Sam Lloyd’s goal after the final siren has given Richmond a pulsating one-point AFL win over Sydney at the MCG.
The 14.17 (101) to 15.10 (100) win on Saturday night broke the Tigers’ six-game losing streak.
Lloyd marked a short pass inside 50m and the siren sounded as he lined up for goal.
He coolly slotted through the biggest kick of his AFL career, sparking wild scenes of jubilation amid Richmond players and fans.
After trailing by three goals at the last break, Richmond burst back into the game with a run of five goals in eight minutes.
Sydney replied with the next four goals and it looked like the Tigers’ bad run would continue.
But Ben Griffiths kicked his fifth goal – a career-best – and then it became a slogging arm wrestle.
Finally, Richmond managed to break clear out of defence and the ball ended up with Lloyd for the game-winning shot at goal.
Griffiths, Brett Deledio and Anthony Miles starred for the Tigers, while Lloyd kicked three goals.
Midfielder Dan Hannebery was outstanding for Sydney and Lance Franklin also kicked five goals.
The signs were bad for Richmond when Sydney kicked the first three goals in the opening eight minutes of the match – two of them to Franklin.
But the Tigers could not be faulted for their effort and, while their system was not great, they kept in the match.
Griffiths kicked two goals from questionable free kicks just before halftime, the second giving Richmond the lead for the first time in the match.
When Lloyd snapped accurately three minutes into the third term, the Tigers led by 13 points.
But just as they did last week in the second half against Hawthorn, Richmond could not build on their momentum.
Sydney kicked the next five goals for an 18-point lead at the main break.
While the Tigers lost Bachar Houli with a wrist injury at training late in the week, Sydney also had to leave out their clearance king Josh Kennedy (hamstring).
ken
Guest
Tag a mate who thinks The tiggers will play finals ..hahahahahahahahahaha
Darren L
Roar Rookie
That is just pathetic. You lost to an ordinary team and that's OK because you always lose to them? Get over yourself you don't know as much about the game as you think you do.
Big Dallo
Guest
"On the brink of yellow and black dynasty". Geez you must have had some sort of Sunday session big four sticks.
Slane
Guest
Gold.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Superstars 100 (not bad!), Spuds 101. We don't need eight paragraphs of churlish, biased claptrap to tell this tale.
Mark
Guest
It's precisely why Towers doesn't have it between the ears to be an AFL level footballer. And to be honest we were lucky to to be in the situation where all we had to do was control it. Richmond were the better side and should have won by more if not for some inaccurate kicking.
Neil from Warrandyte
Guest
Wow MH talk about sour grapes. After so much disappointment this year I don't think there'd be too many opposition supporters who would begrudge tiger supporters the happiness they're feeling today. Tigers outplayed the swans in almost every facet of the game and fully deserved the win. Hopefully they have rediscovered their mojo.
big four sticks
Guest
It's Tiger time folks! We are back...get ready for five wins in a row: Fremantle, Essendoom, Gold Coast, and Brisbane. We will be in the eight by season's end. We will win a final. Rebuild, what rebuild? We don't need to rebuild. Prestia will be at Tigerland next year. Tomlinson will be in yellow and black too. Richmond must go after every big name player out of contract now because we are on the brink of a yellow and black dynasty and last night's win will go down in history as the watershed moment that heralded in the greatest era in AFL history. Go Tiges!
hal
Guest
Towers blew it when he went down the guts to a pack rather than passing to Buddy. I agree what you say about Richmond and what will be unbearable will Mr Magoo"s (K.B) dillusionsal rants. I wonder who will be coming to Tigerland now. That being said I was happy the Tigers won because there is now further distance on the ladder between Geelong and Sydney. Richmond played the brand of football they played in 2013, last night. I think Richmond will knock over Fremantle next week to make it two in a row. Then they play Essendon who they should beat, so that will be three in a row. No matter what anyone thinks of Richmond there was no way they would stay in the bottom four.
David C
Guest
Sydney are easy road kill for Richmond. This should start another run of wins for the Tigers like the last 2 years. Sydney should still make the 8 but that's about it. GWS and Geelong looking good at this stage but it's a long season.
Sami
Roar Rookie
Sydney had multiple chances to ice the game. They had possession with under 90 seconds to play, not once but twice, with teammates clear and inexplicably chose to kick long to a contest rather than chip sideways or backwards and run time off. Extremely poor decision making.
Michael Huston
Guest
Eh. Sydney always play like s*** against Richmond. Richmond always play like it's a grand final against Sydney. No surprises here. As far as I'm concerned, Richmond should be under even more scrutiny now. Over the past few years, look at what they have produced against Sydney and Hawthorn, versus the rest of the stuff they serve. If that's their standard, and they're only capable of producing it against teams who struggle against Richmond, then they're possibly worse than I thought. Inexcusable for Sydney tonight, but contrary to popular belief, we aren't a brilliant defensive side. Under Paul Roos, there's basically no chance we'd ever let that game slip. But alas, it's a different era and a different generation. Sydney need to improve in their intensity and defensive efforts. The last few years, they've looked slack when it comes to all things two-way running and manning up. Having said that, I stated this in other articles, and nothing the Swans did tonight was out of character for me. Don't think it says anything about our form. We always lose to Richmond, and tonight we lost by a point, so it's an improvement on recent efforts. However, it's pretty detrimental to our ladder position. Especially when you consider we have our other bogey team next week, and if we lose that, we're 6-3. Not bad, but puts us behind the top two. Could pick any of about fifteen Swans to single out for their performances tonight, but it's Richmond. They're entitled to down games, especially against teams full of spuds they know they'll lose to anyway. Rance still an over-rated bear-hugger, but far out. Griffiths marking - and even his movement - was immense for Richmond. Can't wait for Hawthorn. I think it may be fair enough for some to start labelling them a fair weather side and start writing them off. I also think it is fair enough for them to come out, respond and prove the doubters wrong. To those who do write the Swans off, remember this: It. Was. Richmond.