1995 ROUND 1 – FREMANTLE VS RICHMOND – FULL GAME – Fremantle Dockers AFL Debut

Round 1, 1995 – Richmond vs Fremantle Dockers
History in the making ⚓️💜

This was the Fremantle Dockers’ first ever AFL game, taking on the Richmond Tigers at the MCG in Round 1, 1995.

A brand-new club, the birth of the Purple Haze, and the start of Fremantle’s AFL journey. Relive every moment from the Dockers’ debut on the big stage, featuring cult heroes, classic 90s footy, and the energy of a new team entering the league.

👉 What do you remember about Freo’s first game? Share your thoughts and memories in the comments!

AFL Round 1, 1995 – Fremantle’s First Ever Game (Full Match)
Richmond 12.18 (90) d. Fremantle 12.13 (85)
Venue: MCG — Attendance: 26,219

The Fremantle Dockers’ AFL debut was more than just a game — it was the birth of the Purple Haze era. Facing off against the Richmond Tigers, Freo shocked fans early.

Quarter-by-quarter:

Q1: Fremantle 4.4 (28) led Richmond 3.6 (24)

Q2: Richmond surged ahead; half-time lead Richmond by 12 points

Q3: Richmond extended the lead to 24 points, looking dominant

Q4: Fremantle stormed back with 5.4 to Richmond’s 2.3 — fell agonisingly short by just five points.

Standout Performances:

For Fremantle:

Matthew Burton — 21 disposals and 13 hitouts from the ruck

Ben Allan — 28 touches + a goal, captain-worthy showing

Todd Ridley — Kicked Fremantle’s first ever AFL goal and bagged three majors; earned 2 Brownlow votes

For Richmond:

Brendon Gale — Best afield; 14 kicks, 7 marks, 2 goals, and 3 Brownlow votes

Historical Context & Quotes:

Jamie Merillo debuted valiantly, despite suffering a broken jaw early in the match

Fremantle’s coach Gerard Neesham reflected post-match: “Winning respect is one thing… we went down by five points and the boys are pretty bitter about it.”

A debut that didn’t end in a win — but earned a whole lot of respect. Relive the ups, the fight, and the heart of the Purple Haze launch in all its gritty, footy-fresh glory.

