AFL round 14: All the scores, news and reaction out of the Thursday night clash between Richmond and Carlton

Frustration boiled over during the Richmond v Carlton match, but one rising Tiger’s taunting moment took it too far, his coach and teammates say. WATCH

Chris Cavanagh

@chriscavanagh1

6 min read

June 17, 2022 - 6:00AM

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Richmond forward Shai Bolton has found himself in hot water with his teammates and coach after an unusual taunting incident that went against the Tigers’ team ethos.

Bolton was in space running into an open goal early in the final quarter at the MCG on Thursday night when he held out the ball with his left hand and poked out his tongue in the direction of chasing Carlton defender Sam Docherty.

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How's the sass from Shai Bolton? ðŸ˜‚

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Richmond co-captain Toby Nankervis said that Bolton had “overstepped the mark” and the incident went against the Tigers desire to be a “really humble football club that plays footy in the right way”.

Coach Damien Hardwick backed the sentiment, labelling Bolton’s actions a “mistake”.

“It’s not us,” Hardwick said.

“It’s not what we’re about and he’ll be regretful, no question. He’ll be accountable and responsible for it and it’s certainly not part of who he is and who we are.

Richmond’s Shai Bolton has drawn the ire of his coach and teammates for this act. Picture: Fox Sports

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said Bolton’s act was “not a great look”. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

“So we’re disappointed, but we’ll work our way through it and support him and he’ll learn some lessons from it. It’s not a great look.

“It’s not what we stand for.”

Hardwick said frustration was no excuse for the incident.

“One of the things we always want to do is honour our competition,” Hardwick said.

“That probably goes against that. Well, it does go against that.”

The Tigers scored a 15-point win over the Blues in what was their sixth victory in seven matches.

However, the triumph was soured by a recurrent hamstring injury for swingman Noah Balta.

Balta left the field clutching his right hamstring in the final quarter, having suffered an injury to the same hamstring just three games ago against Hawthorn in Round 9.

“It’s always a concern when a player reinjures,” Hardwick said.

“The significance will be multiplied because it’s a recurrence. So it’s disappointing. We’ve just got to figured out how we can keep him on the park consistently because he’s such a dynamic player and he’s special, really. So he’s really disappointed and so are we because we thought we had the majority of our troops back and all of a sudden he goes out.”

The depleted Blues suffered their second defeat in three games following a sizzling 8-2 start to the season and also suffered two fresh injuries, with mid-season draftee Sam Durdin (knee) and Jack Martin (calf) finishing on the bench.

Durdin will have scans over coming days, with Carlton unsure how bad the injury is.

Michael Voss’ side now faces a nightmare month ahead, with matches against Fremantle, St Kilda, West Coast and Geelong over the next four weeks.

Three of those sides sit alongside Carlton in the top six spots on the ladder, while the bottom-of-the-table Eagles are slowly regaining troops after a horror first half of the season.

Dion Prestia and Patrick Cripps come to grips. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

REPORT: Blues brawl and battle but Tigers too good

—Ronny Lerner

A six-goal burst to start the game has helped Richmond survive a gutsy fightback from an undermanned Carlton outfit at a wet and slippery MCG on Thursday night.

After shooting out to a 35-point lead midway through the second term, Richmond’s buffer shrunk to nine points in the final term on the back of three goals in four minutes from Carlton spearhead Harry McKay.

And Jack Newnes thought he trimmed the deficit to three points when he snapped truly over his shoulder from the pocket, but the score review showed Richmond’s Nathan Broad got a crucial finger on the ball, and two minutes later Shane Edwards kicked what would ultimately be the match-winning goal as the Tigers ran out 15-point winners.

The 11.15 (81) to 9.12 (66) result saw the Tigers re-enter the top eight and blew the race for the top four wide open with one game now separating the fourth-placed Blues and the ninth-placed Magpies.

