The Roar
The Roar

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Tigers roar back into life with Dreamtime win

Toby Nankervis could be the signing of the season. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Editor
27th May, 2017
2

After a month from the blackest depths of hell, Richmond have put smiles back onto their supporters’ faces with a stirring 15-point win over Essendon in front of a packed Dreamtime at the ‘G crowd.

Essendon started brightly with the first three goals of the game, and with Joe Daniher firing up forward, the midfield on top and their trademark running game flowing, the Tigers looked short of a gallop.

But from then on, it was nearly all Richmond, the Tigers benefitting from a strong defensive set up to begin plenty of goal-scoring chains from their half-back line.

Too often, the Bombers would bang it into their forward 50 under Tiger pressure, and with Daniher subdued after the first quarter and a half by Alex Rance, and the mosquito fleet of Orazio Fantasia, Josh Green and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti quieted, the Bombers struggled all night to put a competitive score on the board.

But up the other end, the Tigers frittered away chance after chance, with Jack Riewoldt and Josh Caddy serial offenders, and for a time it looked like it was going to cost them dearly, especially with Essendon taking nearly all their chances up the other end.

At one point, the Bombers had 10.3 to the Tigers’ 7.11, and with the Tigers’ struggles late in games well documented, it appeared certain to bite them in the end.

But from that point, Richmond found another gear, while the Bombers couldn’t find the run and dare that had served them so well against Geelong and West Coast.

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Dustin Martin, a deserving Yiooken Award winner for a magnificent 30-disposal game, and Brandon Ellis, nearly as good, kicked team-lifting goals from close range to give the Tigers the lead.

In a desperate, panicky last quarter, such a far cry from the slick play we saw in the first term, it was Richmond who had the poise required to see the game out.

After the Bombers slammed on three gettable behinds early in the term, parodying the Tigers’ own misfortunes in front of goal early, Jack Riewoldt made the margin a straight goal in the last.

And with minutes ticking down, the lead grew point by point, until Toby Nankervis made a mockery of his height, the conditions, and the Tigers’ 10.15 scoreline with a cool pickup and thumping goal from 50 that sealed the game for the Tigers.

And after three straight weeks of agony, you can’t say they didn’t deserve it.

Final score
Richmond Tigers 11.15.81
Essendon Bombers 10.6.66

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