Drop your first memory of the Dockers or what moment hit you hardest —

#FremantleDockers #AFLHistory #PurpleHaze #FreoForever #DockersRetro #AFL1995

That’s the stat they wanted. [Music] After its very public birth and its tenative first steps against S Kilda, Freemantle is ready to hit the big time. The newest member of the AFL has journeyed to football headquarters in Melbourne for its historic debut against Richmond. The Tigers might well be touted as the improvers of 95, but today they will be aiming for their first opening round win since 1982. From the MCG, this is AFL Saturday featuring Richmond and for the first time, the men of Freemantle. Hi there everyone. Welcome along to the MCG for the second day of the season and the first day for the Freemantle Dockers. Today they take on Richmond, a team that won 12 games last season. They’re on the ground now, but bearing in mind the Tigers haven’t won in round one since 1982. An amazing record. The dock is out first today in their away strip, predominantly green. And what a big day it is for them. Three other games being played today up at Cadinia Park. It’s Jalong against Melbourne. Hawthorne take on Brisbane at Waverly. And Doug Hawkins goes home to the Western Oval this time in a Fitzroy Gernzy as they play Essendon. And we say a very good afternoon to Don Scott. A brand new team. History says new teams win first up. Don, does it really does? It does. I looked it up. Well, either great minds think alike or you’re a plagiarist because I was reminded of that earlier in the week. I thought, “No, it couldn’t be true.” But it is. Richmond haven’t won for such a long time. First up, but uh I’m imp. the dockers. Can the Dockers keep that record rolling if we’re talking about history? A loss to Richmond. Well, they could, but then again, I’m looking for, as I was just going to say before, I’m looking forward to this game because they got some exciting players there. Whether they’re up to AFL standard at this stage, I don’t Allen. Oh, Ben Allen’s not bad. But there his couple of teammates may be lacking a little bit, but it’s a learning process. They’re on a learning curve. Now, the Tigers first up in contrast to the Dockers, it seems to me they’ve got some proven goal kickers up forward. Well, it’s a fairly settled side. I know it’s only the first game of the season, but this is basically the side that was playing last week and they last year and they really did string some good games together. Richmond, particularly mid-season, we see their Duncan Callaway. What a goer this man is. Every team would like to have a Duncan Callaway. Uh he can put a fellow out of the game. Richardson 101 kilos now. He’s musled up. It’s not just flab, it is muscle. But he’s been around for quite a while. He first played when he’s 17. And we’ve just got to remember that he’s only 19 years of age, but he’s exciting. and Tony Free I think he’d be a little bit underdone because of that jaw injury. Let’s take a look at Freematal. There’s Scotty Waters, the vice captain. Yes, I’m impressed with Scott particularly when he’s at Sydney. He really did set up a lot of plays for that team. I’ve got a question before you go any further. They’re going in with 10 rookies today. They’ve left out experienced players like Wills Nettlebeck. That surprises me a bit. No, it doesn’t surprise me because Wills is up and down. I mean, you wouldn’t um Yeah, but the first half hour is going to be tough today, don’t you think? Real tough. Well, maybe tough and and uh who was the other one? You said Nettlebeck is a bit the same, but then again, Nettlebeck can play both ends of the ground. Why do you get them then? Why do you recruit them? I’m a TV commentator, not a football administrator. Used to coach. So did I. Okay, where you going? Well, Ben Allen, he’s got a big responsibility on his shoulder. It’s a small man leading the side, but he’ll be in midfield, and if he can play as he played at Hawthorne, he will definitely be an acquisition. Uh Durk Dennis this man would be I would say the first man from Arnhamland to play football AFL football for he comes from go and Peter Bell first Koreanborn player so there’s history here in Greeks of history this born in soul actually and brought up in Victoria in his early years Peter Bell very good player so the waiting’s over get the VCRs rolling the free dockers in Richmond right after this break about about football. [Music] Yes, welcome back to the Melbourne cricket ground. As you can see, not full today. We wouldn’t expect that. As we say good afternoon and watch the dockers to former Hawthorn and some kilda champ Russell Morris. Hello Russell. Good Dennis. How you going? Yeah, very well, thanks. I was talking to Dawn before who didn’t really say too much about a torid start. Do you expect one today? Oh, look certainly first game for free. It’s it’s a very important day. Like I saw them out at halftime with the seconds before and I think they must be in awe because they’ve come from Freemantal Oval over in Perth and that’s a lot smaller. It holds about 10 or 15 thousand people. But you know coming to the G the mecca of football it’s fantastic. I mean the atmosphere is sensational and these guys are going to be right at it right from the start for sure. Can they cause a surprise do you think or is that expecting too much? Well I think the adrenaline pumps always in the first 10 or so minutes or maybe in the first quarter but the adrenaline’s pumping for Richmond as well. So, I think the step from pre-season games to first games is probably another 20 or 30%. So, I think that’s where maybe Free Medal may be um found wanting, but Richmond, I’m sure, will hit them very, very hard. Okay, so you’re going for the Tigers. Ah, yeah, easy today. Yeah, sure. Good to see you, Russ. Thanks, Dan. Talk later during the course of this game. As we say, good afternoon to Peter Landy who joins us now. What about this selection, Pete? Hi, Dennis. Well, despite the fact I know what you were alluding to before, new teams have success like North Melbourne and the Brisbane Bears. The Eagles won first up. That was amazing. I mean, Brisbane that Friday night beat North here under lights. Well, it put me out of the one-on-one tipping that year. I know the entire season. So, I’ll have to go for Richmond. I think experience counts a lot here. As Russell mentioned, the mecca of football, but I wouldn’t underestimate Fremantle. They’ve got a lot of good players there. The nucleus is there. Uh it’ll be interesting to see how they go. Just interesting watching the teams as they were having their final talk by their respective captains at Richmond. A much bigger side physically than what Fremantle are. There’s Fremantle. Great jumpers. Great jumpers. Howard Prescott and Tape coming off for the Tigers. They’ll start on the bench. The ground got a lot of publicity, Dennis, during the week. One thing I do notice today, apart from the uh discolored grass, the center wicket area, there are three cricket pitchers rather visible out there. They all look pretty hard. Norish, Chisum, and Abraham off for the Dockers. It’s amazing really. Richmond the first side the Eagles played. They won that game. Richmond went on for a very poor season. Finished at the bottom. But now the Dockers start against the Tigers. Next week they play Essenden and the Eagles play them in round two. So history repeating itself and the Dockers take it a step further and win this game. D and Burton face to face and Gale at full forward. Richardson at center half forward for Richmond. The Freeman Dodgers officially in the competition up against the Tigers. There’s the bounce and a beauty too. Burton missed it. Dia didn’t. slapped it down into the path of Brick who knocks it down to works half forward. Edwards didn’t have the ball. Worked forward now by Daffy. It pitches about 25 m out. Gale falling to the ground. Got the hand pass up. It’s slapped out of defense out wide towards Allen being held by Knights. He’ll get the free kick. It’s a half back. Ben Allen wants to go. Slipped over eventually. Kick it has it inside this square. A short run to Burton and Burton’s away. Kicks it inside the 50 down towards Ridley. Knocked away by Turner. Taken by Campbell. Campbell across half back. A speedster. Settles now. Kicks towards Rogers. Awkward bounce for him. He left it behind. This is Bond. Brilliantly done. Great evasion. Kicks it down towards half forward. It’s a floater from behind O’Reilly. Slap going to Gale. Gale will get this free about 40 m out. Well, that’s again the advantage of playing in front. He’s a big man gale. He’s been battling a little bit pre-season, but you can see there the advantage in front. He’s being held by the left hand and the right hand coming over the shoulder. So, the umpire right in the right position to pay that. Let’s hope that Brendan improves on his preseason form. He’s a great player. So, Gale taking plenty of time with this one. Perfect day for footy and the kick is close but not perfect. This would have been a lot more noise if Gail had gold. So a might have score coming up. Gilbert to bring the ball back into play. And the dock is playing the huddle. They’ve on the break now. Gilbert should know the mcg fairly well. probably better than most of his teammates. Burton, Richardson. Neither could bring it down. Kicked away by Allen up towards right half forward. The bouncer factor. Burrows right on the 50. Long shot at goal. Is that going to be their first? It might be their first score. It is. It’s a rush behind off the hands of about two or three. And so the Dockers get their first score, albe it a minor one. Number 36 for Richmond, Stuart Wiggney, who’s been to uh Footsgra Sydney and Adelaide. He’s a great pickup. He’s lost a lot of weight since he was at Adelaide last year, about 7 kilos. And he’s a state representative when he played for Foots Gray. So also played for the South Australian Eagles in their premiership side. And there he is. Actually, in the last three games, Peter, preseason, he’s picked up over 20 possessions in each of those games. Wiggy, Wiggney, much traveled back on the wing. gets to grew. That’s a great mark by man or man, sorry. First quarter, we might have a few yips free kick. Best man grew. It’s much the same thing, isn’t it? This is going to be Burrows for his second kick. Little bit further out than the initial one. Spears it in towards Ford forward. Well, almost a bit of holding there. The umpire’s found a free kick. Going well, it’s going Richmond’s way. Yes. No, that’s another good decision. Rodri comes away with the football. [Music] Low trajectory drop punt. Edwards getting underneath it. Couldn’t quite drag it in. Opportunity for the Tigers to go forward. The kick is smothered. That came off the boot of Steuart Maxfield and it’s out of bounds right next to the interchange area on center wing. One behind each early in the first turn. There’s the forecast. As I said, a beautiful day for footy. It’s Marillo’s hand pass that was smothered. It ricochets back towards Edwards. Got an unkind bounce and then Maxfield was unkind. Elbow around the head. Unintentional. Edward. I thought so. He slipped over. Well, he should be reported there. Here’s Marillo forward at the wing. Kicks inside the 50. Ridley comes on the lead and takes the mark about 35 m out. Ridley, former Essenden player, played some good games early on, Ridley for Essenden. Finished the season very well last year, I thought. Dislocated his shoulder early preseason. Yeah, he’s had his problems. Will this be their first goal? Looks good. Good looking kick. I think it’s home. It is lead by six points. So Rley will be in the history books. First goal for the Dakers in the AFL and it was a good buildup too. Good passage of play. Here it is the buildup once again. Merillo Whidley getting away from Turner from 48 m. An easy goal. [Applause] Well, that should certainly instill confidence into the Dockers. Burton high again. hacks it out of midair. Chance for Edwards chasing. Maxfield now Delaney off the edge of the square. Ridley again mark number two in front of Turner. The man that I’m impressed with Peter is the big fellow Burton. He shows a lot of agility for his size. 2008 cm and he he’s got a bit of a leap too. He didn’t judge the first bounce terribly well. moves a long way from deer, but that time he got it going and followed up and that was good to see. Tallest man ever to play in the VFL or the AFL, Don. That works out at 610 and 1/2. It’s pretty big. He’s hooked that one a little bit and one behind to the Dockers. Kicked by Todd Ridley. So, he has 1-1 against his name. Out of the Dockers total of one goal, two and they lead by seven points at the MCG with under 16 minutes left in the first turn. Turn of the kick in. going for distance. Sends it long towards the outer side. Wiggney controls it on the ground pretty well. Feeds it back inside. Awkward one. Bond has to wait. Did nicely. Spins away from half back. A very high kick through the middle. Who’s at the fall of the ball? Well, Richardson was very high. Got hands to it. Couldn’t hang on. Campbell was pushed in the back. Bad luck for Allen. He got a kind bounce there. That ball bounced very high on the center wicket area. Allen didn’t think it would. Campbell was in front but had he waited Allen would have got that one as it is. Campbell does and plays on. Picks down towards half forward. Richardson once more the target. Man gets the fist on it. Burton will need to go here. Played it pretty well. Knights flicked it back. Opportunity for Broadick. Feeds it inside to Deia. Deer from about 80 meters out. N has to wait. They come from all directions. Pisted away down there by Gilbert. Thought at the pack and opportunity Marillo. He comes away. Well played young man. gets it away to Edwards. Edwards forward of half back. The Wards half forward. Burrows on the lead. Burrows forward at the wing. Looks back to the middle. Allen meters in the clear. Waits for it. Ample time. He’s about 60 m from goal. Kicks for space. Ridley on the lead again. He’s giving Turner the runaround down there. Feeds it off. Delaney. Delaney right on the 50. Arches the back. Gets away. Still he goes. Delaney. 35 m out. He’s been knocked off for going too far. Must have been marginal. Knights will really marginal. Knights will really have to tighten up on Ben Allen. He hasn’t got he’s not very defensive, Matthew Knights. And it was noticeable in a preseason game earlier this year that he he’s not real flash on the defensive side of his game. That’s what he’s got to pick up on because Allen is starting to set it up for Freemantle. Mark Mirinda just up from the right back pocket hugs the boundary line with the kick. Burton a little nudge out. More than a little nudge out. The umpire elects to well he’ll ball it up now with Burton doing well against deer so far. De certainly the more experienced and near the odds today. Richmond six to one on. It’s a bad bet given the form, isn’t it? Two horse race. You lost your last 13. Bond best and fairest last year. Burton. Quick kick from a standing start. Finds touch on the boundary line and it will be thrown in 60 m from goal on the outer side. So a good start by the Dockers. Burton doing well on the center bounce and shows a lot of agility for his 210 cm. His father was a big man. Played for Sububako. Peter Burton Deia wins that contest. Quick kick. I think it came off Broadick’s boot. It’s out of bounds and Todd Ridley going to take his third kick of the quarter. too far out to score. Former Bomber. He’s gone in short. Groom on the lead. Couldn’t quite drag it in. He’s opposite number 35 does. And that’s Bond. As I said, the best and fairest winner in Tiger Vand last year. Leech overruns the ball. Might get a second opportunity. Delaney’s there to give him backup support. So too is Daffy and Rogers. Now a chance for the much trouble kicker. Tries to get it back to Groom. Knights goes in there. Allan gives backup support. The former Hawk. Well, it’s a real nine iron shot and up and under job. Doesn’t travel very far. Subsequently, Burrows missed it. Opportunity for Wiggley to go for the hand passes. The tackle too high from Crumbl. I think it might have been free kick to Richmond and the advantages pay. The Tigers should get out of it and they do. Slow start. Not a good kick by Free. Two broken jaws in the last couple of season. One preseason here. This is Edwards’s kick. He started very well. Got awards half forward. Groom the flyer in front. Miranda behind. Didn’t have it. Crumbl keeps it in front. Well played. It floats out of bounds. So bad luck on the kick. Turner gets the free. Wiggny on across the ground. Deer breaks further a field. Wny looks back. Spots Deia. Plays the ball into his path. This will be interesting. Look at Burton go. He sprinted along. Quite impressive Dennis. Well done. Leech the fumble. Burton fell on top of him. That would hurt. It spills to Daffy. Daffy boots it inside the 50. Awkward bounce for Edwards. Taken by Gale O’Reilly crashes in. Tries to slap it out. Falling to the ground. Kick it. Bounces to his feet. Well played. Releases the ball well too. This is Leech. Leech comes away from half back. Runs towards the middle. Kicks towards half forward. Crumbl needs to go. Didn’t. Choway did well. Gets the cross to free. Free forward of half back. High one towards half court. Richardson in front. Man flies from behind. Knocks it down. This is Delaney. slipped over. Now he’s got problems. Back to man. Man tries to draw a man. Waters running into open space on the wing. Goes down towards half forward. Millo. Good. Shepherd behind the play. No, the umpire didn’t like it. It was a free kick against Ridley anyway. The umpire right on the spot to play, but it comes back to center wing on the shepherd I think. Yes, it was. So Bond who’s been busy in the first quarter as you would expect carrying on the good form he displayed in 1994. Big pack of players at half forward. Gale’s got a great run. Brendan Gale answers to Benny. He’ll answer to anything if he can kick this a little bit further out than that free kick he got earlier. Let’s watch it again. Great grab right out of the textbook. Strong hands. So, he missed one. He’s got one behind against his name. The only score for the Tigers so far. Usually a good kick. Probably his kicking though doesn’t quite measure up to his marking which is certainly his forte. 