force.
Hawthorn was keeping Richmond in the contest with poor kicking for goal and had 4.9 on the board to 4.1. Franklin’s third behind barely scraped in as all but three Tigers were inside the defensive 50 metre arc. The Tigers were hanging in but didn’t look like creating their own attacking moves and the Hawks were dominating possession.
For much of the second quarter it was a scrambly dogfight in Hawthorn’s forward half with Richmond over-possessing with handballs to get itself out of trouble rather than generate attacks.
Roughead was given a free kick in the goalsquare and converted but he had been a prime offender with 1.3. He scored a second goal late in the term, but Richmond kept afloat with late goals to Richard Tambling and Nathan Brown. At half time Hawthorn led by 11 points despite having 11 more scoring shots. The most damning statistic was Richmond’s unbalanced ratio of 82 kicks and 126 handballs.
At the start of the third term Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson had pushed Franklin up the field and opened up the Hawk attack and it paid quick dividends with Roughead goaling three minutes into the quarter. Meanwhile Richardson had been shifted back to his customary place in attack and he outmarked his opponent Stephen Gilham to score a lovely goal from 50 metres.
Richmond was barely recognisable from the stodgy unit that had been on display in the first half and after goals to Jack Riewoldt, Brown and Jay Schulz the Tigers grabbed the lead for the first time all day.
Richmond went into the final term trailing by eight points and promptly made inroads as Richardson soccered a goal from the square after just 20 seconds. Hawthorn’s wayward shooting continued as Franklin’s scoreline moved to 1.7 after another miss.
Richmond kept working and Richardson made no mistake to goal from a free 20 metres out. With 12 minutes gone Hawthorn clung to a five point lead, but then Cyril Rioli crumbed perfectly after Kelvin Moore had done everything right in spoiling Franklin.
Again Richmond refused to knuckle under as Morton marked and kicked a running goal. Richmond’s valiant effort was ended by Hawthorn’s most successful forward for the night, Roughead, who kicked two goals in the space of two minutes.
Hawthorn 4.7 6.12 10.18 14.22 (106)
Richmond 4.1 6.1 11.4 15.4 (94)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Roughead 5, Williams 2, Osborne 2, Rioli 2, Young, Franklin, McGlynn
Richmond: Richardson 4, Brown 3, Morton 2, Deledio, Riewoldt, Johnson, Tuck, Tambling, Schulz
BEST
Hawthorn: Hodge, Roughead, Osborne, Crawford, Mitchell, Rioli
INJURIES
Hawthorn: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: McBurney, Stewart, Jeffery
Official crowd: 46,076 at the MCG
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