The brave Blues headed into the clash with a decimated backline that was missing the injured Jacob Weitering, Zac Williams, Mitch McGovern, Oscar McDonald, Caleb Marchbank and Luke Parks, and their midfield was without ruckman Marc Pittonet and star recruit Adam Cerra.

Things were so dire in defence for Carlton that they selected Sam Durdin for his club debut just a couple of weeks after being picked up in the mid-season draft.

Big Tom Lynch has continued his good form up forward for the Tigers. Picture: Michael Klein

And he further stretched their backline when he was subbed out in the final term with a knee injury after doing a good job on Jack Riewoldt (two goals).

But the Tigers were basically full strength, with only superstar Dustin Martin (illness) missing, and ultimately proved too strong in front of 50,741 fans – the lowest home-and-away crowd between these two clubs in 10 years (excluding Covid years).

Ultimately Richmond’s massive inside-50 victory (76-51) outweighed their poor efficiency which saw them score 34 per cent of the time they entered their attacking zone, compared to Carlton’s 41 per cent.

The result came at a cost for Richmond, though, with Noah Balta finishing the game on the bench with a suspected hamstring injury.

Dion Prestia found a ton of it for the Tigers. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

The Tigers’ pressure was also more consistent for longer and they ended up out-tackling the Blues 60-49 and they beat Carlton at their own game, thumping them in the clearances 40-29.

Dion Prestia played another outstanding game for Richmond, finishing with 33 disposals (19 contested) and 13 clearances, Dylan Grimes shut down Charlie Curnow (one goal), while Nathan Broad and Nick Vlastuin were pivotal in defence as well.

For the Blues, Sam Docherty’s (31 touches) fairytale season continued in defence, Sam Walsh and Patrick Cripps combined for 68 disposals in the middle and McKay ended up with four majors.

Players scuffle after the initial blue between Cripps and Prestia. Picture: Getty Images

Cheeky Bolton

Luckily for Shai Bolton, the Tigers hung on for the win because early in the final term as he streamed into an open goal, he turned around and cheekily showed Docherty the ball before slamming it home for a goal to put Richmond up by 20 points. It followed flared tempers when an errant push caused a sizeable scuffle. Prestia pushed Cripps in the back, with the Carlton captain falling forward, his head colliding with teammate Sam Walsh’s knee.

Tensions HIGH at three quarter time ðŸ”¥

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Cripps pointed angrily at Prestia after he got up from the incident and then became involved in a push and shove with the Tiger after the three-quarter time siren sounded seconds later.

Players from both teams arrived in numbers and became involved in some push and shove, with Richmond forward Tom Lynch also finding himself in the thick of the action.

The two sides eventually separated and went to their respective huddles.

Some lair from Shai Bolton caught the eye — but not everyone enjoyed it. Picture: Michael Klein

Tigers’ early blast

Richmond’s pressure was fantastic early and pivotal in seeing them open up a 16-point lead at quarter-time as they doubled Carlton for tackles in the opening term (14-7).

The Tigers’ backline was also superb, playing a big role in keeping the Blues goalless in the first quarter despite only having two fewer forward entries (15-17).

Richmond had already doubled Carlton in clearances by the early stages of the second term (13-6), and the Blues’ backline structure unravelled dramatically as the Tigers helped themselves to the first six goals of the game.

Sam Walsh’s usual leather poisoning remained prevalent. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

Carlton hangs in there

Despite Richmond’s domination of territory, the Blues managed to get back into the game on the back of increased pressure and trimmed the margin to 19 points in the shadows off halftime.

Tom Lynch threatened to deflate Carlton’s spirits when he ran into the open goal with eight seconds before the major break But the Blues were undeterred, and despite continuing to lose the inside-50 count badly, opted to employ a more direct style of footy in the slippery conditions and it worked, as they kicked three of the next four goals to trail by 14 points at three-quarter time.

Richmond responded ferociously in the final term, shooting back out to a 27-point advantage, and despite McKay’s late heroics, it proved enough to get the job done.