Richmond v Collingwood lived up to the hype and it may not be the last time they meet in 2018
DID we just watch a preview of the 2018 Grand Final? While it was the Tigers who came away with the four points, there is every indication these two teams will meet again in September and the stakes will be even higher.
AFL News
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IF there was ever a dress rehearsal for September, this was it.
And Richmond? They’re anything but daunted by being centre stage.
The buzz was evident as the sun bathed the MCG and almost 90,000 packed the stands.
You could have been forgiven for thinking it was finals. Of course, it isn’t — yet — but this was an afternoon that was a window to six weeks’ time.
GAME RECAP: HOW TIGERS, PIES CLASH WAS WON
STAT CENTRAL: WHO STOOD UP FOR PIES, TIGERS?
An afternoon to leave whatever was going on outside the MCG at the gate and be absorbed by two arch rivals going blow-for-blow.
The football gods don’t always come to the party, but in this case the hype that gripped Melbourne this week was lived up to in reality as Richmond withstood Collingwood by 28 points in an enthralling bout of heavyweights.
It really did have it all.
“F … knows why the AFL wanna change the rules,” Pies great and Brownlow medallist Dane Swan mused on Twitter.
It was surely a contest that will spark similar suggestions that the game isn’t broken.
It’s one of the most expansive grounds in the land, but there was no room to breathe on the MCG as the Tigers upped their trademark tension and clamped down on Collingwood. Hard.
It’s been wondered whether Richmond is capable of maintaining this pressure — that it has to tire them sometime. But they are anything but flagging.
It’s as if the so-called Tiger train has been fed with coal and stoked mercilessly with the pistons pumping towards September.
How scary they are has been spoken about. We know. Especially late, and they stand head and shoulders above the rest of the competition.
COMPLETE THE SURVEY AND YOU COULD WIN GRAND FINAL TICKETS
But for the most part on Saturday, the reigning premier was delivered a rare challenge — especially at the MCG.
The Tigers took the points after again piling on the final quarter pain and remain the competition’s hunted, but it was Collingwood’s ability to remain relentless in the face of that pressure and stay well and truly with the Tigers that proved most impressive.
Gun Pies pair Jordan De Goey (foot) and Adam Treloar (hamstrings), the Pies hope, will be back for September. Defender Jeremy Howe — who went to Jack Riewoldt early and is vital in the absence of Lynden Dunn — was out for the majority of the day too, after an errant knee from teammate Darcy Moore to the forehead left him concussed, while there are fears Matt Scharenberg may have suffered another heartbreaking knee injury.
There’s excuses on hand if Nathan Buckley wants them. These are key players to say the least.
They may have fallen just short but the electric afternoon, but these Pies mean business and 11 months after Buckley’s re-signing, are a force to be reckoned with if they can learn to withstand late surges like that of the Tigers.
Richmond star Dustin Martin knows there is a longer game in play.
Levi Greenwood had the job to run with the Tiger — and Dusty didn’t like it, but shrugged off the niggle as the Pies stopper desperately tried to lure him in, to deliver yet another Dusty-like showing.
His teammate Jack Higgins should prepare a speech for Brownlow night after his ball-drop-around-the-goalpost and snap that is sure to have him now top of the list for goal of the year honours as he continues to stun with his cool demeanour, in front the second-highest home-and-away crowd this year.
Talk about clever.
It might have been a dress rehearsal, but expect these two sides to be star players come show time as they vie for top billing.
VOTES
3 Brodie Grundy
2 David Astbury
1 Shane Edwards
RICHMOND 5.2 8.3 11.6 16.9 (105)
COLLINGWOOD 2.1 7.1 11.2 12.5 (77)
GOALS
Tigers: Martin 3, Riewoldt 3, Higgins 2, Short 2, Castagna 2, Caddy, Townsend, Edwards, Rioli
Magpies: Thomas 4, Hoskin-Elliott 3, Cox 2, Daicos, Brown, Mihocek
BEST
Tigers: Astbury, Edwards, Cotchin, Prestia, Short, Martin, Higgins
Magpies: Grundy, Pendlebury, Thomas, Moore, Phillips,
INJURIES
Tigers: TBC
Magpies: Howe (concussion), Mihocek (ankle), Scharenberg (knee)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Margetts, Hosking, Findlay
Official crowd: 88,180 at the MCG
Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >
Originally published as Richmond v Collingwood lived up to the hype and it may not be the last time they meet in 2018