Posted on May 19, 2008 | Category: Match Reports
Richmond 10.9 (69)
Geelong 14.15 (99)
A fearless and courageous first half had Richmond believing we were at the standard of the league leaders. An overwhelming and depressing third quarter reminded us that we’re not, but a galant final quarter showed that we’ve at least got a lot more heart than we did last year.
It’s not possible to even start talking about the rest of the side without first mentioning Trent Cotchin. Despite being a very late inclusion (replacing the injured Adam Pattison), the boy came out and put in a great performance - looking as comfortable as any player in the side. With the exception one ghastly blemish: snapping at goal from about 3m out and catching the wrong side of the ball for an out-on-the-full, Trent put in a great performance that makes him impossible to drop this week, and showed great promise for the future of the club. Two goals (including one with his first kick in league footy) highlighted the impressive temperament of the boy. Hopefully he’ll push on well from here.
Other than that, we were as good or better than our opposition for three of the four quarters. If the rain hadn’t slowed down a little after half time, we could be discussing a different result. Once again, Matthew Richardson played a solid game and although it could be argued we needed him to take marks inside 50 - particularly in the third quarter - he can only play where the coach sends him. Bowden looked reasonable back as an attacking player, and will stay in the side again next week. And, simply, we showed heart. The last quarter could have become a farce, but instead the boys gritted it out. Which, as one who remembers the 157 point demolishing from last year in my darkest nightmares, I appreciate.
Geelong were much too skillful for us, with players who were being beaten early (Ling, Corey, etc) taking charge and steamrolling the Tigers in that third quarter. We might be playing competitive footy, but it’s easy to forget that we did that last year too. The boys need a win, and need our skills to improve. Hopefully “Dreamtime at the ‘G” will be a return to the winners circle, because it’s getting desperate. These past few games always looked like a difficult time, but we deserved better than the 2 points we have.
3 - Matthew Richardson
2 - Brett Deledio
1 - Trent Cotchin
Losing to the reigning premiers (and likely grand finalists this year at least), is excusable. A loss against the Bombers next week would not be. Let’s hope we’re not discussing that next week. Well done Trent Cotchin.
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May 19th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I hope you smash em…cant stand Essendon. Isn’t Richo having a great season? Is this the best you have seen him play?
May 20th, 2008 at 9:57 am
For a team that was looking at a possible spoon at the start of the season and a sacked coach you’ve improved out of sight. You’ve got a good base of young kids who’ll be great players in the future and if you can continue to improve the next few years will be interesting.