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The Hawthorn Hawks are now two games clear on top of the ladder after a 70-point win over the Richmond Tigers on Sunday.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Hawthorn Hawks 16.18.114
Richmond Tigers 5.14.44
In a Sunday afternoon blockbuster, the top of the table Hawthorn Hawks take on the 13th-placed Richmond Tigers. Join The Roar to follow all of the action from 3:20pm (AEST) with our live scores and blog.
The Tigers are all but out of finals contention but they will still want to make their mark on the final makeup of the top eight in some way. In recent years, they’ve had the wood on the Hawks, winning three of their past five.
Hawthorn have not beaten the Tigers twice in a season since 1992 and will be looking to break that hoodoo by getting the win and further tighten their grip atop the AFL ladder.
Richmond can jump up a few spots with a win but, like Hawthorn, they do not have a strong percentage so they will need a big win over the much-fancied Hawks to make a serious move.
The Tigers, though, have been far from consistent this year. Such play against a well-oiled machine like this Hawthorn squad is almost a death sentence.
Richmond have won three of their last five, however those wins have come against teams who are all below them on the ladder. Their one bright spot in recent weeks was pushing the in-form Bulldogs right up until the final minutes of the game a couple of weeks ago.
On the other side of the coin Hawthorn are on a five-game winning streak and have beaten some class opposition during that time, including a big win against the Swans last week.
Richmond were pushed very early by the Bombers last week but when they kicked into gear the Tigers took control and scored a solid 19-point win, whereas Hawthorn needed to push it right to the final minute of the game to get over the top of the Swans.
It will be a big game for Sam Mitchell who is celebrating his 300th game and the
Hawks champion will want to get a win in his milestone game
Dustin Martin is another player to watch and with the Hawks very rarely using a tagger in games he could rack up an impressive stat line. Bradley Hill of the Hawks will need a big game after some down performances in recent weeks and with a number of Hawks players performing well in the VFL his time may be running out at the worst possible time of the season.
Prediction
For the Tigers to stand a chance they will have to stop the silly unforced mistakes they have made in previous weeks, but against such a strong side even tat may not be enough.
Hawks by 29.
Be sure to join The Roar from 3:20pm to keep up with all the action with our live scores and comments.
You can follow Sam on twitter @postgamesport
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