Richmond back on top of the ladder after an easy win over Fremantle
RICHMOND accounted for another rival on the MCG — this time a feeble Fremantle — but while bigger challenges lie ahead the Tigers are cashing in with ruthless and scintillating football.
Richmond
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“THIS is like the ‘70s, mate”.
The Richmond fan’s refrain pre-match outside the MCG’s Frank Grey Smith bar summed up his team’s strange new existence.
In any of the previous 30 years, Tigers fans would have approached Sunday’s clash with a sense of foreboding and trepidation.
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After all, David Mundy had twice in the past three years conjured last-gasp MCG goals to steal victory from the Tigers.
Yet as the half-time siren sounded to the hooting of Richmond fans, they were downright angry instead.
A second goal review in minutes had seen a Tigers goal withdrawn, which meant they led by only 44 points.
The mood of the Tiger Army was this: when you have your foot on your opponent’s neck, you keep driving it down.
Just like those brilliant teams of the 1970s, Richmond is not only wildly talented but ruthless too.
The Tigers accounted for another rival on the MCG on a day that showcased their scintillating football and Fremantle’s lack of early fight.
They sleepwalked through a terrible third term and had arguably only one of the game’s best four players, yet still won by 77 points.
After five straight wins — albeit all over 2017 non-finalists — the fans are up and about and the Tigers are so far finding the season a cakewalk.
If you come to the MCG to try to take down the Tigers, you do so with fierce tackle pressure, quick ball movement and multiple forward options.
Instead, the Dockers could manage only a feeble four first-quarter tackles, the lowest tally ever managed by a Ross Lyon-coached side.
Then the Dockers played a loose man back for most of the first half, a defensive tactic that played into Richmond’s hands.
Within minutes David Astbury, Dylan Grimes and Nick Vlastuin had taken repelling marks, setting the pattern for most of the day.
Fremantle inched the ball forward, Richmond won it back, scored at will, then repeated the dose over and again.
At one stage the Tigers led 52-9 with captain Trent Cotchin sidelined with a sore knee and Dustin Martin, wasteful all day, boasting only four points.
Dion Prestia smashed away early and Kane Lambert kept on keeping on, but the flawless Grimes typified their defensive strength.
He not only marked at will, he hit every one of his 15 targets, with Astbury mixing 14 marks with 95 per cent disposal efficiency.
If the fans came looking for a Nathan Fyfe v Dustin Martin contest, it was the Fremantle star who took the points and likely Brownlow votes.
He was awesome with five first-half contested marks, finishing with 33 possessions and even some handy ruckwork when Aaron Sandilands was resting.
He would finish with seven hitouts, only seven less than Toby Nankervis, with Fyfe and Josh Caddy at times playing ruck with Shaun Grigg missing with a sore hamstring.
Behind Fyfe, Lachie Neale was just as prolific early, while Sandilands’ had tap-out domination of Nankervis in the Dockers 22-44 clearance win.
That trio of Dockers were brilliant in a strange game where the Dockers had three stars then almost no other contributors of any note.
With Mundy playing forward they had too few mates, Stephen Hill largely unsighted and Michael Walters sorely missed.
Richmond instead had a trio of intercept markers, rabid tackling pressure and silky ball movement from half back.
Bigger challenges lie ahead in coming weeks, yet right now they are cashing in with a 6-1 record and a huge percentage to boot.
RICHMOND 4.5 7.11 7.16 15.20 (110)
FREMANTLE 1.1 1.3 4.8 4.9 (33)
GOALS
Tigers: Riewoldt 3, Lambert 2, Townsend 2, Houli, Higgins, Lloyd, McIntosh, Conca, Caddy, Graham, Castagna
Dockers: Brayshaw, Ballantyne, McCarthy, Cox
BEST
Tigers: Kane Lambert, Dylan Grimes, Jack Graham, David Astbury, Alex Rance, Dion Prestia
Dockers: Nathan Fyfe, Lachie Neale, Aaron Sandilands, Joel Hamling, Ed Langdon
INJURIES
Tigers: Prestia (calf)
Dockers: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Donlon, Haussen, Meredith
Official crowd: 43,240 at the MCG
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