48 m out goes at goal. That’s better. Tigers first. So Brendan Gale gets the Tigers on the scoreboard. 117 trailing premantle 128. And we’re halfway through the first quarter at the MCG in the opening round of the season. Well, they talk about the two-prong forward line at North Melbourne. I don’t mind this forward line either for Richmond. They’re set up when they got Richardson and Gale up there. Both capable of anything and very good players. And there’s Gale playing it full forward across that full forward line. Free lead by a point. We’re back in the middle. The replay showing O’Reilly had to punch away. He elected not to. This is Kick It playing for his fifth AFL club. One of only three men to have done that. There’s Marillo probing kick inside the fifth and Kellaway did well. Falling back off his man to mark it in the square. Kellaway members side with the kick. Rodri approaches it rather slowly as a result. No play on the ball. Waters wanted it most. Waters hard against the line. Quick hands away. Crumbl Marillo inside. Needs to go again and does. Delaney. It’s Allen now. Gets it across towards Bell. Bell from 35 m out. I think he’s got it. He has. Peter Bell scoring his first goal and Freemandle second. Great snapshot and a good buildup, Don. Another impressive player is Marillo. Now, he’s been involved a lot of play. He’ll get involved just here setting play up. He’s quite impressive, Marillo. And I think Richmond midfielders will really have to start and wake up and say, “Hey, these guys aren’t too bad. We can’t give them any latitude. Peter Bell great snapshot for his first and the Docker’s second. Allan again out of the circle to half forward and Wiggy doing all right. Wiggy too early. Stuart Wiggy favoring the outer side. Delaney in front. Rogers underneath it. Kick it. Looks a little different with short hair, doesn’t he? Burton Eagles. I’ll call him a reject, but he’s done pretty well. Preseason form of the Dockers. Turner takes the mark in front of Ridley. Having a quick look around the ground. I think the only man with long sleeves on today. Turner’s kick to midfield or to be more correct, center wing. Good mark to Leech. Richmond fans thinking there may have been a push or two of them. Some talking needed there. And finally coming away with it as Winston Abraham has a shot at goal but won’t bend back far enough off the hands of the pack and rush through for a behind to the Freemantle Dockers. Their second rush behind two goals three now that total 2-3 to 1-1 at the MCG in the first quarter. Winston Abraham Turner to bring it back into play. Low trajectory pass and snuffled up there nicely by Wayne Campbell. Campbell short of half back. Target out there is Richardson and takes a good mark in front of man. Showed his athleticism then Richardson plays on back to Campbell inside the center square. He boots it down towards half forward. Gale that’s better from O’Reilly. Big fist away. What is very cleverly done and again what is it at center half back still going Chisum his first possession lobs it over the top Edwards who goes again Allen has been inspired so far he’s on the wing he kicks down towards the 50 nobody at home Campbell shown a lot of courage coming up to meet him was Bellenda lost it coming through is Abraham he keeps it in front they’ve got the numbers around the ball here Abraham across to Ridley open goal beckons and he gets The second dock is skip away. Who would have thought of this? But they’ve got a margin now of 14 points to dockers and their instinctive thing is to set it up with a hand ball first one. He’s thinking the hand ball. Come back. There’s the hand ball. That’s how they brought it down. The first reaction is a hand ball. Trying to set up teammate and get the ball running. They’re doing very well at the moment. Ridley’s second goal. Todd Ridley. Two goals out of the Dockers tally of 3-3. 21 played seven at the MCG. Good start for the Dockers. Not a great bounce. Certainly favors Deia. Marilla. A little bit too late with the attempted smother. Kick it goes down. Umpire says free kick advantage. The Tigers. Picked up by Gale. Too far out to score, but a long kick. Richardson. Yes. Great man. I think he’s beefed up over the summer a little bit. He’s built himself up to 101 kilos. And it’s muscle, too. It’s not fat. I don’t think he’s dead ever moved that quick. Got jumped as high. Correct. Dumbled too late with the spoil. Likewise, Gilbert and Richardson a chance for his first goal. And the Tigers second. Distance not a problem. He got the goal. So Matthew Richardson his first and the Tigers come a little bit closer. 2-1 to 3-3. Well, the two goals Richmond have come from their two big men, Gale and Richardson. They’re the focal point, but the little men will have to get below the packs when these two big guys fly. You can see there Gale in front, Richardson coming over the back. Man maybe showing a little bit too much latitude. There’s man and Richardson. Not usually aggressive. Peter man’s inhumanity to man. Up goes Burton. Knocks it down. Taken by Bond who boots it towards half court forward. Camp underneath of Chisum over the top Gale. It falls behind. Chisum first back with some time. Boots it towards the outer side wing. The big fellow has to go. Here’s Burton. He’s very agile for a man that size. gets away from Campbell if you don’t mind. Kicks it down towards half forward. Approaching the ball with spring burrows. He missed it though. Wiggnney across the body. Clever kick. Campbell off one step down towards half. Chism needs to go. They have a contest. That was enough. Richardson was on the lead. Kick at the short pass. Burton has been terrific. Across now to O’Reilly. O’Reilly stubs it about 15 m. Gilbert sold into trouble. It’s all Tigers behind the pack. Chance for Daffy across the body with the left foot and I think he’s missed. He has a let off there for the Dockers. Very casual by Steven O’Reilly. McDaffy side down by seven points. The goal kickers so far for Richmond. Their key forwards Richardson and Gale. Richardson started last season in terrific form. Eight goals in the first game against Foots Gray. Riley gets the direction from the umpire to kick it out. Deia overruns it. Campbell again. Quick hand pass. A looping one to Knight over the head of Merilla. Gale from a standing start unloads with a long bomb. Edwards is down there. Is it out of bounds on the full? I think yes. Well, they’re going to be predictable, aren’t they, Richmond, when they go to that forward line because they’ve got Edwards you just saw contesting that mark. Another big man throw in Gale and Richardson and they’re going to put the ball up high. Gilbert to Man, Rogers stands the mark. He’s going to come across goal and he’s caught. Edwards has got him. Rogers off the ground has missed. That’s what you call folks a comedy of errands. Dear dear, what was man thinking of? Well, umpire was waving his arms about here. Quite short, did it? The umpire was waving his arms for ages. So obviously he was saying something as well. Lack of talking will put it down to apart from from the umpire. Gilbert kicks in. This time it’s a little bit better. Delaney long bomb to the outer side. He was looking at there for Leech. Quinton Leech clon best and fairest in 94. Runner up in the send over middle and it’s going to be a boundary throwing. Burton and Dia. Burton in front. Gets it down. Campbell’s got it now though. Just forward at the wing. pushed off the kick. It was touched off the boot. Rodrik in trouble. Murillo falling to the ground. Waters did brilliantly. Allen comes away nicely. His eighth possession pass the center. Abraham run out with three and beat him. Abraham little chip pass for space. Now he’ll run onto this ball. Going back is Kicker. Keeps it in front. Brilliantly played. Bill will kick this second. He’s a sharpshooter. Two goals now to Peter Bell. Beston Ferris in his first season last year with South Freemandle Peter Bell. There he is. Huge reps last year before the draft. A real opportunist up forward is Bell. So Miranda coming through. Should have kept his eye on the ball maybe. Great effort. Superb hand pass that Peter Bell getting his second goal, but the hand pass from Kick It was a real gem that set it up for him. Deer goes down and there’s going to be another bounce. 10 m wide at the center circle with 5 1/2 minutes left in the opening term. A good quarter by the Dockers. They’ve shocked the Tigers a little bit, but as I said pre-match, don’t underestimate them. Jared Nisham, I think, will be pretty happy with their effort so far. No sign of nerves. Allen. Well, he’s certainly leading by example. Marillo from left center wing. High kick. Turner and Ridley. Good punch away by the Tiger defender. Opens it up for Gail or Campbell. Delaney’s there. Good shepherd off the ball. Gale’s got him. Down he goes. The ball’s out of bounds. Umpire says throw it in. Probably a good decision. Throw in will take place on the center wing. was favoring the Docker’s side, attacking side. Deer wins it. Delaney busy. Gale chases. I’ve got a hand to that as he kicked. Bell again. Good hand pass. Muer under pressure. Still he goes. Turner comes in to lend assistance and casually takes it over the line in front of his Docker opponent. It’s out of bounds again. This time right on 50. So Fremantle working it around towards goal. probably a little bit closer than that. Ridley gets the front posy back comes a turn. A good tackle by Bell J free in the tackle. Bell gets a little bit of a nudge for his trouble and is going to be about about 40 m out from Freemantle’s goal. 4 and 1/2 minutes left in the opening quarter. Dock is off to a good start. They couldn’t have hoped for better. Dio slaps it down. Turner goes for the boundary line, finds touch and it’s out of bounds outside by Turner because Delaney was hovering. There he used left to screen Delaney waiting for that big kick to come out. He was left unattended. Just over four minutes till quarter time. Deer goes up and knocks it down. Campbell a half chance. Gale quick hands away to the best and fairest for the Tigers last season. Bond floats it to the wing. Burton got hands to it. Couldn’t hang on. Allen is going to get the three. He’s been superb in this opening turn. Told to play on. Now he’s got some problems. Gave it straight away to Gale. Gale alongside this center circle goes to half forward. O’Reilly worked out of it by Richardson. N quickly back to Richardson. Brilliantly done. He’s on the 50. Little chip pass. Gale will need to stretch. It was going to be a relay free kick in any case, but Gale did the stretching, took the mark, and he’s directly in front. So the younger of the Gale brothers by about 18 months has a chance to post the third goal for the Tigers and they need it. So far the dock is just a little too quick. Actually the highlight of that play was the hand ball by N. Quick reflexive hand ball. It was lightning across to Richardson who in turn set it up to Gale and they made a change. Edwards has gone off for free mantle. Durk coming on. So Gale going in his second. It was Mu might have gone off. Yeah, Edwards is still out there, Don. Yeah, Mu. I think it was Oh, well, there’s a one in there. Here’s Gale. What’s he done? He’s missed. Two. He’s missed. [Music] Very interesting game this so far. The Tigers 2-4, the Dock is 4-3. So the margin 11 points clock running down towards quarter time. Well on paper it promised to be interesting didn’t it Dennis? Yeah not without a chance. Free medal they were betting three and a half four to one. Ridiculous odds. O’Reilly. Well that might be against man he’s shoved in fair square in the middle of the back and Gale will take the free kick. Well he’s getting plenty of possessions. Benny Gale judging by his previous effort too far out to score. Goes for the short pass. Edwards has got it. There’s the other one. the other tool up on that forward line. Edwards, [Applause] let’s see if he can make a better fist of having a shot at goal. Good mark. Unfortunately, last couple of seasons he’s had knee injuries preseason. Here it is again, the buildup. Yes, he’s been around there for a while, hasn’t he, Don? Last couple of games, intricot games have been good. 35 m out about a 45° angle. It’ll need to come back. It doesn’t. It might scrape in for a behind. It does. So Richmond missing with some opportunities up forward. Gale has got one goal too. And Edwards certainly missing what he should have kicked leaving the difference at 10 points. 25 to 4-3 in the first quarter. And the Sun tries to come out. This is Leech to bring the ball back into play. Very highly rated in freemantle territory. Gale. Will he pay the mark? Yes, he does. It was a bit of a toss up. Did Gail have first hands on the ball? That was what I was asking. So, left footer from Knights into the goal square. Plenty of tall tiger timber there. Even got this goal. So, he’ll be much relieved after missing the one earlier with well, you’d say a shocker. 4-3. Well, they had a lot of numbers flying for that ball. The ball coming from Knight. It was a good kick to the edge of the square. Richmond had the numbers. Maybe there the mark should have been taken because little did he know that he was by himself. But Edwards off the ground his first center breaks even three a piece. Four points the difference. Dia goes up and thumps it down. All Tigers around the ball. Bond to N. They dig it out at the center. Rodri’s in front. Could have almost got a kick. It runs free behind. Edwards quickly away. Rodri almost missed the ball. Moved it by about 5 m. Chisum Sockers off the ground towards half back. This is Campbell. Normally a pretty good kick. He goes from the 50 right to the square going back. O’Reilly conceds a high. So suddenly the dock is absorbing a little pressure. I think the message there would be don’t kick it near Gale. Keep it away from the big fellas. Find a runner. That’s what he’s looking for now. There’s not too many around when you say kick it away from the big fellows. They have got plenty of talls on the forward line. So he goes in short and he finds Peter Man, formerly of North Melbourne. Edwards will stand the mark. Man again in short could be dangerous. Deafy was up high and going away is Leech. He’ll need to go. He does. kicks towards center wing. Marking contest out there. Free has got it all. Got taken too high. You would think Abraham free again. Gets free. A little hand pass to himself. Some heavy shephering off the ball. Kick it goes down for Maxfield. The ball out of bounds next to the interchange. Two great shepherds from Maxfield there. Deserve better. And they decide to go on with it. Maxfield and kick it. Still practicing his Shepherd. What’s the umpire going to do? I think he’s going to give a free kick. He is never saw that side of Dale Kick, the aggressive side when he was playing with the other clubs, but he certainly let that come to the four in a couple of games. Oh, Burrows. He’s played for free mandle. Burrows right on 50. Needs to bend it back. He’s bended back too much. Gets plenty of distance with the kick. It’s nearly there and touched right on the line and through for a minor score to the Dockers. That was a pretty good kick. He’s a huge kick, Burrows. That was off about two steps across the body. Bang. 36 to 44. Turner kicks in, favors the outer side. Wiggney doing well in defense. He marched in front of Burrows. Just ran out of legs there. And Wiggney with the clearing kick. Well directed. Chisum surrounded but had the best play on the ball and gets it across the line. That was a poor option. Rogers. It had to be long to him or short to Broadick. Boundary throwing out his side. Oh, a lot of holding boys and slapped wide of the pack as you saw. Broadick’s got the run of it now to Knight who’s been pretty quiet dragged down. Narillo stood up in the tackle with strength. Allen very quickly on the boot. Well played. Going back free. Got a hand to it. Durk knocks it inside the 50. Wy should have gone at the ball. It’s going to be a free kick and it’s going I think to Durk right on the 50. Or should he have gone for the ball? Silly me, Don. Sorry. I forgot I was with you. I thought it was a brattling medist. So, here’s Durk about 55 m out right on the siren. Has it got the carry? Not quite. Quarter time and the Dockers getting the start they needed. They’re right in this game of footy. You had the feeling that the Dockers probably would be tested perhaps a little overroar in this quarter. Not the case. They’ve come out and they’ve looked terrific. And at quarter time they’re up by four points. They lead 44 to 36. And the Tigers really the side that took a while to settle down there. But you got the feeling about 3/4 of the way through the quarter that the Tigers were working their way on top. But then the Dockers have come again. So this is a most intriguing contest at the moment. The MCG not a bad crowd now. It’s built up around the 20,000 mark on. Yes, I was impressed with the Dockers, especially around midfield, Dennis. And uh a lot of those Richmond guys I think under underestimated their opponents. Burton’s doing well in the rack and as I mentioned they’re getting their drive but really was good earlier. And a quarter time the scores here at the MCG. Freemandal leading by four. 4428. Richmond 3624. Quarter time and the Freemandal dock is out by four points. 