Richmond v GWS: Tigers’ depth comes to the fore as Liam Baker leads charge against Giants
Trent Cotchin, Shai Bolton, Dion Prestia and Shane Edwards were all absent for Richmond against GWS – which makes the Tigers’ win scarily good.
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Unable to break up Richmond’s premiership superstars – boy, did North Melbourne try – the Tigers’ rivals have instead eaten away at their peripheral players.
Brandon Ellis, Dan Butler, Jack Higgins, Reece Conca, Sam Lloyd and Oleg Markov are among those who took the bait for greater opportunity and to cash in, in a way not possible for them at Tigerland.
Jack Graham resisted the temptation to do the same this past off-season, with Carlton, Essendon and Adelaide all showing varying interest in him.
Through it all, Richmond’s not only been able to lean on arguably the competition’s best collection of top-end talent, but continues to maximise the depths and versatility of its squad.
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With midfield maestros Trent Cotchin, Dion Prestia, Shai Bolton, Shane Edwards and Kane Lambert in the casualty ward on Saturday night, we discovered just how good Liam Baker has become.
We should have already known – and we have appreciated what the one-time rookie-lister’s achieved down back – but his ability to win 33 disposals and eight clearances as a bonafide onballer was startling.
Outside of the almost-incomparable Dustin Martin, there wasn’t a better Tiger against the Giants.
Baker, too, had an opportunity a couple of years back to join Fremantle or Carlton.
At that stage, he was still establishing himself in the senior side and was benefiting from injuries to others.
Baker, like Graham, re-signed and backed himself to win a regular spot. He played in a premiership two months later, then another in 2020.
The 23-year-old quietly placed sixth in the club’s best and fairest award last season. Damien Hardwick justifiably loves him.
Nick Vlastuin went in the middle for a bit, too, where Greater Western Sydney was savaging Richmond with brutes such as Jacob Hopper, Tim Taranto and Tom Green.
But no one was in there more than Riley Collier-Dawkins, the last player from the top 20 in the 2018 super draft to make his AFL debut.
Collier-Dawkins was entrusted with 24 centre-bounce attendances in his third game – after missing out on playing in two flags – and produced his best display yet when his side needed him most.
Geelong embarrassed the Tigers last week and the Giants punched Hardwick’s men in the mouth several times on Saturday night.
Twice they looked gone: when trailing by 28 points midway through the third term, then again while 15 points in arrears at the same stage of the last quarter.
Collier-Dawkins kicked his first AFL goal just before half-time, then calmly steered through a long set shot for the second of four-straight Richmond majors in their third-term fightback.
He also set up Jason Castagna’s goal minutes later – and eventually finished with 18 possessions, seven tackles, three centre clearances and five score involvements.
There was lots to like about son-of-Chris Patrick Naish’s performance as well.
Only time will tell whether the Tigers will reach the summit again, but their draw gets much easier after facing Brisbane next weekend and we know all about their barnstorming finishes by now.
A fourth flag in five seasons in the face of many obstacles would probably qualify Richmond as the greatest team of the 21st century.
Hulk Hogan rises again
Almost nothing went right for Jesse Hogan in his disastrous two years at Fremantle.
Leaving the Demons and Melbourne – the city – to go home to Perth was supposed to be the remedy to Hogan’s homesickness and the end of the rumour and innuendo about his playing future.
Instead, the storylines about the richly talented forward went into overdrive.
Videos began surfacing from years earlier of him drunk, there was the accident where his car ended up on its side, the COVID breach and even a freak gym accident that left him with facial injuries.
The Dockers had enough by last year and Hogan, once one of the brightest forward prospects in the game, admits it was largely his doing – although the insatiable appetite to catch him out didn’t help.
There were multiple intrigued suitors, including Richmond, but the Giants were the most ardent and in need after Jeremy Cameron’s exit.
Hogan’s played only two of a possible nine games because of quadriceps and calf injuries, but he’s fitting in wonderfully so far.
He’s living in a granny flat at the back of teammate Shane Mumford’s home and revelling in his almost-anonymous status in the Harbour City.
Coach Leon Cameron made Hogan earn his spot in the VFL, but he’s kicked eight goals in his two AFL appearances and his second quarter on Saturday night was particularly devastating.
