Richmond defeats Essendon by 23 points in Dreamtime at the G
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says he apologised to Sydney Stack for an obscene spray at training and reveals what he was thinking when the Tigers star joined a war cry before the win against Essendon.
Essendon
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Few teams surge like Richmond.
Add water and it’s like trying to stop a steamroller on rollerskates.
Hours of driving rain turned this Dreamtime game into a soggy slog and the Tiger machine purrs in the wet.
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In what was a one-percenter exhibition, there were knock-ons, taps to advantage, smothers, and kicks off the ground in a relentless performance that overwhelmed Essendon.
We sound like a broken record, but the Richmond smalls were a constant threat in a game where the ball was always on the deck.
The Essendon forward half just didn’t have the same venom and looked top-heavy. Aaron Francis, Shaun McKernan, Josh Begley, Jayden Laverde struggled to apply the same pressure and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti was anonymous.
Yet as the rain stopped and the ground dried out, the Dons caught fire with five of the last seven goals of the game to slash a 43-point deficit late in the third to 22 at the final siren.
John Worsfold had flipped the magnet board upside down, but he’d left it too late.
To salt the wound and a fourth loss in their last five games, Jake Stringer and Dylan Shiel both strained hamstrings and will miss games.
In what has become an injury nightmare, Stringer and Shiel join Joe Daniher, Devon Smith and Orazio Fantasia on the sidelines.
STACKS ON
Sydney Stack has become a Richmond cult hero because his amazing backstory has been followed by instinctive acts, a hard edge and athletic brilliance at AFL level.
He only endeared himself more to his fans when he threw himself into the Tigers’ Dreamtime at the ‘G War Cry.
Members of the Korin Gamadji Institute found themselves with an unexpected leader when the Richmond defender joined in, running towards the Essendon players.
Sydney Stack takes part in Richmond's #DreamtimeattheG pre-game war cry. #AFLTigersDons pic.twitter.com/uQ830MQwpG
— AFL (@AFL) May 25, 2019
THE RAIN
You don’t see conditions like this too often anymore.
The heavens opened at the MCG late in the afternoon and the rain was falling steadily by the time the ball was bounced.
The bog heaps are forever consigned to history, but this is as wet and slippery as it gets for the modern-day player.
It finally stopped at halftime, but it made for a simplified game — flat hands, body lining the ball and long kicks.
“PRACTICAL UMPIRING”
Despite near-constant rain and very wet conditions, we got a deliberate out of bounds fest at the MCG.
With the ball sliding off the boot at all angles, the umpires weren’t in the mood for leniency, or what AFL boss Gillon McLachlan would term “practical umpiring”.
Instead, they penalised players six times for deliberate in the first half alone.
There were some harsh calls among that lot, but they were also largely consistent, which is all the players want.
BELLCHAMBERS V THE HYPHEN
A big-bodied, 11-season veteran against a teenager making his AFL debut.
Tom Bellchambers just had to dominate Callum Coleman Jones and he did, while also getting the better of Noah Balta at the stoppages.
If he wasn’t taking the ball out of the ruck, Bellchambers was palming with precision, with 17 hit-outs to advantage to two by half way through the second term.
The Tigers often deployed an extra midfielder at ball ups and boundary throw-ins in an attempt to blunt the Essendon big man’s dominance.
TIGERS COACH REGRETS STACK SPRAY
Sam Edmund
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says he regrets the severity of his spray to Sydney Stack at training during the week.
Stack, who put in another composed display across half-back in the Tigers’ 23-point win over Essendon last night, copped the wrath of his coach when he was late onto the training track.
Cameras caught Hardwick yelling: “Get your f...ing head out of your arse” to the first-year player.
“He just takes it in his stride doesn’t he?” Hardwick said last night.
“I’ve got to be better than that. I shouldn’t speak to anyone like that, let alone someone I care about and I apologised to him yesterday and he understood.
“He’s a fantastic kid, this lad. He’s trying to reach for the stars, but every now and then you’ve got to keep your feet on the ground to get there.
“We’re very lucky to have him, our recruiters have done a terrific job getting him to fit in and we couldn’t be happier.
“The way he’s gelled and the way he plays the game in incredible.”
Hardwick said the club had an “inkling” Stack was going to take part in the Tigers’ pre-game War Cry
“I’m sitting there going ‘Oh God’; I was that nervous for him,” he said.
“I think that’s one thing our club does well under Trent (Cotchin) and the leaders, that they just embrace it whereas three years ago we’re saying ‘Nah mate, you’re not doing that’.
“We want to make the guys feel comfortable and express themselves and that was a great thing and I think the crowd loved it as well.”
Hardwick said Cotchin was a strong chance to return from a hamstring injury against North Melbourne next weekend.
“He is pencilled in to return. He’s training well, he’s missed a fair bit of footy, so we’ll work our way through it,” he said.
“Once again, if he walks into my office and says he’s right to go and the doc gives him the all-clear I know where his magnet will be going.”
Hardwick praised the performance of teenage debutant Callum Coleman-Jones and Noah Balta in their ruck battle with Tom Bellchambers and spoke glowingly of Bachar Houli, who was awarded the Yiooken Award for best on ground.
“I think even I under rate him at stages. The way he runs and uses the ball is amazing,” Hardwick said.
“It’s Ramadan at the moment and he just seems to play better and better every year. I’m going to see if I can get it extended for him. He’s just a wonderful player.”
Hardwick said he was confident Tom Lynch would be right to face the Kangaroos after failing to finish the game with a corkie.
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