44 to 36 goal scorers. Two a piece to Bell and Ridley. And for the Tigers singles to Richardson, Edwards, and Gale, Ben Allen, a superb opening term, 11 possessions. What about the big man, Matthew Burton? Five kicks around the ground. So, he’s seen it. He’s seen a bit of the ball and kick it. Eight possessions. So, the Dock is starting well, some of the better individuals there. As we check around the league, there’s Jared Nisham out at Waverly. Scores a level at quarter time. Fitzroy in trouble against the Bombers at the Western Oval. The Bombers expected to be big improvers this year. Lead 57 to zip. We’re missing Bernie. And I reckon in about a month’s time he’ll be missing us. Jong Melbourne also playing at Cadinia Park, but uh be pretty interesting game that one too. It’s part of the second term. [Applause] [Music] Very interesting opening to this game. Burton and Dia. Burton up very early. Dia at the second attempt down towards half forward. Kick it. Nicely done. Well tackled by Knights. Held it a long time. Nisha has got it now. Working it down towards the 50. Rogers going nowhere. Marillo comes away. His seventh possession. Got it across the water as that’s holding the ball. It’s a good strong tackle. and Bond who started very well as well. Talking about the stats for the Dockers, his eighth possession coming up inside this center square puts it high again. That’s the name of the game. Yes. And Gale in front of O’Reilly. Strong mark by Brendan Gale. Thought he ducked his head as he took that ball, but um maybe waiting or anticipating the punch coming from a ri into the back of the scone. Here it is. No, he did. Well, actually he did cop one. So that’s why the head went forward. It was a physics dog. There’s Gale. He wouldn’t have got up. Sharp angle. He lights it off the boot. It slides across the face though behind. So the margin now is three points the darkest way and Benny Gale has kicked one goal three. That’s certainly the hardest shot he’s had so far. 37 to 44 Gilbert. He’ll go to the outer side. At the back is Richardson. In front is Deia around Marillo. Daffy on the lead marking in front of Edwards. Too far out to score. 60 to 70 m from goal. Plenty of tools needed down there. Man underneath it. Good tackle by Gilbert Edwards. A quick kick out of the congestion. Good talking there. Richardson wants to go, but he has to come back. Not a clear advantage then. Otherwise, the umpire would have paid Richmond’s way. They certainly could have kicked a goal there had the umpire let play go on. But he deemed that Richmond weren’t in an advantageous position. Matthew Knights only two possessions so far. Quiet first quarter certainly by his standards. How’s Allen going Pete? That’s his immediate opponent. Very busy in the first quarter. Seven and four Don. So you’d have to say he’s well on top. He was certainly leading by example. Probably still will be. Knights has kicked off target. So Richmond missing quite a few shots that they could have converted within range. And a minor score now to Matty Knights. 38. 11 effective scoring shots to eight and the difference is still two points in favor of the Dockers. O’Reilly bring the ball back into play this time goes in short and the mark is taken by Leech. Away he goes close to the boundary line. Quinton Leech over the top. Terrible hand pass intended I think for Edwards. Well, it runs on. Knocked on by Chisum. What has put his body in? Daffy over the ball. Back comes Brick. He’s got great hands. He gets it away to Gale who floats it well inside the 50. Rogers with the run. Juggled attempt at the mark. Couldn’t hang on. N was upended. Gilbert at the base of that and a bounce about 40 m out from Richmond’s attacking goal. Phil Gilbert interrupted preseason. Gale with a run at this ball. Comes strongly. Knocks it down towards fall forward. Rogers runs onto it. Snaps. He’s missed again. I say again, Richmond have missed again. What’s his second point, Dennis? Matthew Rogers there. Just had the run of the ball. Doesn’t happen happen often when you see a gap run through and the ball goes your way, but Rogers was in that situation on that occasion. Gale had a run of about 20 m of that bounce. Trying to get a body between him and the ball somewhere. Otherwise, they were exposed behind. Here’s O’Reilly. His hands full so far. Drives it towards the outer side. Gale goes up and takes the mark of the match and the runner goes out shortly to O’Reilly again. Meanwhile, Gail chips it across to Broadick just outside the 50. Rodri the short pass to Campbell playing real possession. There’s another short on if he wants to give it to N. You should never never turn your back on the play as Campbell did on that occasion because Nish was in a position to take advantage and it would have been a certain well I shouldn’t say a certain goal but he would have been in a better position than what Campbell is to kick this goal but Campbell is a thumping kick but not a very accurate one Dennis you win again right the distance and the score is level. Well, it’s great to be back working with you. The footy season again. 310 to 44. So, O’Reilly, will he go short this time? Yes. Gilbert’s got the ball. He’ll come back to O’Reilly. Fought with danger. O’Reilly has it up from the back pocket. 31044. 13 scoring shots to eight. O’Reilly high to the wing. Allen, the meat and the sandwich there. Richardson came in from the side right over the top. They’re a problem, aren’t they? Those big guys. Yes. In more ways than one when they kick like that. Get your hopes up and then do that. The ball’s bounced out of bounds, but yes, the marking is really hurting them. That’s the Dockers. Richardson and Gale very strong overhead. 60 m out the throw in. One down by Burton. Knights. Duck. The head comes away. Hot hand pass. Daffy keeps it in front. Well done. Na sharpshooter in trouble. Lee’s got him. This is Bond. Settles. That’s out of bounds on the four despite what the goal umpire says. Correct. Was out by about two yards that one. No doubt in the world. They’re right behind that. He wasn’t. Anyway, Bond’s going to take it and so are the Tigers. Gilbert looking for the footy. Their efficiency rate not so good Richmond when going for goal. 311. You have a keen perception of the obvious, Don. [Music] They scatter like a shotgun blast. He’s got in short finding Delaney this time. Gilbert Dockers can’t get it past their half back line at the moment it would seem. He gets around Edwards but only just. Still he goes to Laney. You have to get past Rogers. Oh, they’ve gone backwards. O’Reilly Rogers has got him in just the umpire says throw it in. Well, in full fairness the umpire Riley had his back to the umpire. He wouldn’t have seen that. Tiger fans saw it. They were just played on the board and there was another roar. Nice spins out. Brick looking for openings. Quick hand pass. N loves a goal. Good mark. Defense. say, “Hey, I want some room.” [Music] Edwards gives him the required five yards, 5 m. Quickly play it on. Ellen’s by himself. Chisum. Away he goes. They finally get it out of their defensive area. This is Edwards at right half back. Good kick. Clears the zone up towards midfield. That’s as far as it’s going. The sticky hands of Richardson in the road. He plays on the big man. Little chip pass towards the middle. N on his chest alongside the center circle. Suddenly not that good for the dockers. N inside the 50. Rogers had it fisted away. Well done by man. Falls to Broadick. Hurry snap. How will it bounce? Good enough. Goal. Paul. Paul had showed on that occasion that he’s not bad on the right foot. Normally a right foot kick. But in the first quarter, he had a shot down in the right forward pocket and wasn’t all that good at getting it onto his right foot. But that time, all set up again by Richardson. Here he is running onto it well. Quickly onto that right foot. Really didn’t look at goal. It was one of those hoping ones, but it found its mark. Rodri gets the goal. Burton gets the punch away. Gale goes down. A quick kick hacked away by Bond marking contest at midfield. Broadick again. Tony free getting clear of Edwards but only just. Daffy gives him backup support. Talking needed. Leech looks for support himself trying to find Durk. Rodri. Leech has got him. Away goes Durk now. Good long kick up towards the forward line. Ridley has it punched away by Turner. This is Bell. He’s already kicked two goals. Tried for his skipper. Couldn’t find him. Away comes Whitney. And the Tigers are certainly looking a lot better now. I don’t know what John Norley said at quarter time, but it’s obviously paid dividends. Richardson now man in the road clear of Rogers. Burton who’s been terrific gives it back to Delaney off the edge of the square. Delaney the former bomber down towards left half forward. Burrows has got the mark. And here’s a good kick. That was a good kick from Delaney. Good play Burton getting involved there. The quick reflexive hand pass. Burrows right on 50. Dock is trailing by a goal. 411 to 44. Seven points to be precise. Or he needs to draw that one round a mile. Ridley was the only one to really go for it, but didn’t judge it well and through for one behind. So that makes the difference. An even goal now here at the MCG. Burrows getting his first score, a minor one. 411 to 45. 29-35. Turner to bring it back. One of eight tigers to play in every game last season. Turner intelligent kick into the path of Kellaway is in there as well. Great kick. That was a great kick Dway did give him a terrific lead. He was the only man loose. Back across the ground. Campbell in space at half back goes for distance down aboard center half forward. Gale surrounded. O’Reilly a timely fist. Roving the pack is Burton. Gives it away to Durk. Goes in short. Good kick. Marillo’s got it. So, Marillo inside the center square kicks out very wide now. Burrows marks. He’s about 80 m from goal. Need to settle just a bit. The Dockers. He goes for distance down awards. Full forward. Crumbl fisted away by Turner. Morrena in trouble. It’s locked in there and a ball up. Minda from the West Perth player. played two games last season. They have found a home in defense for the Tigers. Marking Bell at the present time. Burrows the big leap close to the boundary line. Broadick couldn’t control it. Pushed across the line there by Kellaway. And it will be tossed in. Tigers are 411. The Dock is a 45. Dock is in attack. There’s the mobile bench. Roick coming through the pack. Whitney’s got the ball. It’s going to be a Richmond free. It will come back and it will be taken by Kellaway down there. Kellaway just forward of the kickoff line. Real improver goes towards the outer side. Not a good kick. Edward should have marked it there. Flicks it on. Well done. Free the hurried kick. Waters has got the run of it, but he’s back to his own goal. N wanted it desperately. Abraham now couldn’t control it. Daffy quick hands to N. under Rogers has to get clear quickly. Leech has got him. Got a little nudge in the back. Ball still in play. O’Reilly applies a tackle, but it is out of bounds. Or is it going to be a ball up? Peter, the boy that’s sah forward. Burrows very impressive. He bounces along the ground. He’s got great athleticism. Can play both ends of the ground. He’s proving a it’s a terrific battle between he and Wiggy at the moment. O’Reilly nearly gets tripped up. Milo telling him to go, which he does. He’ll look for man over the top. Delaney on the burst at midfield. Richardson nearly gets him the big fellow. Giant strides to reduce the gap and going for the boundary line with the educated punch away as Duncan Kettle. It will be a throw in in the left forward pocket for the Freemantle Dockers. Good crowd here at the MCG now seeing an historic match. Six points the difference and we’re about halfway through the second quarter. Turner with Burrows. Ridley over the top. Completely misjudged it. Campbell went without it. Ridley looking for a free kick. It’s going to be a ball up inside 50 about 40 m from goal. Dock has yet to go into the second quarter. In fact, they’ve only added one behind since quarter time. Turner goes at it. Burrows had it and then lost it. And Richmond are going to bring it away again. This is Gale. Gale’s kick up towards midfield. Good mark taken by Richardson. Don’t know where he’s playing, but he’s getting a lot of marks and a lot of kicks. Flips it out well on the end of the hand passes. Nice. Beautiful pass. Edwards takes it on the chest. Richardson’s playing around midfield. Peter he was I think he’s playing really at center half forward but he comes right up there and the players going across to congratulate him on that bit of play is that Scotty Waters coming off for the Freemantle side Norris coming on Norris on Edwards has already kicked one goal from close in. He missed from a similar distance in the first quarter. He sprayed it to the left. Let’s see what he can do here. It’s a wobbly punt kick I thought cleared the line. It hasn’t. Still in play. Leech man kick it. He will. It was touched off the boot though. Norris. Well, the umpire obviously didn’t hear that, but it definitely was touched off the boot. And away goes Norris. Spears the pass up towards left center wing and the mark is taken by Durk. Oh, Marilla read that really well. Ben Allen kick on the right across his body up towards half court. Burrows was the target. Richmond had the numbers at the fall of the ball. Gale gives it away to Campbell and right center wing. Campbell doing very well now. 13 possessions towards half forward. Strong mark in front of Riley. The running players for the Tigers very prominent in the last half hour. Rodri has had 11 possessions. Bond 10. Waters off the ground just three. Durk unkind bounce behind. It’s going to be a tiger free. and Wigny filling in for Bulis doing a good job at center half back as Don said that’s an entertaining jewel Richardson who’s been terrific met by Chisum the ball goes across the line so boundary throw in the beauty about Richardson there it is on screen is the fact that he just doesn’t rely on his high marking he can run he nearly ran a player down there through the center square chasing him and uh he’s a two he’s got so many different facets to his game Richardson is great to see he’s been working on his recovery that’s probably the only weakness of his game. Norris, was he pushed in the back? Not according to the umpire. Here’s Nash right on the 50. Rodri in trouble. Could have been taken high. Socket off the ground by Burton. Comes to Bond. I don’t know that was his intention, but he’s done very well. It’s got to Daffy. I thought he was looking for Rogers down the ground, but it spilled across to the left there as he saw it. He had great vision. Well, if it was intended, Dennis, excellent vision. Daffy, a player that has improved, but he uh really has got to be has got to become a regular in this Richmond side wearing number 10 made famous by Kevin Shei. He kicks from 40 and I think he’s got the goal. He has increase their lead. [Music] Well, in all credit to Richmond, they’ve really turned this game around because halfway through the first quarter, the Freemantle side were really doing well. Setting it up from That’s a great tackle. Uh, kick it there. Great tackle. He didn’t tackle him too high, but they’ve arrested that run that the Freemandal side have did have in the first quarter and now are starting to assert their ascendancy. Five individual goal kickers for Richmond. Nick Daffy joining the club. 511 to 45. So the Dockers need something to get them going again. They started well in the first quarter. Ben Allen gets around his teammate Burton Whitney. Well, he’s really shining in defense onto Deer and Low for the long bomb from two steps. Daffy Leech. Now Edwards ball pedal out wide man. Erin hand pass. Knights goes in. Leech has got him. The ball is shuffled out the front of the pack and it’s going to be a Docker’s free kick. I think Leech will be the recipient. He will. They had any nerves initially. The Dockers have lost those, but they’ve also lost momentum and maybe just a little bit of Burrows. Got off the ground well. Couldn’t drag the mark in. Flipped away by Turner. Tackles by N. It was now the umpire’s found a free kick. It’s going the doctor’s way and Burrows will take it right on center wing. Deer on the mark. Tried too much for distance. Wobbles off the boot. Dale good mark in front of Derko and gets it moving quickly. Nice again. Ridley’s got him. Quick kick up towards midfield. Edwards has taken the mark. It may be a free downfield. It will be. Oh, I think that was a bit tough on Ridley. He’s appealing. Well, I must admit I didn’t see what it was for, Don. So anyway, the kicker is up towards half forward. Rogers away from Chisum. It’s bouncing. It’s going close. It won’t be a score. And Gilbert more than content to just let it go over the line in front of Edwards where we will see a throw in 2 m from the behind post. Does that appealing work on 5’11 to 45 works more I think in summer Dennis? We can still see the cricket pitches. Gale tries to use his strength. Brick has it. Gale again. Little bit of off the ground work. Daffy I think has kicked it through from behind and one further behind to the Richmond score. Daffy’s telly goes to one goal two. 512 to 45. Just over 6 minutes left in the half. So the Ders haven’t booted a goal in this term. This has been a problem bringing it in. O’Reilly’s got the ball at the moment. And where will he go? Very short to man. Not a lot gained by that. Kick its on for another short pass. He ignores that and goes by hand to Delaney. Awkward one. He had to jump in the air to take it. Now he’s got a problem through the middle. He goes, “Well, not good football.” Dale comes away with the ball inside the center square. Sends it back in. Edward surrounded. The meat in the sandwich there. It’s just underneath you, son. We’ll have a bounce deep in the pocket. Honest toiler is Phil Gilbert in that contest. What about this bringing it in Don? Well, wouldn’t you make Burton your target? Just kick it high to him and hope he doesn’t get out game. I know what you’re doing. Don Edwards to Daffy. Rodri bounces it out of bounds in the opposite pocket, but the possession game at the moment is getting them into a fair degree of trouble in defense, isn’t it? as they’re having trouble getting it out of that zone. It’s been in Richmond’s forward line probably 65 to 70% of the time in this term. Dock has yet to score a goal. They look good in the first quarter. Oh, Riley that is finding touch. Can I borrow centimeter perfect? Absolutely. Burton was dear and to a certain extent he’s gone out of the game a little bit. certainly set them al light in the first quarter. Burton and defending desperately in the second so far. Freemantle. It’s out of bounds again. Diet tries to get past his man mountain. Can’t do so. Rodri