Some shonky goalkicking outside of that term limited Hogan’s night, but he kicked 4.1 in that second-quarter outburst and took five marks inside 50.
“He did light us up in that second quarter, which is pleasing,” Cameron said.
“He’s hungry, he’s eager, he’s got buy in, which is great – and if you have that amongst the group, it doesn’t matter if you’ve come from another footy club or you’ve started out your journey at our club, it’s a pleasure to coach.
“It was good to see him hit the scoreboard again, but equally he competes in the air as well.”
Hogan might finally have found his place, or at least we all hope so.
Buckley’s chance paying dividends
The roles might soon be reversing in the Buckley family.
Up until now, Jack Buckley’s almost always mentioned as the son of North Melbourne president Ben, but his increasing importance at the Giants might tip the balance back in his favour.
Leon Cameron loosely likened Buckley’s emergence to that of Swan Dane Rampe in an exclusive chat with The Daily Telegraph this week.
Both players were recruited directly from the AFL Sydney competition and Rampe’s gone on to All-Australian honours, whereas Buckley’s had to bide his time.
Nine of the 23-year-old’s 11 matches have come this year, and he’s earned Cameron’s trust to the point he was given the job on Richmond’s triple Coleman medallist Jack Riewoldt.
It’s true that Phil Davis, Nick Haynes and Lachie Keeffe are injured and that Aidan Corr plays for a different club these days, but Buckley proved his worth again.
Riewoldt managed only six disposals for the night and his one goal came more than 18 minutes into the final term.
“He’s one of those unheralded young fellas you guys probably don’t know much about,” Cameron said of Buckley.
“He’s a wonderful story. He was just ‘skonking’ around in the Sydney league probably not going anywhere and our recruiters did a wonderful job picking him up.
“We always talk about our high draft picks, which we know we’ve had, but we’ve done a wonderful job bringing in Jack. Then it’s over to him.
“He’s got an appetite like I haven’t seen for a long time. He’s a wonderful worker, he’s got speed, he’s got endurance, he wants to play for his team.
“We put him at full-back, he’d never been at full-back, and he comes up against Riewoldt and had some great moments, some fantastic moments – and guess what? He has to do it again next week.”
RIOLI SHOWS WHY CONTROVERSY CAN’T KILL THE TIGERS
– Marc McGowan
Controversy has never been Richmond’s kryptonite, at least not in this flag-collecting era.
At the end of another week stuffed with drama and sunk in a 28-point hole midway through the third term, Damien Hardwick’s Tigers rode Dustin Martin to another famous victory on Saturday night.
Martin finished the night with four goals and 28 disposals in his latest masterclass in a resume that is fast running out of room.
Still trailing the Giants by 15 points 17 minutes into the final term at Marvel Stadium – a venue Hardwick said post-match he hated – Richmond kicked the final three goals to win by four points.
Daniel Rioli, still wearing the evidence of his nightclub punch from last weekend, kicked the match-winner in a remarkable turn of events.
A loss would have left Richmond with five defeats from nine games, but this powerhouse team has continually found a way throughout the past five years.
The Tigers repeatedly were faced with difficult off-field situations in the past 18 months, in particular, but almost always responded the way they did this time.
“I think it’s just our people – Brendon (Gale), Peggy (O’Neal). Once again, we work our way through (an incident), we get an understanding of it,” Hardwick said.
“We’re going to make mistakes, there’s no doubt about that.
“Everyone learns from those and we’re no different, and what we try and do is get as many life lessons out of it as we can and the players take that on board and move forward.
“We can address it, we can learn from it, but then we’ve got to move on and take the next step and I think our guys, with a lot of mental prep training they do, are really strong in that part of the game.”
Already missing premiership stars Trent Cotchin, Dion Prestia, Shai Bolton, Shane Edwards and Kane Lambert, Hardwick checked on Rioli’s wellbeing multiple times on Friday night to make sure he was ready.
Daniel Rioli puts the Tigers in front ðŸ¯#AFLTigersGiantspic.twitter.com/KoQut6U8vL
— AFL (@AFL) May 15, 2021
Not only did Rioli kick the go-ahead goal, but he came up big repeatedly in the last quarter.
“It was great, actually. I thought he got his hands on a couple of really important balls and his last quarter was quite special, I thought,” Hardwick said.
