Richmond v Adelaide: Jack Riewoldt takes incredible courageous mark to lead Tigers to victory
With the Crows charging and Richmond fans getting nervous, the Tigers needed a hero. Jack Riewoldt stepped up with one of the most amazing acts of courage in recent times.
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Richmond champion Jack Riewoldt stepped up to help his team survive a final-quarter fright against Adelaide in a performance which might just kickstart the Tigers’ faltering bid for an historic “three-peat”.
The Tigers looked home and hosed when they opened up a 34-point lead late in the third quarter, after trailing by four goals midway through the first term.
But after going back into their shells in the middle two quarters, allowing Richmond to kick 11 of 13 goals during that period, the Crows began taking the game on again in the final term.
With nothing to lose, Adelaide booted the first four goals of the final term to cut the deficit to just nine points at the 15-minute mark.
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With the Crows coming hard and threatening to repeat their comeback heroics against Melbourne a week earlier, Riewoldt sensed the occasion and took a leaf out of his famous cousin Nick’s book by taking a stupendously courageous chest mark backing back into a pack with the flight of the ball before converting a crucial set shot.
In fact, he ended up kicking the final three goals of the game to emphatically stamp his authority on the contest.
Asked if he had overtaken Nick’s epic 2004 grab at the SCG, Riewoldt laughed.
“He’s got me covered ... definitely,” he told Fox Footy.
“I just sort of looked at it and jumped for the ball.”
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Tigers coach Damien Hardwick described the mark as “amazing”.
“In fairness I was calling him out of that mark. I said, ‘Don’t go! Don’t go!’ I thought the game was probably over.”
Crows counterpart Matthew Nicks could only watch in awe.
“I think the key moment is Riewoldt going back with the flight in that last quarter and the way he played out for the rest of the game,” Nicks said post-match.
“It’s courage and an outstanding mark. Credit to him, obviously he’s an experienced player and he’s an important player for them, so unfortunately we were on the other end of it.
“We had a little bit of a run going up until that point, a little bit of momentum with us – it turned the game.”
Richmond now improves to a 6-5 win-loss record and after making similarly slow starts to the season in each of their last three premiership years, Riewoldt’s game might very well be looked back on as the most pivotal individual performance which sparked the Tigers to finally get their act together in season 2021.
Hardwick revealed Richmond sought special clearance to whisk Shane Edwards from Melbourne’s lockdown into Sydney on Sunday and expects the Indigenous superstar to return from a nasty ankle sprain in Saturday night’s Dreamtime blockbuster in Perth.
The Tigers will drive 20km east on Monday before flying 3300km west on Friday as they get set to prepare for the marquee match against Essendon from Sydney’s glamour suburb of Coogee, training nearby at the SCG.
The Tigers will check out of the Novotel Olympic Park hotel in the western Sydney’s concrete jungle on Monday and relocate to their beachside base after jumping back into the top eight with a rollicking 28-point win against Adelaide at Giants Stadium.
Defender David Astbury (Achilles soreness) is unlikely to return against the rampaging Bombers, who Hardwick declared were one of the AFL’s form teams after posting three consecutive wins.
But every Tiger is now in their makeshift Sydney hub and their reserves played Greater Western Sydney in a scrimmage at the Giants’ training oval on Saturday.
Edwards, 32, got through a running session on Sunday and could force out promising youngster Riley Collier-Dawkins or Hugo Ralphsmith.
The Tigers clicked in their Gold Coast hub last year, with Kamdyn McIntosh building some soccer goals and Tom Lynch’s Monopoly Deal cards helping players enjoy life under the AFL’s heavy restrictions.
Hardwick said he would be “disappointed” if Perth supporters didn’t sell out Optus Stadium next week.
He praised the Giants for providing access to their facilities last week.
“In these times clubs are very, very good at looking after each other with regards to training venues and helping each other out,” he said.
“GWS were fantastic with us this week. We’ll move hotels to Coogee and then probably train at the SCG I think this week.”