scoops it out. Campbell. Oh, that’s a good tackle. Dropping the ball and Ben Allen will take the free kick. And I suppose it might be more to the point to say Allen has also gone out of the game in the second term. Now man on the breakaway. Chisum. Chisum at right center wing. Daffy gives chase over the top. Edwards at right half forward. Norris telling him to go long and he does. Ridley is the target. Can’t take the mark. At the back is Keaway giving him excellent support. The skipper. Well, funny old kick from Tony. Really do too much with that. Bell who’s kicked a couple of goals. Had it lost it. Daffy on he didn’t have it. Free kick going to the dockets. [Applause] Too far out to score. Here’s Bell. A real goal sneak. Keep away again. Now Ridley. Oh, banana kick goes at goal. That looks pretty good. I think he’s kicked it. He has. Great goal. Beautiful goal. Todd Ridley. His third. Excellent. Excellent on the run. Holding the ball across the body. Don’t players do this so well. Well, it’s not a good kick here by Bell. Puts it out in front. Strong play there. It goes. Look at that. The way he held that body across the the ball across the body. Good effort. Just over four minutes till Halime. Knights gets it away. Rogers kicks well inside the 50. Looking for the height down there of Gale. It falls behind Chisum. Boots to the boundary and a throw in just inside the 50. It’s got Chisum. Every time the ball comes in high, you can feel that the Docker supporters. Not that there are many at the ground, but certainly back in Western Australia watching this would be holding their breath. Edwards tried to get it across to Norwich. On his knees is Gale. Bond escorted across the line. Chris Bond formerly with Carlton. Has been a terrific pickup at the past couple of seasons for the Tigers. Man goes up and gets it down. Quickly on the boot from Bond. Floats it towards the kickoff line. Edwards could have almost got a free in front. It falls to N. He doesn’t normally miss. Well, that worked behind. He is a sharpshooter though. Chris N played in 22 games last season. Scored at least one goal in 14 of them. Behind there stretches the margin to eight points. Groom’s come on for free medal. He’s gone to the forward pocket. O’Reilly. And as Dennis pointed out earlier, this has been a a problem in getting the ball back into play. Dennis, this is they do that. They don’t muck that kick up. It’s a second or the third give on the back line that they have problem with. They’ve done that quite well. Norris has kicked. Oh, he’s gone for a bit of distance. Marillo dragged down. Might have been held almost too long in the tackle. Winston Abraham has it. Oh, he’s not used to the MCG surface. He’s lost it. Burton gives him back up. He gets paxton. Good effort. Abraham again. And Whitney gets called to play on. Miranda got a decent old shove in the back. Away they go. The Dodgers. Will that be a free kick? No. The umpire saw his play on it. Or was it out of bounds? Yeah, that was great play by Burton because he figured in play on the halfback flank, followed the ball down then got the hand pass on. K to Allen. Actually, that’s interesting. I’m sure the boundary umpire was saying he was out of bounds. That’s what I thought. Dennis central umpire is saying there was an infringement. He was taken too high. I think Marillo. There’s that Marillo down on the boundary line. He’s complaining about his jaw. He’s been replaced by Waters. Kick by Allen. was not bad. One behind being examined by the doctors. Marillo complaining about there he is complaining about these jaw might have caught one. He comes from very good sporting stock. His dad Joe played for West Perth in the 60s and 70s. His mom was a great net baller. Edwards takes the mark. Too far out to score. 70 m from goal. gives it a decent old heaveho. Groom in front. Good marker draw away again. He’s off. He’s almost caught. He is caught. And it’s a rush behind. That counters will hate that. That is the ultimate in giving away a score, isn’t it? Actually, mark the ball and you’re forcing. Bit tough that call. Did he play on Don? I don’t think so, Dennis. Good enough for me. Turner kicks in. Wiggney slides, takes the mark on his chest. I’m impressed with Wney. Three kicks. 13 to the Dockers, 12 to the Tigers. Wney right half back short. Gale has to stretch and he’s taken this mark. Approaching Halime. Just over 2 minutes now. Six points the margin. Gail goes across the ground. Allen comes hard. Did well. Bond recovered nicely though on the ground. And he chips it down towards half board and Rogers. He takes it. Hits the ground running. Pulls it back towards the middle. Needs a fist. Timely one from man. Kick. It’s in down. Held it a long time. It was well done by N forcing the error. And now Knight has taken the mark. That’s why forwards have got to work and N did on that occasion because you can turn cause a turnover. That was terrific play by N to follow his work up. So Knight’s directly in front. He was a little bit close when he went for his last kick. He kicked a point a little close to the man on the mark. Let’s see what he does with this one. This for a lead of 12 points. He kicks just inside the 50. Has it got the carry marked right on the line by Richmond. Well, it wasn’t a good kick. It came in at about head height and mates just going through it all again. But Edwards has the ball up ahead at point blank range. This must be a goal. It’s a Cardinals and you’ve got to stay in front, don’t you, on the back line. Edwards puts it through. That’s his second. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Edwards coming off the ground. Here he is on screen taking the mark, but now he’s being replaced by tape. So it’s an interesting move. He was the first Richmond player today to kick more than one goal and both of them coming from a similar distance. The first in the opening quarter which he kicked virtually off the ground that strong. Sorry Pete, just watch what Greg Deer does whether he comes across this. Yeah, he does that. He’s trying to take Burton’s run. You see what he’s doing? Starts on that one side and comes across that line to try and cut Burton out of the game. Holding the man is the decision. Richmond free kick. Tiger fans rejoicing in Chris N taking the ball. Free kicks though, as Dennis pointed out moments back, pretty even should have taken that Richardson. It’s easy to say that from here, Chisum, O’Reilly, Delaney. Delaney has been busy mainly in the first quarter. This is Muer. [Music] Delaney again, as I said, busy. Campbell late on the scene. Dockers would love a goal before Halime. We’ve only got 18 seconds left. They’ll have to get it moving quickly. Need a strong mark somewhere in the goal. Will Ridley take it? No, he won’t. Better judgment from Turner. Although Ridley has kicked three goals. Scott Turner from right half back will land it at center wing. Gale. The strong mits go up. Norris overruns the ball. Fisted away by man. There’s the siren for Halime. And Benny Gale practicing his uh American football throw. Do you think that was a throw of frustration at the umpire? Gives it back. Well, Ridley is their leading goal kicker. He has 3-1. They only have one other goal kicker, Peter Bell, and he got two in the first quarter. So, not a very productive term, Dennis. The second one for them. Richmond seem to have uh well, tightened up a little bit, didn’t they? Yeah, the runners came into Richmond, particularly early in the term. The Dockers got back on terms a little bit later, but they trail by 12 points. It could have been worse. I mean, Richmond’s accuracy hasn’t been terrific. There’s John Nory. Took Melbourne to the finals what, five times. Needs to start with a win and reverse what’s become a tradition at Pump Road. Off to a bad start. That’s right. Back to 82. Jared Nisham has reason to be pleased. I think they’ve been competitive. Halime the Tigers lead by 12 points. 613 to 57. That’s a thing about football. [Music] Half time at the Melbourne cricket ground and the Tigers lead it by 12 points after they trailed by four points at quarter time. Checking the goal scorers, Steuart Edwards off the ground late in that term has got two and singles to Daffy Richardson, Broadick and Gale. That’s Brendan Gale. And for the Ders, three to Todd Ridley and two to Peter Bell. Don Scott is with me. And Don, what about that first half? I enjoyed that. The Ders, a breath of fresh air, particularly early. Yeah, first half of the first quarter, I thought they were good, Dennis. Fairly even. That Richmond came back. It was interesting that the Dockers had eight shots for goal in that first half, whereas Richmond had nine, but then in the second quarter, Richmond really did assert their ascendancy. They tightened up and in actual fact they had 10 shots for goal Richmond whereas the do the dockers only had the four but they’ve got that threeprong attack. I mentioned well yes I only mentioned two early and that was Gale tough to combat because they’re generally trying to do the right thing aren’t they punch away a couple of times they tried the mark from behind but they’ve learned their lesson now but still when those guys are so good in the air well they’re big and their third one it was Edwards he was taken off the ground just before halftime replaced by tape but they’re a big marking site especially up on the four line the little fellas have got to you I suppose do a little bit more get underneath the pack because the opposition are going to bring the ball to ground and here’s Bell this the first quarter. Matthew Knight’s a little loose on Ben Allen, but uh whether he tightened up or Allen went out of the game the second quarter, I don’t know. But Allen wasn’t as productive. But then again, a lot of other dockers weren’t as productive in the second quarter. There’s Brick, his right foot, normally a left foot kick. A very good player last year. Came from Fitz. This is his second year. Came from Fitz Roy and would have led the best in Ferris. I think he came second in the best in Ferst at Richmond, but early on he was fantastic last year. probably not carrying on as well as he did. Now, Daffy, much improved player, but he’s got to become a regular player this year. Nick Daffy, any of the new boys caught your eyes so far as we take a look at these stats? Explain those to me, Don. Well, you’ve got the mathematical equation. So, explain it. Well, I I haven’t got the center of 50 very even. Yes. You can see the efficiency as far as taking it. It’s taking into account uh the center hit outs going to a rover then being cleared out of the so if the the fellow in the same side takes the hit out gets it to his teammate then they take it out of the center that’s how it’s calculated Dennis so you can see there that the efficiency rate of Richmond in the center it’s 42 to 33 so that’s where the game starts that was terrific Bernie is going to remember his first game Bernie Quinnland coach of Fitzroy they haven’t scored to halime and Essenden are 712 12. So Essenden getting a start. I thought it may have been the breeze in that first quarter at the Western Oval. 57 to nothing. And then in the second turn they’ve added a further two goals five. So the Lions still score in that game at the Western Oval. We’ll be back with more from the Melbourne cricket ground right after this break. Russell Morris is down on the boundary. What did you make of the first half, Russ? Well, it was quite interesting, Dennis. I think Free Medal in the first half obviously threw everything at Richmond. I think they were a bit um spellbound actually. Got second to the ball. Free medal had more numbers around the packs, but then I noticed Johnny Nory at uh at quarter time gave Richmond a bit of a spray and told them really to put their heads in and the members here gave Richmond a bit of a serve as Nory and the match committee walked down the stairs telling them, you know, get Richmond have a go and all that. I think Nisham could be generally very happy with so far. I mean the the dockers sort of made a bit of a liar of me because they’ve done very well and especially guys like Burrows across half forward line. But I think I’ve got a bit of a theory, Dennis. You were talking about Gale and Richardson, how Richardson was playing across the half forward line. Richo, the way he was chasing the ball end, I think he’s a lot fitter than Gail. Gale might be a bit underdone. And also Richardson’s um record at kicking for goal last year wasn’t all that good. So maybe they’re keeping away from goals, so get the ball more and then put it down to the goal square to Gale. So who knows what Nori may be thinking there. Yeah, thanks Russ. Any news on Jamie Marillo’s jaw close to Halime? I spoke to um Jared McNeel, the football manager, and he said, “Look, they’re checking it at Halime. They had ice on it. Uh might be just a bit of a knock, but it’s just precautionary at the moment, so we’ll see. As soon as they run out, he may be back on, but I’ll find out more later on in the third quarter.” Put you to the test here. You’re expecting the Tigers to pull away in the second half, are you? Well, you’d expect so. I think as you noticed, you know, the Knights lifted and Brick and these guys lifted a little and they sort of had more numbers around the ball. So you’d expect that to happen but free metal hopefully they might make a liar of me. Nice tie. Darren Nisham I would imagine the club tie is the official club tie isn’t it? Yep. Nisham who played under Ricky Quaid briefly with the Sydney Swans I think it might have been a couple more but what back in the early 80s Ben Allen very good first half 11 and four for Allen this was that controversial one was he out of bounds he appeared to be out earlier before that tackle was applied well the thing is I think if I understand the rule correctly if the boundary umpire doesn’t get to the central umpire and time. The kick must stand. Just watch deer on this occasion. Sorry Dennis, but just watch deer on this occasion as the balls bounced down. Oh, didn’t favor more or less favored him, but he knocked it down. This is Abraham. So, the Dockers who went well to this end at the start of the game [Applause] by Miranda up from the back pocket. He kicks it very high towards the wing. Edwards who started very well, knocks it away from Maxfield. Allen in front. head over the ball. Lost it. Broadick’s hand pass. Clever. Daffy’s away forward at the wing. Run down from behind by Edwards. Now a quick turnaround. Opportunity for the Dockers. Allen got it from Delaney. Across it comes to Chisum. Interesting kick to Kick played it very well and he’s played the mark. Oh, good use of the body. Quick whistle. So Kick put it close from here. Wers is on for a short one. One is meters in the clear. That’s ignored at least initially. So Kickot fancies his chances to do exactly that. Five clubs. Not bad going. Oh, it’s a shocking kick. It wobbles down at full forward and the mark is held by Chris Broom about 5 m out. And he’s a very interesting story. Playing only his 13th game, his first for the Dockers. He made his league deu against the Tigers in 93. And here he is, his second deboo if you like against the Tigers again. An early goal for the Ders. Well, that’s just what they wanted to start the second half. 67 to 613. So, the difference remains at one goal now. Kick it. Good endeavor to get the ball. Certainly favored by the whistle. Wobbly punt kick. Strong grab over the top of Kellaway. And he got one on his nose for his trouble. Hasn’t really been conspicuous today. room just been off the bench. But we watch what deer does on this occasion. I’ve been mention I’ve mentioned the fact that he was running along the center line and not really getting off the ground but taking the run of Burton the gating Burton. He’s done it again. Well done dear Edwards nearly caught. Quick hand pass. Doesn’t bounce kindly for Allen. He finally picks it up. Well, Chisum inside the square. A high bomb underneath at Maxfield. Big Burton gives it away. Delaney loves a run. He’s been penalized once already for running too far. That’s a great long kick and off the hands of the pack for a rush behind to the Freemantle Dockers. [Music] So more played by Freemantle early in the third quarter, reducing the deficit now to five points. Turner kicks in again favoring the outer side. Good long kick. He’s only got Bond there. The numbers are with the Dockers. A chance for them now as it’s picked up by Abraham. He spears the pass in. Tried to find Groom. Couldn’t do so. The Tigers defense standing firm. Underneath it though was Scotty Waters. He takes the mark. Had to stand on the bench late in the second quarter. At which I must admit I was surprised. Ridley. Oh, good mark. Good mark. There weren’t too many options on. Everything was covered down forward and it was good by Waters to pick Ridley out. Only three goal kickers today and three goals against the name of Todd Ridley. 3-1 to be precise. That man there, Craig Burrows, has been impressive across half forward. That’s not a good kick. Mirinda goes for the punch and succeeds in finding a handy policeman right on the boundary line. It will be thrown in 10 m from the behind post. That’s a kick I’d often amazed at professional footballers not being able to do that drop or the torpedo punt from distance and he tried that Ridley but just never got onto it. Jamie Merilla looking on. Meanwhile, Brick tries to get it across to support. Free sockers off the ground center half back. Edwards under the pump. Knocked forward by Brick. Soccer attempt there by Maxfield. Gained about 5 m. Maxfield comes again. He likes that. Bond is dragged down. Ball is still in there. Delaney’s got it and he’s got company and the bounce about 10 m the attacking side of this center circle for the Dockers who have started well in this third turn. Greg Deer limping too. The big fellow number 14 for Richmond. They like going left to right. I think Porto started. Pete dragged down his knights. Over the ball is Edwards and a whistle. Maxfield. Yes. Well, Free 200 to one to win the pennant. Richmond 33 to1 to go all the way. Allen out of midair with the odds I think much closer together on the result of this game now than they were when the game started. What is in trouble intercepted by Broadick does nicely. This is Gale. Gale across to Campbell. 