Jubilant Richmond Tigers snap eight-game losing streak to hit final nail in Crows’ 2024 coffin
Richmond have poured cold water on speculation star midfielder Shai Bolton could be lured West as they prepare for a week of celebration for Dustin Martin’s 300th game.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Richmond expects premiership heroes Tom Lynch and Dion Prestia to be fit to help celebrate Dustin Martin’s 300th game as the Tigers issued a hands-off message to Fremantle over Shai Bolton.
Richmond’s second victory of the season came with Adem Yze hailing the improvement of his young brigade as Tom Brown, Seth Campbell, Samson Ryan and Noah Cumberland delivered against Adelaide.
Cumberland’s brain fade to overturn a Jacob Koschitzke shot at goal after shoving his teammate’s opponent to the ground was unforgivable yet the Tigers held on at Adelaide Oval.
Lynch has been in full training for some time after his hamstring tendon surgery and Richmond expects him to train next week and take on Hawthorn next Saturday.
And while Prestia finished the game on the bench after being managed leading into the clash, coach Adem Yze reported that he would still be available against the Hawks.
The uncontracted Prestia is desperate to play on next year and is in excellent form but after hamstring issues across the first half of the season is battling calf soreness.
“He was a little bit sore going into the game from training. He copped a knock on that at training. Got through the game. We have got a nine day break leading into the Hawthorn game so he should be fine. He seemed fine throughout the game, just a little bit of a knock on the lower calf,” Yze said.
Koschitzke is likely to be handed a fine for his elbow to the stomach of opponent Mark Keane given the precedent of the match review panel this week.
He had been playing as a defender in the VFL in recent weeks but in the absence of Mykelti Lefau (ACL tear) provided a strong contest forward of the ball.
Bolton is contracted to 2028 on a deal of up to $1.2 million a year and Fremantle has three first-rounders as well as next year’s future first to attempt to lure him back west as it also registers interest in Liam Baker.
The Dockers could put together an awesome trade package for Bolton and Baker that would mean Richmond would take as many as five top 20 picks into the national draft but the Tigers will not release 25-year-old Bolton.
Bolton’s camp this week said he was happy at Richmond and Tigers football boss Tim Livingstone said in interviews with Fox Footy and SEN on Thursday night he was going nowhere.
“I don’t think there is anything in it with Shai. He loves being around club, he is a contracted player and he is really important to us. We aren’t reading anything into it,” he said.
Martin was never going to take on Adelaide with a five-day break given the rest also allowed him to play Hawthorn at home for his milestone clash.
But he has recovered from a bout of ill health that also saw him miss a pre-arranged interview about his career and is expected to fulfil that obligation next week in the lead-in to the clash.
Richmond is intent on recognising his achievement even if Martin is notoriously media-shy, with coach Yze joking he might come back through the VFL after missing both of the club’s victories this year.
It’s huge, but we did win so he might have to come back through the VFL… In all seriousness, it’s a massive week for our club and one that we want to celebrate one of our greatest players,” he said.
“We do that really well at our footy club, we celebrate our people, and this is an opportunity to celebrate one of our best. We’ll have an amazing week leading up to it, our players will want to play well for him and make it a big occasion.”
Jubilant Tigers snare upset on the road to continue Crows’ agony
- Jason Phelan
Adelaide’s floundering season was plunged to new depths on Thursday night, injury-depleted Richmond snapping an eight-game losing streak to expose the disappointing Crows’ faint finals hopes as fantasy.
The Tigers, 17th on the ladder with just one win going into the clash and a host of injured stars at home, trailed by a point at half-time then unleashed a withering six-goal blast in the third quarter.
Adem Yze’s men led by 22 points at the last change and had to see off a late rally as the home side finally clicked into gear.
First-gamer Billy Dowling picked the perfect time to kick his first AFL goal, cutting the margin to nine points with six minutes remaining, but that would be the last goal of the night, the jubilant Tigers condemning Adelaide to a 4-8-1 record.
WHAT RESPONSE?
Adelaide fans expecting a ferocious opening after last week’s insipid first half in a loss to Hawthorn were left sorely disappointed with the home side unable to handle the switched-on Tigers’ early pressure, Yze’s men slamming through the first three goals of the match.
Kamdyn McIntosh and Noah Balta set the tone as the visitors dictated terms, with murmurs of discontent rippling around Adelaide Oval as the Crows’ fumbles, turnovers and dropped marks mounted.
Josh Rachele, who raised eyebrows with his public questioning of a lack of time on the ball, hadn’t touched the ball with four minutes to go in the first term, but he made his first disposal count, booting his side’s first goal.
STRACHANIE!
Much interest centred on Adelaide’s ruck situation after long-term first-choice ruckman Reilly O’Brien was dropped in favour of Kieran Strachan.
Playing just his sixth game at age 28, Strachan battled hard against Richmond skipper Toby Nankervis in the first half and snuck forward to claim his first AFL goal in the second quarter.
Strachan’s promising return was cut short, however, the beanpole ruckman ruled out for the rest of the match after injuring a groin in the third quarter, his absence allowing Nankervis to dominate.
Key defender James Borlase, recast as a forward in the absence of injured veteran Taylor Walker, was also mobbed by his teammates after booting his first goal of his career shortly after the restart, but it was a rare bright spot in a dominant quarter by Richmond.
HEROES & VILLAINS
Noah Cumberland kicked the first goal of the match and was critical to the Tigers’ third-quarter surge with another two in a stunning run of five unanswered majors.
Jacob Koschitzke bobbed up with a goal as the visitors ran riot, but he soon turned villain in the eyes of the home fans.
With the ball about to be thrown up in the Richmond attacking 50, play was stopped with Crows defender Mark Keane writhing in pain off the ball.
Replays showed Koschitzke had felled the Irishman with a swinging elbow to the midriff that will certainly draw the attention of the Match Review Officer.
Despite his heroics, Cumberland also found himself cast as a villain late in a dramatic third term.
With Koschitzke about to take a shot on goal after marking strongly 45m out, the ball was taken off him and given to Keane after Cumberland rushed in to a push and shove and floored the Adelaide defender.
CROWS 2.4 5.6 7.8 10.11 (71)
TIGERS 3.4 5.5 11.6 12.7 (79)
PHELAN’S BEST
CROWS: Dawson, Michalanney, Nankervis, Laird, Sholl, Fogarty, Soligo.
TIGERS: Short, Balta, Nankervis, Taranto, Baker, McIntosh, Cumberland.
GOALS
CROWS: Fogarty 3, Rachele 2, Strachan, Schoenberg, Murphy, Borlase, Dowling.
TIGERS: Cumberland 3, McIntosh 2, Mansell 2, Campbell 2, Koschitzke, Broad, Baker.
INJURIES
CROWS: Strachan (groin). TIGERS: Prestia (calf).
UMPIRES Haussen, Hosking, Fleer, Bailes
37,342 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Short (Rich)
2 Dawson (Adel)
1 Balta (Rich)
Originally published as Jubilant Richmond Tigers snap eight-game losing streak to hit final nail in Crows’ 2024 coffin
Tragedy, triumph and the phone call that changed everything
Logan Evans started 2023 as a highly-rated draft prospect. But in the space of two months, his life was turned upside down. The teenager was then hit with another blow in November – before the phone rang.
How high-flying Warner is staying grounded
He might not look it on the field with his darting runs through the midfield, but on matchdays Chad Warner is the picture of calm. He’s staying grounded ahead of one of the biggest matches of his career.