Richmond Tigers advance to preliminary finals after annihilation

St Kilda were hesitant and sloppy during Friday’s semi-final, and the Richmond Tigers showed no mercy during their goalscoring spree.

Tom Lynch of the Tigers.

St Kilda’s finals campaign is over after suffering a heavy 31-point defeat to the Richmond Tigers at Metricon Stadium on Friday evening.

The Tigers dominated almost every facet of the one-sided encounter, and the Saints were utterly outclassed by the reigning champions.

Last weekend, Richmond were toppled by the Brisbane Lions after only managing 28 per cent efficiency inside 50.

But the return of Tom Lynch proved critical for the Tigers, who raced to an early lead after the tall forward almost immediately claimed a mark and scored inside the Saints defensive 50.

Watch the 2020 Toyota AFL Finals Series on Kayo with every game before the Grand Final Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

A few minutes later, Shane Edmonds cleaned up a loose ball and kicked a well-directed grubber to extend Richmond’s advantage.

The Saints were disorganised and sloppy in their defence, but Shane Savage provided a rare highlight, booting a mammoth 60m goal before quarter-time.

Shane Savage just kicked the ball back to Noosa 🚀 pic.twitter.com/pF0ZPhqdVg

— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) October 9, 2020

That kick went as long as lockdown. #AFLTigersSaints

— James Mottershead (@mottersjames) October 9, 2020

LIVE SCORES: AFL Finals match centres

But the Saints were unable to close the gap, and found themselves behind by more than five goals at halftime.

It was all one-way traffic on the Gold Coast — St Kilda could only muster one major in the second quarter.

Sports reporter Mark Gottlieb tweeted: “Starting to suspect there’s a big gap between the top four and the rest of the teams who made the (finals).”

Richmond couldn’t seem to miss, with young gun Shai Bolton slotting three goals during the contest.

Shai Bolton and Shane Edwards of the Tigers.

The Saints managed to outscore their opponents in the third quarter, reducing the deficit to 23 points to keep the match alive.

But with World No. 1 Ash Barty watching from the stands, Richmond continued the onslaught in the final 16 minutes, a classy goal from superstar Dustin Martin sealing the win.

However, Lynch could find himself in trouble with the MRO this week after thrusting his knee into Dougal Howard’s head during an unprovoked off-ball incident.

The scoreboard read 12.8 (80) to 6.13 (49) when the final siren sounded at Metricon Stadium, and the Tigers celebrated their emphatic victory.

Martin proved once again why he love finals footy, mustering 25 disposals, six clearances and a goal, while teammate Bachar Houli managed a game-high 32 disposals.

Meanwhile, Lynch and Edwards ended the semi-final with two majors each, the latter also contributing 21 disposals.

Smoked, annihilated, embarassed. A few words people used today re what was going to happen to Saints tonight. Looks on the money. Time to switch off me thinks. #Aflfinals

— Erin Delahunty (@della79) October 9, 2020

I feel for the long-suffering Saints fans I know, but very happy with a Richmond win tonight. Even if it felt like a twilight zone - couldn’t get used to seeing maskless people jammed together in the stands. #gotiges #AFLTigersSaints

— Kate Jones (@Kate_Jones7) October 9, 2020

Saints had a crack, but not in tigers’ class all year and depleted tonight so realistically only ever going to be one result - and this was it, emphatically. Still a tiger flag for mine. #AFLTigersSaints

— ron reed (@reedrw) October 9, 2020

READ MORE: Saints robbed by ‘embarrassing’ blunder

READ MORE: Garry Lyon blasts ‘archaic nonsense’

Houli spoke to Channel 7 after the match: “The Saints have been outstanding all season and no doubt will be bigger and stronger next year. The way they fought gave us a great challenge. Very proud of the boys.

“When we get beaten, we know how to bounce back. In saying that, St Kilda were outstanding today. We just had to be proactive the way we played our football. Better than last week and the defensive intent was there which helped a lot.”

Richmond will take on Port Adelaide next weekend’s for their fourth consecutive preliminary final, with the winner advancing to the Grand Final.