Jack Riewoldt bagged 10 goals as Richmond strolled to an easy 74-point AFL victory over a hapless Gold Coast.
The Tigers were unbackable favourites heading into Saturday’s clash at Metricon Stadium and, true to form, looked a class or two above the battling Suns despite never really playing at full throttle.
An utterly dominant Riewoldt led the way, finishing with 10.6 to easily outscore Gold Coast off his own boot.
The biggest haul from any AFL player this season saw Riewoldt leapfrog North Melbourne’s Ben Brown into first place on the Coleman Medal leaderboard, with his tally for the year now 58.
He had 26 disposals all up and grabbed 12 marks inside 50 to comprehensively towel up his direct opponent Steven May.
Riewoldt kicked Richmond’s first four goals of the match and could have had seven in the first quarter alone had he been a little more accurate.
His teammates set him up for his 10th with a chain of handballs with only seconds left on the clock.
Former Suns midfielder Josh Caddy chipped in with four goals, one of them directly assisted by Riewoldt.
The 19.11 (125) to 7.9 (51) win is the first for the reigning premiers outside of Victoria this season – their four defeats have all come interstate.
Not that this one felt like it was interstate – most of the 18,102-strong crowd was wearing yellow and black and lapping up every moment, particularly the ones involving Riewoldt.
Gold Coast weren’t disgraced but simply didn’t have the firepower to stay with Richmond despite their best efforts.
They trailed by 30 points at the main break but the floodgates were broken open in the third term as the Tigers kicked seven goals – three of them through Riewoldt – while holding the Suns goalless.
Instead of dropping off, Gold Coast kept up with Richmond’s scoring pace in the final quarter to ensure the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
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