60 m out from goal. Campbell. Some indecision. The kick not particularly good as a result. Big leap from behind by N. Gilbert’s over the ball. Gale tries to get it out somehow. Falling on top of it. Richardson. And from the seated position tries to kick a goal. When players down the ground do the unpredictable, which Campbell did on that occasion, it really catches the forwards out because the forwards have made their position, but then Campbell dropped in a quick bounce. They were all out of position. There was nothing offering on that occasion. Burton. Oh, he’s got into the back of his opponent. That’s a real technical one that a What did you think, Doc? There was one earlier, Peter, where they were both holding in the center and they it just wasn’t picked up. But watch this. Gale in front. The hand on the shoulder. But that’s tough. But then again, you’ve got to get in front if there’s a bounce down. You should know that. He’s played all his life in the rack. Burton. He’s technically correct, but pretty soft. Gale kicks the goal. And gets his second. He’s kicked two goals, three. And that was just what Jerishian didn’t want at this stage of the third term. 713 to 68. There’s the offender on screen and we watch it once again. He should have got in. He can’t afford to do what he did on that occasion and be caught behind. He’s given away the free kick, but then again, the umpires should be more consistent in those decisions. [Music] 11 points the difference now. And after that gimme goal to Brendan Gale, Dockers go forward again. This is Abraham. shoots the hand pass up towards half forward. Burrows right on 50 but Richmond defense standing firm on the burst. Another bounce strong shepherd behind Clay. Richmond player went down. Turner’s kick landing mid or center wing. Now Leech who nearly got tripped up did in the end. Recovers brilliantly fires out the hand pass and the dockers go forward through man. His kick up towards half forward. Marking contest. Callaway goes off the ground, kicks it up towards Delaney. Good hand pass. Bers have to be quick, son. He is. [Applause] No, the umpire didn’t pay it. Well, plenty of hands on it, Don. So, I suppose at the end a good decision and it will be a bounce. 35 m out directly in front of goal. Dockers going from left to right. Richmond 713, Fremantle 68. Dockers did well in the first quarter. Richmond came back in the second. Deer in front, Ridley behind. Free tries to trap it underneath. Ridley applies a tackle and once again the umpire will bog it up almost in the identical position. Some trying to break through after a very cold 10 days in March. But the start of April quite pleasant conditions now here at the G. So another bounce. Dock is in attack. Deer as Don said was limping a little while back but seems to be okay now. Bounce number three. Yes, I don’t know why Greg you’re not getting the free kick because there you can see appealing to the umpire for push out. Now Ridley pushed him in the back on that last occasion. I think these ruck infringements have got to really be cleaned up by the umpires. 13 and 1/2 minutes till 3/4 time. Deer gets it down. Free was taken high. Tony Free. [Applause] Good to see him back up from the back pocket. Feisty customer puts it high towards the wing. Burton in best position. Richardson had the run. Burton with a good strong grab. Burton plays on. No one standing the mark. Kicks well inside the 50. Ridley a big leap down there. Fingertips to it. Couldn’t hang on. In fact, it was Muer the leaper. Ridley was on the ground. Free comes away. Rather untidy hand pass. Killway back to Free. They worked it well. Free boots towards the wing. Leech worked out and she’ll get the free kick. Deffy. So Leachch has been solid on the wing. Goes down towards Harford. Well weighted kick. Ridley got hands to it. Knights came back hard on it. It’s a free kick. Knights needed to look back at the ball. At least on one occasion he didn’t do that. Ridley a centering kick. Muer from behind knocks it down in front. Kick it. Well, that was ambitious. Hand pass from Gale to Campbell. Campbell runs away. Boots it towards the outside wing. Chisum was the man in front. It runs free behind here and Rogers. Rogers leads back in the race. Chisum gave a contest. This is Gale outside the half forward line about 75 m from goal. Comes back with a left boot towards full forward. Getting up was tight. Finds it on the ground. Tackle the hand pass not particularly good. Richardson was playing. Gilbert goes in. Norris quick hands away to man. Boots towards the outer side. Gale again takes the mark and centers to Dia. Deia on the run. Oh, it’s a good drop punt. Man has the sit there. T it beautifully off the pack and Richmond’s eighth goal. 81361 to 6844. and Richardson appealing to the umpire. But this is what the Richmond small fellows have got to do because they are predictable. They send it high as they’ve done. They’re looking for the big man. Richardson goes up and there is tape. I don’t know why Richardson was complaining but he rode the well. Tape goal of Jamie Tape. He started on the bench this afternoon for the Tigers. Delaney on the run on the edge of the square. Tackles by three. The two number 30s tangled. Muera overruns the ball. Opportunity for Burrows across his body and one behind or out of bounds. It’s out of bounds on the full. Turner will take the free kick for Richmond in the left back pocket. 813 to 68. 61 plays 44 and the Dockers learning what AFL is all about. Deer and Burton. Broadick leaves it for Deer from a standing start. Kicks to center wing. is holding contest out there and it’s going to be a free kick to be taken for the Tigers by Nish against Norwich. 15 to 17 the free kicks two in favor of the dockers. Chism. Oh, good mark. You pay that. Yes. At center half back and he will take the kick. He’s got players on his left if he wants them. He’s been handy. Chism handy there as well. Dale’s not happy. Meanwhile, Richmond have got the ball on the other side. This is Bond. Not quite enjoying this. Too slow. There’s Richardson by himself. My word would you probably know what Chris Bond’s thinking but he had leads goes very high got plenty of tigers around the ball off hands. Abraham clears the zone back towards the outer side. Awkward bounce. Gale leaping in the air. Got a boot to it. That was enough. Broadick. Well, he went for the big man. Deer did nicely knocked it across to Knights. This is Brick again inside the center square. Goes long down towards the pocket. Taper kick. The last goal was up. Got a hand to it. It runs on and goes out of bounds. Crowd not happy with the umpires this afternoon. Tigers lead 813 to 68. But I think they’re a little frustrated too these Tiger supporters by the opposition they’ve run into. No easy beats at least so far. Dropping the ball broad. Tackled by Allen. Comes across towards Delaney. His fleet of foot still he goes. Delaney a couple of bounces. Flips it over the top sending Leech away. Leech runs it out towards right half back. sends it back towards Delaney. Needs it to sit for him. It did. Delaney arches the back. Runs from half back. Kicks the half forward. You’re out of position. Has to be a Gale free kick. The shorter of the Gales. Advantage is played. Dia comes away. And moving pretty well for a big man. Oh, Mark. Free kick. Whatever to Richardson. Might even be 50. No. Gutsy mark. It was a gutsy mark. A millisecond later, he would have been right back near the goals. Richardson kicks to Gale who’s marked just about everything today except the grand stand roof. Norris was in trouble. Kick away by O’Reilly. Will it get to the boundary? It stops and it just hobbles over the line 65 m out. The crowd certainly getting their money’s worth. A bigger crowd I think than expected because I was told that they sold out of footy records about half one this afternoon. Norris who started on the bench. O’Reilly. Good mother. Good smell by Broad Nice. Free kick free. This is Chisum. Chisum kicks out wide. Badly weighted kick. Campbell underneath it. Campbell a good kick. Just might test him. gone for the big tour and touched right on the line by O’Reilly who helped it on its way for a rush behind on two occasions. I stand to be corrected but when he’s got the ball chism at center half back on two occasions he’s turned it over in the last 5 minutes. 8 and 1/2 minutes left in the third term. It’s been an eventful one for Riley to bring the ball back into play. Edwards up ahead. They need to break the shackles here. The Dockers and go down the ground and score at the present time. Richmond doing all the attacking. O’Reilly goes for distance. Burton’s the target out and up but gets it on the ground. Well, all Tigers around him. Bond did the roing gets it to Campbell who can kick it a long way. He goes from 60. Hasn’t got the carry. Not quite. O’Reilly gets back. Body to body with Gale kind of behind. Well, not on the same page there. If they’re going to kick it high and long to Burton, it can’t be fouron-one with three of them on the deck. Going to get some runners alongside the big man. There’s Allen. Tape setting a little pick there. There’s the short one. Leech wasn’t watching. It’s a very inexact science at the moment getting it in. Rogers over the top. Leech with courage still working as Daffy. That’s an interesting hand pass. Knights is dragged down. Loose ball. Daffy goes again. Dragged off it by Delaney. In goes Leech. It’s not pretty. Bond is tackled by Waters and a bounce. Well, what about the hand parts? Right in front of the umpire. [Applause] If you don’t mind, umpire. I think on the wrong side of him, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Nice went without the footy. Snapshot by Broadick. Off target. Maxfield underneath it. Haven’t seen too much of him this afternoon. Only his fourth kick if in fact he is to kick it. Just about in the old dressing rooms, but they have been kicked from there before. Big pack. Gilbert gives it away. Oh, Doug running around in circles. That was Ridley. Free kick. Now play the advantage. O’Reilly gets past Delaney. Still he goes. Now they’ve cleared the zone. Long kick inside 50. Burrows plays the penalty for playing behind his man and the Tigers will run it out of defense again. This is Whitney who was witted in the first quarter. Good strong shepherd by Maxfield. The kick up towards left half forward. The dockers have the numbers but the rebound goes the Tigers way. This is Gale going in towards full forward. Marking contest again. Richardson behind a fresh air shot. Still he goes. The tackle is by man. Now a goal. Gappy. Some desperate play up there as Nick Gaffy finally got his foot to fall. His second goal. It was Richardson desperately trying to capitalize, but the backsl coming here from Gale. Did well Gale had two opponents to beat. One would have thought that Richardson had to sit then on man, but that was a great tackle by Chisum. Ball still another good effort by Man and Chisum looking to the umpire. Maybe he shouldn’t have looked. Margin 25 points. Waters off the ground again. Durk is back on. So testing time now for Freemantle. They need the next goal. Deer, he’s got other ideas. Knocks it the Tigers way. Knights hasn’t got the ball. Down goes Allan. Met solidly by Richardson. Well, I don’t know. I don’t know. Knights could have got that, Dennis. Certainly. Allen from half back towards half forward. Kick’s got the run of it in space. They need to make something of this. Clock is down to 6 and 1/2 minutes remaining in the turn. Kick it. Little chip pass inside the 50 and Brun’s taken the mark. It’ll take a good kick from here. He has one goal already early in this turn virtually in the first minute of the third quarter. Chris Groom 915 68 contest about 5 m out. Ridley was up through his fingertips. Burrows behind. Easy goal. And a timely one. His first Craig Burrows. John Nordy on screen directing. Well, badly needed one for the Dockers there. A high ball coming from Groom. The pack fly and there’s only one staying down behind and that’s Burrows. kind of reels it in with a right and in the same motion lets fly on the turn and kicks his first but certainly lifted his work rate in the center there 19 points the dock is certainly not out of it but they have been under siege 915 by the Tigers free kicks 18 to Richmond and the dockers 17 so they have been shared and again deer as Don pointed out running in from the side bounce favors Burton too tall. Gives it away. Kick it. Dallas does just that. Too short. Delaney. He’s been impressive. Straight down the spine of the ground. Kicks towards half forward. The defense of Richmond has been excellent. Minda, he’ll go for the boundary line and gets a little helping hand from Bella says throw it in. Delaney a better player, Peter. When he does the first thing on that occasion, he got the ball, put it down long into the forward line. If he thinks about his second option, he usually gets into trouble. Free tried to snare it. So too did Waters. Now Burrows centering kick Gale. Can he get back crumbl? He can’t. His opposite number three will rush it through from behind. And that’s Duncan Kellaway. And so another rush behind to the dockers. Goal there would have been real handy. 915 to 79. And so the difference is three even goals. Gale to bring it back. That’s Michael Gale earlier in his league career at Fitzroy. of course behind Bond did well to work the ball to the front of the pack. Best and fairest last year. Durkay tries to paddle it forward. The long and the short of it there was Burton. Out it comes to Daffy. Daffy’s kick up towards midfield. Important ball to win this. Rogers has the run then lost it. Brick. Yes, it is Brick. Leachch intercepting well. Runner up in the sand over medal last year. Still he goes a high ball inside 50. Gale again claims the mark over Crumbl. And is that going to be 50? Yes, it is against Bell. And so he will take the free kick round about the center wing position. [Applause] So the 50 stepped out. Michael Gale played over 100 games with the Lions. Kick across half forward. Gale coming up from goal to Daffy. The hurried kick. They’ve got the numbers Rogers will need to go. Misses the mark. Gilbert gave a contest and again well played. It was twoon-one initially. Great tackle. Rogers keen to make amends. The umpire says Rogers held it to kick it. That was a strong word. He had to make amends though. Dennis, that was an easy chest mark. He let come off his chest. Should have taken it. But what a great tackle. Here it is. Watch. Oh, body slam. Campbell. That ball bounced towards him. Abraham in trouble. At the round point called So Bon’s got this free down towards half forward. 91579. Sets it up for Richardson. Almost interference kick it running directly at him. Man’s got the ball close to the line. kicks it around the outer side flank. Strong mark once more again. Well, remarkable game in as much as two contrasting patterns. Here’s Campbell. All about marking as far as the Tigers are concerned. All about running as far as the Dockers are concerned. Edwards has got the free kick. Scott Edwards, one of 13 former Claremont players named in the 24 on Thursday. There’s another. Chances are they’ll be kicking it to each other. This is Allen. Big afternoon from him. Great start. His 20th possession towards midfield. Ridley up very early. Knights didn’t have the ball. He’ll get the free kick. Matthew United at midfield. Quiet afternoon as we look at those stats. Only coming up for his fourth kick. Good tick hand pass to Maxfield on the burst. He gets flattened after he kicked the ball. going to be downfield. So, you can’t argue with that decision. Well, I might I’d like to see it again. Yeah, a bit late, Dennis. Was it? All right, that was Leech the offender. There’s the kick and the ball had gone. You can’t do that after the ball’s gone. It’s a relay free kick. Especially if you’re backman, you can’t do it when the opposition’s kicking for goal. So Matthew Richardson will have a shot at his second goal. He really would have to fall over to miss it. He gets the goal. So four Richmond players have now kicked two namely Brendan Gale, Stewart Edwards, Richardson and Nick Daffy. 