“It was great for him to finish off with that goal that put us in front. He had a tough week, there’s no doubt.
“He just wanted to get out there and play and I was sort of a little bit worried about him last night, (and went) back and forward a couple of times to see how he was feeling from a stress point of view.
“But he was adamant he wanted to play and he played a really important part to help get us across the line.”
After a tight opening quarter, a Jesse Hogan purple patch in which he kicked three goals in four minutes had the Giants out to a 27-point lead early in the second term.
Two straight goals to Martin had the Tigers back in the contest before another goal to Hogan followed by a crisp Bobby Hill finish made sure the Giants held a 21-point halftime lead.
The Giants kicked away to lead by 28 points at the 17-minute mark of the third quarter and looked to have all but wrapped up the game as momentum sat squarely with the orange tsunami.
But four goals in 10-minutes to finish the third term had Richmond just three points down and full of belief at the final change.
When the Giants kicked the first two of the last quarter it looked to be slipping away from the Tigers, but goals to Jack Riewoldt and Martin had them two points down with just minutes to play.
Enter Daniel Rioli.
The goal sneak got on the end of a rushed kick forward before snapping on his left to give Richmond the most unlikely of leads.
A late Tim Taranto snap with under a minute to go was touched on the line by Dylan Grimes as the Tigers held on for an extraordinary win.
Umpire down
As the Tigers fought to give themselves a sniff deep into the final term, a Dustin Martin soccer goal brought the house down.
But unfortunately for the goal umpire he was in the way as Martin lunged on the line with full momentum, cleaning up the goal umpire.
Unfortunately, he was substituted out of the game with a popped shoulder with just minutes to go.
Emergency moves
Damien Hardwick broke the glass in case of an emergency at halftime which gave Richmond reenergised the Tigers and gave them some unusual line-ups around the ground at centre-bounces.
Nick Vlastuin started the second half in the centre - a move which was trialled in 2016 – but after it was unsuccessful the 27-year-old was moved back to his more recognisable role in the defence.
Perhaps the most bizarre look Hardwick threw at the Giants was starting Marlion Pickett in the ruck at a centre bounce while Toby Nankervis moved out to a wing. Despite its success it was short lived as the two reversed positions at the next bounce.
But Hardwick wasn’t done there, as key forward Tom Lynch also had his opportunity on the wing.
Hogan’s heroics
Four minutes. Four marks inside 50. Three goals.
A fit and firing Hogan reminded everyone what he’s capable of with the hottest four minutes of footy from a key forward in 2021.
It all started at the four-and-a-half-minute mark as the Giants enjoyed clean footy out of the middle.
Jacob Hopper capitalised with two slick passes inside 50 to Hogan for two goals, before the hulking forward sprayed his third set shot to the right.
But his fourth mark in four minutes proved more fruitful as he went back and slotted his third goal from 45 metres out.
Giant numbers
Opposition teams look out, the Giants’ midfield engine is humming again.
Despite only leading clearances by four at halftime, the Giants’ prime movers were able to outwork their opponents around the ground and were pivotal in giving their side a 21-point advantage.
The nucleus of Jacob Hopper (35 disposals and a goal), Tim Taranto (32), Tom Green (24 and a goal), and Josh Kelly (27 and a goal) had the ball pinging as the orange tsunami looked to have returned.
SCOREBOARD
Tigers 3.0 6.2 10.5 13.9 87
Giants 4.3 9.5 10.8 12.11 83
MOTTERSHEAD’S BEST
Tigers: Martin, Baker, Nankervis, Collier-Dawkins, Short.
Giants: Hopper, Kelly, Taranto, Hogan, Green.
GOALS
Tigers: Martin 4, Aarts 2, Collier-Dawkins 2, Lynch, Nankervis, Castagna, Riewoldt, Rioli. Giants: Hogan 4, Greene, Kelly, Green, Ward, Hill, O’Halloran, Hopper, Lloyd.
INJURIES Tigers: nil. Giants: Perryman (hamstring).
UMPIRES Foot, Hosking, Deboy.
Marvel Stadium 18,798
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JAMES MOTTERSHEAD’S VOTES
3 D.Martin (Rich)
2 J.Hopper (GWS)
1 J.Kelly(GWS)
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