In the absence of Tom Lynch, Riewoldt combined with second-gamer Callum Coleman-Jones (four) and fringe inclusion Mabor Chol (two) to ensure Richmond’s makeshift forward structure produced 11 goals.
“I’m really proud of the young guys, he (Coleman-Jones) really stood up,” Riewoldt said.
“We know he’s been a good player at VFL level, and I’m just so rapt that he’s come out here and played well, the same with Mabior.”
TIGERS ON THE BACK FOOT
Richmond’s season looked like it was hanging by a thread when the Crows piled on five consecutive goals in 14 minutes to jump out to a 24-point lead in the first term on the way to recording their best quarter-time score in more than three years.
But the Tigers composed themselves and began playing the game on their terms as they increased the pressure, sped up the pace of the contest up and forced Adelaide to commit regular turnovers by cutting down their decision-making time.
They ended up dominating the marks 146-53 and, apart from the early final-quarter burst from the Crows, were able to control the game as a result. Six goals in a row in the third term, including a pair of beauties from Hugo Ralphsmith on tight angles, ultimately made the job too hard for Adelaide.
CCJ HAS A CRACKER
Callum Coleman-Jones had to wait a long time for his second crack at senior level, after making his debut in 2019 and serving his penance for his COVID breach in the Queensland bubble last year.
But he played like a man desperate to make amends for that indiscretion and repay the faith. He was a huge reason as to why the Tigers got back in the contest after quarter-time and looks a capable replacement for injured star Tom Lynch.
WALKER WIZARDRY
The resurgent Taylor Walker produced another stellar performance with a team-high four goals, and he was running hot in the first half. The highlight was a sensational goal early in the second term which he bounced home from 40m out on the boundary line while being pushed over by Noah Balta after accepting the handball from Shane McAdam.
ADELAIDE PAYS FOR COSTLY MISSES
Richmond turned the tide dramatically in the second quarter but it could’ve been a different story had Adelaide taken more of its chances in front of goal. Instead, the Crows had to settle for just the one major for the term as Taylor Walker (twice), Riley Thilthorpe, David Mackay and Jimmy Rowe, who kicked it across the face and out on the full from the pocket, all missed gettable shots.
KARMA CATCHES UP WITH MURRAY
After being at the centre of one of the most contentious non-decisions of the year last week when he deliberately handballed the ball out of bounds next to Melbourne’s behind post in the dying stages of Adelaide’s one-point win against the Demons, the umpires made sure Nick Murray wasn’t going to get away with again.
In what looked like a harsh over-correction, Murray was pinged for making insufficient intent to keep the ball in play when he charged in at the loose ball in front of Callum Coleman-Jones late in the second quarter, sending the ball out off his knee.
Coleman-Jones added insult to injury with a magnificent set shot from a sharp angle on the boundary line to give Richmond the halftime lead.
TIGERS 3.1, 8.3, 14.6, 17.9 (111)
CROWS 6.3, 7.7, 8.9, 12.11 (83)
LERNER’S BEST
Tigers: Riewoldt, Bolton, Coleman-Jones, Martin, Short, Cotchin, Nankervis.
Crows: Walker, Keays, Sloane, O’Brien, Doedee, Fogarty.
GOALS
Tigers: Riewoldt 5, Coleman-Jones 4, Chol 2, Ralphsmith 2, Cotchin, Bolton, Graham, Martin.
Crows: Walker 4, Fogarty 3, O’Brien, Berry, Thilthorpe, Rowe, Sholl.
INJURIES
Tigers: Nil.
Crows: Berry (concussion).
UMPIRES: Haussen, Hosking, Toner
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LERNER’S VOTES
3. Jack Riewoldt (Rich)
2. Taylor Walker (Adel)
1. Shai Bolton (Rich)
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Originally published as Richmond v Adelaide: Jack Riewoldt takes incredible courageous mark to lead Tigers to victory
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