10575 to 7951. And there is the offender on screen as we watch once again Maxfield getting rid of the ball very very late. When the opposition’s kicking towards goal, you cannot afford to do it. The margin is 24 points and they gave away some silly free kicks against Kilder in game one of the Answered Australia Cup. The dockers that resulted in goals and penalties down the ground. Allen out of the middle. They can afford that now. It’s a tight game. They still have a chance to win, but certainly Richmond looking the better side. Was that a throw called? No. Campbell goes on. The players virtually stopped out there. Campbell boots it through the wing towards half forward. Richardson’s in front. Well played by Rogers. Quickly onto the boot. Gets it down towards the 50. Leech comes back deep in his own defensive area. That’s interesting across the face. O’Reilly stood his ground and played it pretty well. And again, O’Reilly. Kicks on for the hand pass, but O’Reilly elects to run. Now he gives it to Kick It. It goes back through four Richmond players and boots it down towards half forward. Crumbl worked out of position again. Almost the mark to Gale. Play goes on. Little toe poke off the ground by Free. Down goes Maxfield. As you can see, four dockers around him and a bounce about 60 m out from Free Medal’s attacking goal. And we’re down to a minute and a half remaining in this third term. The margin was 12 points at halftime. Why doesn’t he clean those up? Durk’s hand pass not particularly good. Knights against the flow did brilliantly. Knights towards half forward. Knights coming into his own in the third quarter. Broadick if he can get clear of Leech who’s wearing him like a glove. Leech comes out with the football. Well played. Good shepher applied by Chisum and a little chip pass across his body out of bounds. A little bit too slick down there for Scott Edwards. So it will be thrown in at left half forward for Richmond as the clock ticks down to 3/4 time. Under a minute left in the third term now. Burton palms it down looking for Delaney. As I said, Knight’s coming into his own. Maxfield clear of Edwards. A centering kick marking contest in front of Gal. Gale looks for a free kick. It’s going against him and to Gilbert, I think. Yes, Gilbert’s going to take the three. umpire indicating his jersey was being held. Phil Gilbert looking the worst for wear. It looks a worrier, doesn’t it? He does. Now half forward Campbell. Oh, Burrows there. [Applause] Well, Gilbert picked the wrong option then. Going out long. Delaney, who’s now in the contest, gets a free kick was the option. It was on. Let’s see. He’s hurt himself. Delaney. What’s the kick for? Still trying to work that out. Holding the ball. No, I don’t think he made an attempt to get rid of it. I think it came later. Burton in front can’t take the mark. Richmond players of plenty. An ambush of Tigers. Comes out to Whitney as the siren goes for 3/4 time with Richmond leading 101575 to Fremantle 7951. Bad sign for the dockers there. Yeah, it’s cramped up. Very soft going here at the MCG compared to what the Dockers would be used to back home in Perth. A harder surface and this does sap those leg muscles. Knights who started to get a few more possessions late in the term, but you get the feeling that perhaps Richmond has broken the resistance of the free metal side. More physical strength, isn’t it? The the strength and their much bigger side Richmond. And it was evident before the ball was bounced. Well, those big fellows still and there’s one of them creating problems and they attract people, don’t they? Dockers see the ball coming in high. Man on man, but suddenly the Docker defender on the ground feels obliged to go to the pack and try and spoil as well. It creates problems on the deck. Scotty Waters has had a dark day. It’s 3/4 time at the MCG and Richmond 10:15 lead 79. [Music] [Music] The margin now 24 points at 3/4 time with the Tigers 10:15. The Dock is 79. Checking the goal scorers for Richmond. The major goal scorers, Daffy, Richardson, Edwards, and Brendan Gale all have two. And for the Dockers, Ridley has three and Bell has two. Should be a good replay, too. Gary Abble’s got five goals in that game. It’s a tight one. That gives Abblelet a career total of 836, one ahead of Doug Wade as we go down to Russell. Yes, Dennis. I think it’s pretty obvious what’s happening there. The the Freeman Dockers runners looking a bit confused. I think the guys like Knights and these guys getting on top. Michael Gale having a good quarter then taking a lot of marks and also Brendan Gale too tall and maybe too quick. Start of the final term of the MCG. The Dockers in their first outing have been competitive. They’ll need something special from here though. Deer and Burton interesting jewel all day. This is Kicker at the base of the pack. brilliantly smothered. It ricochets out towards Maxfield. Hurried kick gained about 10 meters. Edwards now an opportunity on his own half back line across to O’Reilly. Strong tackle almost got him down. Norris going nowhere. Daffy has the ball but it’s going to be a free kick to Norwich. Taken higher the umpire. Jock is a bit lucky there. Norris out of defense towards midfield. Couple of players had to wait. Abraham kick it came across but he couldn’t hang on. Campbell comes away and kicks inside the 50. This is Daffy about 40 minutes from goal. Spots Richardson out of the corner of his eye. Bad luck for the Tigers. It bounces out of bounds in the pocket. Now that’s what we call great vision. Almost impossible to see him, but somehow may have heard the call, but the kick not quite there. Boundary throw in 15 m from the behind post. Burton educatedly goes for the boundary line. Finds Norris. Oh, it’s a long looping hand pass. Almost a hospital job to man who did well with not too many options on for him. Campbell. Well, speaking of vision, that was just as good. And he’s plucked out Rogers maybe just a little bit too far out from goal. Realizing this, Rogers spots a man on his own in a better position. Gets dragged down as Bond probably just about as far out from goal though. Best and fairest for the Tigers last year. [Music] Chris Bond and his 17 career goals which might surprise from his 55 matches. First played in 1990. Burton in the goal square. Some height there to go with Deia O’Reilly certainly had his work cut out this afternoon. One-on-one duel man in front has it punched away. Leech overruns the ball. Rogers takes the hand pass from N over the head of Burton if that’s possible bounce. Well, the big fellows away. He did well in the first quarter and so too did he skipper Allen and that was when Freemantle played its best football. Deer lops after it as Jack D would have said like a Gibsland triant. Wasn’t that a good kick to center wing deer and Burton? Burton won that one. Tried to find Leech. Broadick over the top of his opponent. Kick away comes from I think it was Maxfield Nation Norwich and both content to let the ball just go over the boundary line where we will see a thrown in just on the attacking side of half forward for Richmond. Burton in front, directs it down. Waters camped over the ball in trouble. Allen going nowhere. J loose. N yet get to kick a goal this afternoon. Hand passes towards the middle. Not much percentage in that. Chism did brilliantly. Put Rogers down. Lost the ball though eventually. It came across to Knights. Now Campbell on his knees. Rogers. Knights has got it right on the 50 falling to the ground. Not a bad hand pass to Daffy. And Daffy’s snap is good. That’s his third. Very happy Nick Gaffy. Three goals. A good effort. Richmond just more or less going through the motions. The game really has deteriorated since the first quarter. A lot of mcking around with the ball as it is in the case there. Very indirect towards goal. But then finally gets to Daffy after a series of hand passes. his third. Five goals the difference now. Daffy, the leading goal scorer for Richmond this afternoon. He has three. And why wouldn’t Daffy be happy? As you said, Don, the Dawkins needs something. It’s got to happen quickly for them. O’Reilly Wney. Well, he hasn’t. I don’t think he’s made a mistake. I was just going to say exactly the same, Peter. He’s He’s gone out of the game a bit. Boy, he hasn’t made a mistake to my knowledge. Send their good deal with Burrows. Richardson got what he should have taken. Knights farms it out well. Broadick good smother by Ben Allen. Now Waters who’s been a little bit disappointed after that smother. Kick it onto Burton. Burton from midfield. Good hand pass back to kick it. Nice evasive work by the five club player. Down he goes towards half forward. Edwards has a shot at goal. 35 m out. Quick goal. Edwards gets his first and one of the best passages of play for the day from the Dockers. 11:15 to 89. Started on the back half of the square by Ben Allen when he smothered the ball. Hurt himself to Allan and kick it. Had plenty of time. He was in two minds as to what to do. Then slow finally went short to Edwards. and Edwards who’s played over 100 games in the waffle. His first Gale off the ground. That’s bad news for the Tigers. How it comes on. What is it? A back problem. Sure. Russell will check it out for us. Meanwhile, back in the middle, Brick emerges with the ball. His 21st possession. Floating it down towards half forward. N comes up. Juggled attempt at the mark. Not paid. Bit tough. Kick it comes away. Kick it towards the outer side. Actually stops and gives the ball to Waters. Now what is around the outer side has had a bounce. He kicks inside the 50. The dockers keep on coming. They’re pesky but ground level bell. Morenda knocks it away. It’s a sign of a good player what kicker did on that occasion. He can sum up a situation. He did that before too. Plenty of time to do what he wants to do with the ball. That looks like a bit of a back problem to Gale. See Jared Hilly could tell us exactly. Off hands. It falls forward. Socket off the ground by Deia. Still he goes the big lumbra and the ball goes out of bounds. He’s a willing worker, but we might understand it, Dennis. Anyway, yeah, but you feel better. Let’s go down to Russell. He may be able to explain this. Russ Dan, um, Brennan G’s got a cork. He’s just getting a bit of treatment on the boundary line at the moment, but I think he’ll be all right. He’s just he’s in a bit of pain, but corkies, they don’t uh they don’t tickle, mate. We could have all got that, as it turns out. Allen’s over the ball, crashing his way through as Broadri down with Bond. Taken by Ridley, lost it in the tackle. Bond floats it towards midfield. Burton, a player of great promise. There’s no question about that. Allen is down and hurt once more. Meanwhile, Chisum kicks inside the 50 to Ridley in front down there. Campbell. Good Shepherd, too. Strong Shepherd from three. Campbell and out of bounds on the four to take the free kick. There’s Ellen. from that smother before on Broadick which resulted in the goal to Edwards. He’s gone in short and that’s okay. He’s found Gilbert. I think he ced another one since. Don Gilbert moved up to the forward line. Obviously played most of the day in defense. Ridley who’s been quite good. His marking has been excellent. He’s their leading goal kicker with three. Peter Bell’s got two and he got both of those in the first quarter. They’re sticking aren’t they? They’re sticking but they need a bit more up forward, don’t they? Oh yeah. Delaney coming on for the Dockers as Ridley lines up. Not too quite sure why Delaney went off. One of their best with 17 possessions. Ridley acute angle. Not a bad sort of a kick just off target off the hands of the pack. Little bit of a wrestle in the goal square. Burrows and Wney obviously don’t like each other’s after shave. And one behind. The end result though of the kick. I would say that Whitney could represent Victoria as a center half back once again if he continues in this form. Well, he’s given a free kick away umpire. You would have to say Dennis that that was six or one half a dozen of the other, wasn’t it? Ridiculous. No doubt these umpires. Sorry. I say they’re not popular, are they? So, Burrows gets the kick and Burrows gets the goal. Does he? No, he doesn’t. Well, the goal player stood rock solid, statuesque, if you like. Oh, come on. Russo having a few words to both of them. Well, I’d go and bump him again, Don. You never know. You might It’s unbelievable. It really is unbelievable. Killway kicks it around the outer side. Campbell. Terrific grab. Not paid. Yes, it is paid. And there was a heavier bump by Deer on Burrows in the center square and they didn’t pay that. Well, Campbell’s got the footy on the outer side. 11:15 plays 811. There goes the kick from Campbell down towards half forward. The big man in from the side. He’s quick, isn’t he? Yeah, Burton’s terrific. He kicks it down towards half forward. Coming at the ball hard is Broadick. Watch his hands. He’s so slick with the hand pass. There he goes again over the top. Howard away sent into space. Howard alongside the center circle. Boots it towards Half forward. Guess who? Burton. seen as a project when he was with the West Coast Eagles, but they didn’t go on with it. Not a good kick in short. Showed a lot of the ball to the Tigers. This is Nash about 65 meters out. Chip pass. Maxfield left footed player sends it long towards the kickoff line. Taylor made down there for Richardson in from the side. Rogers claimed the mark. Play on the call. Norris comes away. Gets it out to Waters. Scotty Waters who’s had two stints on the bench. Kick it does well. Edwards running with him down to Delaney who started this last quarter on the bench. Got a nice old heo. Tackle applied by Knights out to Edwards and a little chip down towards Tony Free. He’ll be happy with his performance today. He hasn’t had too many runs this year because of his broken jaw. How can that be play on? Good question. Edwards and Knights. Knights nearly N umpire paying advantage must have been a free plucked out Maxfield long hand pass not really to the end wasn’t it Peter that hand pass N just couldn’t pick that one up would have been better to kick the ball instead of hand passing on that occasion so boundary throw in with 12 1/2 minutes left in the match 81 to 59 and as we expected today the dockers certainly competitive but they just haven’t quite the physical strength to go with the Tigers This is Ridley. He’s off. He’s caught. That’s hole in the walls. Well done, Howard. Johnny Howard will take the free kick. He’ll be keen to get into the action. Howard at left half back. Would have watched on interestedly the performance of Wiggy. Deer in front. Couldn’t take the mark. Shuffles it forward. Now Burton takes it from Ben Allen. Good long kick. Grown. Yes, great mark. Wasn’t that great by Burton for the middle dog. He’s got great reflexes. He’s quick in the brain and he can sum up a situation and I think that that man is only going to get better as the season goes on Burton because he does deliver the ball very very well for a big fellow. Groom in front too big for Callaway and his third kick Chris Groom. Now what is that goal umpire going to say this time? One goal. The other good thing is that the players are prepared to give it to Burton as he’s running past. And a lot of cases a Rakman’s not rewarded for running past, but they got confidence in Burton. He makes position, gets the ball. Now, here’s the buildup once again. I tell you what, the Dockers aren’t out of this match by any stretch of imagination. And there it is from Allen to Burton. He does well. If they get the next goal, well, it’s uh going to be a real nailbiter, isn’t it? 11:15 911 still plenty of time. Burton goes up whistle center square infringement. Docker free. Allen’s got it. 24th possession. Former Hawkar not a good kick. Howard gets on the end of it. Plays on F’s got it across half back. Comes towards the wing. Dock is there in number. Strong mark in front held by Chisum. Three to one on that situation. Docker’s favor. No club has trained longer than the Dockers. They’ve been hard at it since I suppose 3/4 of the way through last season. The ball on the outer side. Will that stand them in goodstead here? Edwards back to Waters about 60 m from goal feeds it back towards support and Edwards. Edwards, the man who initiated that, hooks it around the corner, but Knights goes back and takes the mark. He’s got to work Knights. He’s got to work. That was a good mark. He’s in the back pocket. Hasn’t seen a lot of the ball today. He’s picking up Dale Kicker at the start of his last quarter. Dockers have the numbers. Chisum got in front. Should have taken the mark. Free kick going to the Dockers. Holding decision. And Chisum is going to take it or is he going to be all right? You know, I was right. Chisum center wing to kick. It might be just a little too far out as well. Oh, he’s got onto that one. That’s a boomer. Accuracy wasn’t there, though. It’s out of bounds on the full and it will be a free kick to Richmond. Probably Gale will take it in the back pocket. And that is going to be the case. Just over 10 minutes left. Michael Gale coming in for kick number five. Right next to the behind post. Hugs the boundary line with the kick. Burton in front. Deer behind. Edwards will be more than content to take it over the boundary line. He succeeds in doing that for a throwin. Scoreboard 11581. Richmond Fremantle 91165. Dear and Burton go at it again. Now a chance for Waters. Underground hand pass onto Bell. A little chip down towards half forward. He’s found Gale doing some of his best work in the final quarter. That’s a good kick. go out wide. Allen might have given away a free kick. No, the umpire says it’s Bond’s ball. Play on. Well, it didn’t seem to go over the mark. Bond again. Still he goes. Ball still in play. And still Bomb. Well done, Bond. And grab. Must take a free kick. That was great play by Bond. Kept the Oh, now there’s a turnover. That is stupid play at this stage of the game. Stupid play. Yeah, you couldn’t argue with that either. Ridley terrific play by Vaughn and then the turn it over. Just an act of aggress aggression. So Todd Ridley, their leading goal kicker with three. Bad kick certainly hasn’t been a feature of their day today. Kicking into the forward line. Gale’s hand pass intended for Knights. He’s under pressure. It’s out of bounds on 50. Well, they’ve got a mini crisis on their hands here, the Tigers. Matthew Knight’s not happy. Just over 9 minutes till full time. Dur back on for a free mantle. 