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Jack Riewoldt bagged 10 goals as Richmond strolled to an easy 74-point AFL victory over a hapless Gold Coast.
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Final score
Gold Coast Suns 7.9.51
Richmond Tigers 19.11.125
The Gold Coast Suns will try to bury their slim mathematical chance of winning the wooden spoon when they take on minor premiership favourites the Richmond Tigers. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 2:10pm (AEST).
You couldn’t get two more conflicting storylines heading into this game.
While Richmond are at the top of the table and primed to make a push for a second straight premiership when the whips are cracking in September, the Suns are flat out avoiding the wooden spoon.
Luckily for the hosts of this game, the Carlton Blues are in the competition and putting in one of the worst historical seasons the league has ever seen.
The Gold Coast will need everything to go right in a game like this, and they may well have used up their big upset points when they beat the Sydney Swans away from home a few weeks ago.
Since that win, they have been back at their usual level, with an embarrassing home loss to the Carlton Blues and a 96-point thumping away from home against the Melbourne Demons last week.
Based on that, the Tigers will rip them apart in midfield and set up scoring opportunity after opportunity. Playing on the Gold Coast might help the Suns, but on the surface it virtually seems like they don’t have a chance.
Regardless, one more win will put any chance of collecting the wooden spoon beyond mathematical doubt – of course, that requires Carlton winning games which looks about as likely as the average Aussie waking up on Mount Everest tomorrow.
On the other side of the coin, the Tigers have a four-point lead at the top of the AFL ladder and are well ahead of the West Coast on percentage.
With only two rounds remaining following this, a win here will just about wrap things up for Richmond, particularly with Essendon and the Western Bulldogs to come in their last two weeks.
They will want to be clinical though, rather than just going through the motions. An easy run to the finals may not be the best thing for the defending premiers, who may not be able to quite gauge their level.
Still, with Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt and Josh Caddy running a muck, they could run up a serious score on the Gold Coast this afternoon – which is exactly what they will want to do.
Prediction
The only way Richmond don’t win by a mountain of points is if they switch off. This close to the finals, it’s hard to see that happening.
Tigers by 70.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this match from 2:10pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.