Under fire Richmond responds with 15-point win over Collingwood at MCG in Round 20

UNDER fire on multiple fronts, Richmond has responded in the best possible way, edging out Collingwood in a dramatic clash at the MCG.

Dustin Martin of the Tigers (right) reacts after kicking a goal during the round 20 AFL match between the Richmond Tigers and Collingwood Magpies at the MCG in Melbourne, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. (AAP Image/Julian Smith) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

UNDER fire on multiple fronts, Richmond has responded in the best possible way, edging out Collingwood in a dramatic clash at the MCG.

Desperate for a win to ease pressure on embattled coach Damien Hardwick, the maligned Tigers pocketed a precious 15-point win to silence the critics — however temporarily.

On the verge of implosion, Richmond bravely ended a miserable two-week sequence marked by heavy losses to Hawthorn and Greater Western Sydney.

Referring to speculation around board ructions, overhauls of the player list and uncertainty around his own job, Hardwick talked pre-game of the irrelevance of “external noise”.

But when the Tigers lapsed to a 25-point deficit after only 12 minutes, the noise of sharpening blades grew ever louder.

From that depressing and foreboding start, the Tigers kicked 14 of the following 21 goals to lift the Punt Road gloom.

Celebrating Dustin Martin (150th game) and Taylor Hunt’s (100th) milestones in fitting style, Richmond withstood a late Magpie charge to kick the last three goals of a fluctuating contest to notch just their second win in six outings.

Dustin Martin was excellent on Friday night.

Led superbly by Alex Rance, Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt, Richmond deflected attention from clandestine board level machinations and Hardwick’s future.

As humble as 12th versus 13th in Round 20, it was a deserved triumph tinted with gold.

When the crisis of the past fortnight appeared to deepen, Richmond took the only available course to it and it outworked Collingwood.

And the Pies were complicit in Richmond’s pressure-easing victory, botching the chance to bury their old adversary by squandering a perfect opening with a stunning decline in skill and intensity.

Untouchable for the first 12 minutes as it raced to a 25-point buffer, Nathan Buckley’s team shaped to rout a wounded foe.

But shoddy skills (24 clangers to Richmond’s 14), questionable decision-making and ineffective movement contrived against it.

Making matters worse for the Pies was a left leg injury to captain Scott Pendlebury.

Richmond’s post-match elation was evident as jubilant players mobbed Hardwick.

The change-room mood contrasted with the decidedly glum tone pre-match when black-coated Tiger supporters gathered outside the ground, seemingly numbed in funereal trepidation.

Their worst fears seemed founded during that dreadful start as Richmond made the worst imaginable start.

Destroyed at the stoppages, it was shoved aside with worrying ease as Collingwood ran amok.

The voices of supporter dissent grew ever louder as the Tigers’ most detested rival rode roughshod, dominating the inside 50 count.

But suddenly, players with rumoured career life expectancies of no longer than season’s end, reacted.

Just as the spectre rose of a third successive mauling, a Cotchin smother and a Ben Reid clanger breathed life back into a critically ill patient.

Ineffective and uncompetitive early, Richmond regrouped to kick seven of the next nine goals to lead at halftime by six points.

Footballers of supposedly dubious character ran themselves ragged as the Tigers’ outside pace exposed the Magpies.

From a position of dominance, Coliingwood’s near flawless execution disappeared in a haze of errors.

Worse, there seemed to be a misplaced sense of diffidence among a team sitting 12th with only eight wins for the season.

Leading by 13 points late in the third term, the Tigers were overhauled early in a rollercoaster final term as Pendlebury inspired an overdue revival.

But, having clawed back the lead with goals to Pendlebury and Jesse White, Pies’ momentum stalled with Pendlebury’s loss with a lower leg injury.

Martin (34 disposals), Bachar Houli (30), Cotchin (28), Riewoldt (four goals) and Rance (26 disposals, including eight marks and nine rebounds out of the defensive 50) were the standard bearers.

Brodie Grundy (19 disposals and 17 hit-outs) Adam Treloar ((24 possessions and nine tackles), James Aish, Ryan Sidebottom and Rupert Wills won plenty of ball for the Pies.

RICHMOND 14.8 (92)

COLLINGWOOD 11.11 (77)

GOALS

Richmond: Riewoldt 4, Vickery 2, Martin, Grigg, Marcon, Moore, Ellis, Drummond, Lloyd, Rioli.

Collingwood: Aish 2, Cox 2, Adams, Wills, Pendlebury, Varcoe, Cloke, White, Crocker.

BEST

Richmond: Rance, Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt, Houli, Markov.

Collingwood: Grundy, Treloar, Aish, Sidebottom, Wills, Smith.

VOTES

3 — Alex Rance (RIC)

2 — Trent Cotchin (RIC)

1 — Dustin Martin (RIC)

Originally published as Under fire Richmond responds with 15-point win over Collingwood at MCG in Round 20