With a grand final spot up for grabs, this was a hard fought game all over. Collingwood and Richmond match up well and we knew from the last time these teams met was going to be on for all.
The Tigers got the first points on the board within a few minutes to take the lead by seven, with the Pies yet to score. It looked like the Tigers had settled first from the ball up, but an incident from Richmond’s VC got him sent of for rough play for 10 minutes which gave the Pies the roll on to get four goals in the first to lead by 18 points at the first break.
In the second quarter, the Tigers without their VC still came out hard, able to keep the Pies to two goals for the quarter to Richmond’s five. Tigers’ big man Hendo was hard to contain for the Pies and Richmond took the lead at the main break, leading 40 to 39.
The third was up for grabs for anyone, both teams having four scoring shots each, but the Tigers proved more accurate in front of the big sticks. Collingwood scored 1.3 for the quarter to the Tigers’ 2.2 and there was only a goal in it at the last change.
The last quarter was a tough battle for both teams, end to end at times without scores. The Pies still struggled to score with another inaccurate quarter, 2.4 for the last, to the Tigers two straight. Some easy goals missed by Collingwood throughout the game sadly cost them, with Richmond winning an epic game by two points.
“An awesome game for the crowd, that’s for sure,” Stroud said. “Pieces here and there were going wrong, some out of our hands, but I guess that’s footy. We both played a hard fought battle.
“We play the Bombers next week and hope we can get the win to get into the grand final,” continued Stroud. “Another do or die game, should be a ripper. Just need to win by a few to get there, we will regroup and come out the way we need to.”
Collingwood have now dropped to third, sitting behind Richmond and Essendon. See full ladder here.
Collingwood 4-1-25 6-3-39 7-6-48 9-10-64
Richmond 1-2-8 6-4-40 8-6-54 10-6-66
Goals:
Collingwood - Fitzgerald 5, Newman 4
Richmond - Henderson 8, Naidu 2
Collingwood next play Essendon at 12.08 on Sunday 25th August at the Boroondara Sports Complex.