16 points the difference. Dia. It comes back to Burton. Bonds over the ball. Taken by Knights. Well done. Ahead to Howard on free. Boots towards half forward. Storming up the ground. His man. Couldn’t control it. Prescott’s on now. Crossed towards Richardson. Knocked away by Norish. Taken by Rogers. Hurried kick. It’s a relay free kick. Dennis is against Freemandal on Norwich on Rogers I should say. I don’t think it’ll be real. It’s coming back to Rogers. Well, it went over the boundary line on the free kick cuz the umpire was indicating down the ground initially. Yeah, it went over the boundary line on the full. So, he’s got to bring it back. So, Rogers the players have a sense of direction. It comes back to Turner close to the boundary line where the ball went out. N had to wait. Knocked away as a result. O’Reilly. Strong tackle by N. Here’s Turner. Pulls it back towards the middle and Campbell low down. Clever. Wonder whether Turner’s run down from that backline position or whether he’s playing as a forward now. But that was excellent play by Turner. There he is on screen instead of having a go for goal. Bringing the ball back in towards the center opens up the face of goal. And that was excellent by Turner. You get the feeling though, Don, regardless of what happens here, that no teams will be relishing a trip to Perth to play the Dockers. No, that’s for sure, Dennis. They’ll win quite a few games over there. Shown a lot this afternoon. They’ve been terrific. The Tigers have done enough. Campbell gets the goal. [Applause] [Music] Campbell who played on the half back line today had a thigh problem mid pre-season he’s kicked his first goal N now on the boundary line or hard on the boundary line is Turner there good tackle that was I think by N good turn by Turner to Campbell Wayne Campbell’s 47th career goal Edwards and Rogers tangle Kicked off the ground by Knights. He’ll do the same again if he can get clear. Now he picks it up. Hand pass is to N around Delaney. Tigers going in circles. Dear Edwards, but Richmond should just about be clear. If they can get the next goal, they will be home. If the Dockers can get one, maybe a slim chance. Marking contest inside 50. Maxfield quick kick. Richardson sees it bounce just on the line and it will be thrown in in the Tigers left forward pocket. Say the Turner is playing across a half forward line. He took that ball well on the center wing. I think a lot of clubs will be looking at the tape of the match to see what form the dockers can display. This is Crumbl. We haven’t seen too much of him this afternoon. And off the boot there of Scott Chisum for a rush behind. But they’ve shown enough as was mentioned a couple of minutes back for us to note that especially home in the West they’re going to be hard to beat. Well certainly on today’s form it would appear that way. Abraham Winston Abraham sounds like a West Indian cricketer doesn’t he? Fast bowler. Correct. That’s too high. Is it not? Yes it is. Richardson he got one high and low I think. An advantage paid Deafy opposite number 10. O’Reilly doesn’t see it bounce kindly for him. He finally manages to pick it up. Long looping hand pass. Norris on the boundary line. Standed on the bench today. Has been okay. Burton lumbers after it with Bond. There’s the long and the short of it. David and Goliath. Ridley sits nicely for him. Ridley at right center wing. The captain goes away. Ben Allen looked injured earlier. Long kick from right on 50. Terrific kick. That’s a magnificent goal. If it’s there, the umpire says all clear. Great effort. 1216 to 1011. And still Freemantler in this match. Hard on that boundary line. Here it is. The buildup once again. It was Burton who got it initially. Hand passed it on. Ridley getting involved. This is a good kick by Allan because he’s not running towards a face of goal. He’s going more towards the boundary line. But then again, a great kick from goal from the captain, his first playing midfield. And what about Burton? 10 kicks, nine hand passes. The figures of a robber. Allen backhands it out. Howard against the flow. Dia who’s toiled manfully pushing the back. Free kick. The Knights against Kick. 88 play 71. But we’re down to six minutes now. Matthew Knights has improved the longer this game has gone. Goes down towards half forward. Richardson comes on a lead. Missing Gale on the forward line. We got Edwards down there now who’s going to lead. Cleared he and Crumbl waiting behind Maxfield to Prescott off one step misses to the left. Tapes off the ground for Richmond. And as we saw Edwards now on Stuart Edwards that is Ashley Prescott spent most of the day on the bench. 1217 1011 Chisum to bring it in short. This is Delaney. Now he’s away as a center half back. Tony Delaney loves everywhere he gets into trouble. The second option, the best thing to do for him is the first option every time. Dia only as far as Norish who’s got plenty of support around him to Ridley. Prescott strong tackle. Leech over the ball on his own half back line. Quenton Leech around in a big circle. Now the chip to Waters. Waters. Well, he lost it. And Mace comes away for the Tigers. The idea was right, but the hand pass or the execution of the hand pass was terrible. Put it down to pressure of the situation which is that 89 plays 71. And we have 5 minutes left in the match. So if the Dockers can get up with uh from here, it’ll be terrific for them. But I just can’t see it happening. Man, a standing start. Ridley cannons to the back of his opponent at the back of the pack as deer onto Bond who’s been his usual brilliant self. Waters at the fall of the ball in front. Didn’t have the height. Norris strong tackling by Richmond. Waters again an opportunity on all fours to try to get the ball clear. Now they come forward. Durk low trajectory drop punt up towards 44. Good mark Gilbert. Well, gets this. It’s back to 12. They’re not out of it, are they? A defender kicking at goal. Gale Grimaces. Not really quite sure what I’d say his chances here would be. Dennis did play on the forward line on occasions for Melbourne. Phil Gilbert and played most of the game here on the back line and O’Reilly shared the kickoff duties earlier 48 meters from goal judging by the crowd reaction he’s missed one behind kick by Phil Gilbert G that would have been handy awkward kicking style his first score of the day logically so the difference back to 17 points well three goals for Freemantle can win it in under four minutes Campbell has the football and will bring it back but It has been the most entertaining affair the first game for the Freemantle Dockers. Not too many options for Campbell. The umpire now directing him to kick in. One of the options was to go long which he does. Howard there misses the mark. Allen’s kick. Richmond again with the numbers. Well, Gilbert might have given away a free kick off the ground. Durk and one behind. Richmond supporters breathe a sigh of relief. So again, we say three goals can win it. I think the time might beat them. Dennis, they’ll need to be quick. Pete, here’s Campbell barking instructions from the goal square in the center. He’s got Nish. Oh no, it’s a bit late. He goes for distance. Probably the best policy in this situation. Howard was up. Didn’t hang on. Rogers quickly away to N. The hand pass not particularly good. The Dockers have got the numbers around the ball. Well played by Kick It releases Burrows. If they can get the next goal quickly, it will be interesting. Down towards the pocket. It’s off target again. It’s a free kick. It’ll go to Campbell against Yeah. It’s frustrating when you as a forward you work so hard to get the ball down or a midfielder and the forward gives away an easy free kick by being behind. Tigers by 16 points. There’s Bond up ahead. Still in his own defensive 50. Little chip pass across the ground. Gale go back to Bond. He’s thinking about it. Gale on the outer side. Richmond in front and hanging on. What have spirit shown from Freemantle in the last 10 minutes or so? The ball out of bounds. Well, it’s a question of whether Richmond relaxed. You don’t know, do you? Thrown in. Burton opposed to Deia. This is Kick It. Well, if they have, they need to be careful. Great smother off the boot out there by Rogers. The hand pass over the top from Waters. Kick it Rogers. Well, that was interesting. It’s J loose. Abraham 50 m out. Spears it down awards. Full forward. Groom. So, Groom directly in front. A chance to pop through his third. Wasting no time. Kicks it. Here come the Dockers. Three goals to Chris Groom, their leading goal kicker today with Todd Ridley. 10 points the difference. Well, can they get the next one? There’s still time for them. That was a great little flick out there, wasn’t it? Kick it. That was a great kick. Fine. Mark could have played on but I looked to go back and did the wise thing. Three goals to groom from limited opportunities and we have a ball game on our hands. A thriller at the MCG. 10 points the difference in the final quarter. Closing stages thereof. Scotty Waters. Gale certainly missed by Richmond off the ground with a back injury. Can the skipper do something? Three. Misses it. Abraham onto his right boot. A snapshot through him again. It bounces. It bounces. It bounces. It’s there. Whoa. Whoa. Let’s kick in. I did say they’re probably the finish side in the competition. Winston Abraham and they’re running on. Well, certainly going to be a free kick. Had not have gone through for a goal because Callaway was holding on to Groom. And in hindsight were always wise, but Callaway not tall enough for Groom. But here’s Abraham from that 50 m line. Doesn’t look to goal, but lets it go. It bounces. Have the Dodgers got a sniff of victory? have Richmond relaxed as Don suggested. There’s less than a kick in it at the MCG. Can the newcomers spoil the party for the Tigers? Bonds kick out of the center towards half forward. Nice boot the ball from one step. It’s a high ball in towards Edwards. Couldn’t take the mark. N again tries to kick it clear. Now Daffy goes goal and misses. He gets a minor score. So still the dockers are in this one point as the goal umpire russes across and John Nory pulling out more hair 90 to 85 pass by Prescott to Daffy so the margin is five points a goal can win it for the dockers Burton drops the mark collides with N deer over the ball lucky not to be pinged then deer because he pulled it back in and he didn’t make an attempt to get rid of it clock continues to run they haven’t won in round one since 1982. John Nory looking apprehensive now. His side being challenged. There’s the time remaining. They’ll need to move it quickly. Knights goes up. Dumps it down towards Richmond’s goal. Edwards comes out in front. It’s socketed away by Crumbl. N inside the 50. Spins. Gets it across to Daffy. Daffy heads for home. Man in from the side. Should Mark and does. Now O’Reilly’s on. So is Waters around the outer side. Here they come inside the last minute. Can they muster a very late goal the dockers and win this? The kick from Waters to the wing. Durk tuggles the mark. He’s got it. We’re down to 45. He can go long. Here’s Durk between half back and the wing. Kicks to Waters in space. He’s marked it. Clock at 35 seconds. Scott Waters, a quiet player. kicks down towards the 50 in from the side de out of bounds and the clock will stop. 26 seconds left. Smart play from the big fellow. He’s got to send it back towards the boundary line. And what the Dockers have got to do is bring it over the back. They’ve got to get the ball here. The Dockers’s got to bring it over the back. Deer towards the boundary line. Well, deer did the right thing. Kick it. Is that in the back? Free kick. No. Lucky. That might have been their last throw of the dice. 17 seconds and still the clock ticks down. Now he’s got to go to the boundary line again. Dear, I think the time has run out for them. They need to get a free kick from this bounce to have any show whatsoever. There’s the siren. Richmond have won it in a throw up and Jared Nisham ponders what might have been so near yet so far. And Richmond have broken their hoodoo in the first round of a season, winning the match by five points. 121890 to the Debington Freemantle Dockers 121385. Wow. Well, what a great last quarter. It was uh 34 points. The Doctor scored to 15. Let’s go down to Russell Morris. Benny Gale. Tight one. Yeah, it was a tight one, Russell. Yeah, I guess we would like to come out halftime and really kick away, but you know, finishing off uh really cost us, I think. Do you think Freemantle like threw it everything at you in the first quarter? What did Johnny Norley say to you at quarter time? Oh, we just thought, you know, it was going to be tight and, you know, we we kicked ourselves out of the first quarter. I thought we could have been four or five goals up, but you know, we just stuck to our plan and uh and you know, got home in the end there. Why was the reason like the beginning of the game you started off a full forward and Rich was a center half forward. Last year you played most you just top football the center half. Any particular reason for that today? No look look I I played center forward and forward in the pocket. We rotate around all day. There was no really definitive position. So um you know we just both pretty flexible. So hopefully we can keep throughout the season. I noticed Richo’s fitness has probably improved by about 25 30%. Oh he’s a super fit guy for his uh for his height and size. He’s probably the quickest in the club and probably the fastest over 4K. So he worked pretty hard on that. Well, let’s hope from Richmond’s point of view, you have a good year and I’m sure that um Freemantle will have will win a lot of games this year. Yeah, we got a bit of work to Russell at the start, mate. Yeah, good. Thanks so much. And thank you to Russell Morris. The first round drought is broken for the Tigers and the fairy tale did not come true with the MCG. But a great game of footy. Richmond home by five points. That’s what I think about football. [Music] Well, two in a row. Great game last night at this ground and again today. Three points the margin last night. Five points this afternoon. The Tigers home 1218 to 1213. Checking the goal scorers for Richmond. Three to Daffy, two each to Brendan Gale, Richardson and Edwards, and singles to Tape, Campbell, and Brick. And for Freemantle, Ridley got three, as did Groom, two to Bell, and singles to Edwards, Allen. That was a great goal. Abraham and Burrows. So, five points to the Tigers. Terrific game of football. It was, Dennis. I think there’s a lesson there for both or for all clubs really. One to Richmond is the fact that uh they they’re not good enough to take any opposition lightly. And I think they did that at the start of the first quarter. Were they as fit? I had Well, I don’t know about fitness wise, but I think they I think there was a lack of commitment in certain areas. And the other thing, a warning to all clubs, don’t take the dockers lightly because they have got talent. And over there, they’ll certainly run the ball in Perth very, very well. And you know, their last quarter effort was terrific, you know, and they’ve got some very skillful, very good players. 10 rookies. I mean, that’s really outstanding when you examine it in that light, isn’t it? Well, I I’ve watched Brisbane when they came into the competition. Maybe they’re not as good as Adelaide when they came in, but they’re not far short of Adelaide when Adelaide came into the league a couple of years ago. They’re better than Brisbane. Second group out of Perth. I mean, Adelaide, that was prime stock. This is what’s been left after the Eagles have ravaged. That’s terrific. That was a terrific smother. He hurt himself there, Alan. But this results in a goal. Watch the buildup here. Burton, who I I really don’t understand why he never got a go at the Eagles. Maybe they left they l he they believed he lacked a little bit of mobility, but he certainly did work well around the ground. Well, he doesn’t seem to, does it? Give him his due. He’s very quick. Very quick reaction wise, my 6′ 10 and a half. What’s that? 210 cm. That is remarkable. There was a good battle between he and Deer. And I think Deer did the right thing right at the last stage because they could have scored a goal. There was 30 odd seconds to go and deer came and set the big ball over the boundary line and that allowed the ball the clock to tick away and he did that on two occasions. So Richmond can thank dear I believe for their win today. Groom was terrific. Maybe a mismatch in height as far as Callaway and Groom is concerned and that’s maybe something that the uh the blame can be placed on the coaching staff at Richmond because he was just a little bit too short. Pretty even the numbers there. Just taking a look at the center brakes. That’s interesting. The center brakes favoring free mantle. Yes, slightly, but uh still it’s 15 to 10. That’s still not a bad effort. So, the Tigers win it by five points. Russell Morris is down on the boundary. What news, Russell? Well, Dennis, it’s um it’s interesting with um Richmond having so much of the ball in that for most of the game and yet only getting in by five points. It was quite surprising because Freemantle probably couldn’t get within that two or three goals most of that, you know, the last two quarters. But having a five-point, you know, loss was not too bad from Jared Nisham’s point of view. Well, looking at the expression on the face of John Nory, it was interesting to see which coach had won and which coach had lost because Nisham seemed pensive and Nory seemed quite angry about that result. Well, strange situation, isn’t it? Mixed emotions here. Nory had everything to lose. Nisham had nothing to lose because you know Richmond have been in the in the competition for over 100 years now and or since 1908 at least and uh and then Free Medal obviously the first day everyone thought well you know they won’t win might win two or three games for the year but they’ve really surprised everyone and I think it’s congratulations to them although they didn’t win but it is well done. They’ll be tough in Perth. Oh certainly uh but it’s it’s all in it’s all in the mind like obviously a lot of the guys that were playing didn’t seem overroared. them and they had a go and certain times during the third quarter they sort of running across sideways and didn’t know what to do with the footy but they kept going as you called the game. Now what about your votes? Well it’s interesting because as I said I believe Richmond had most of the ball and if they had kicked straight they would have um maybe won by more but I’ve given one vote to Ben Allen because he set the game up early for um free medal and I’ve given uh two votes to um uh Matthew Richardson. I think he’s a much improved player as I spoke to Benny Gale earlier. Richardson’s moving out to Sarah Ford. He looks fitter. He’s chasing. He’s contesting a lot of the hard things that that Don Scott mentioned earlier. And I’ve given three votes to to Campbell because I think Campbell was instrumental. He was up and down the forward line, up and down the back line, crossed the center line, got a lot of touches and really instrumental in getting the ball out of the center for Richmond. Okay, thanks Russ. Wayne Campbell best on ground according to Russell Morris. Just checking that final score line from the MCG. It was a terrific game of football. Generally the Tigers seem to be in charge but they’ve got home by just the five points. The final score 1218 to 1213. I would imagine that Jared Nisham doesn’t feel too disillusioned tonight. They’ve gone under by five points but a lot to look forward to and the Tigers I guess a little confused. Thanks for joining us. Good night.