Round 14, 2008

Richmond 2.7 19 7.9 51 10.13 73 12.16 88 Carlton 1.5 11 5.9 39 10.12 72 17.16 118	Venue: MCG
Date: Sat 28 June 2008, 2:10pm	Result: Won by 30 points
Umpires: C Kamolins, B Rosebury, S Wenn	Crowd: 73,503
Goalkickers: Fevola 4, Gibbs 3, Fisher, Betts 2, Murphy, Wiggins, Edwards, Cloke, Stevens, Grigg 1.
Reports: Nil	Injuries: Judd (concussion) replaced in selected side by Joe Anderson
Ladder Position: 9th

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Game Review

In Richmond's 100 year centenary match, a crowd in excess of 70 000 (a Round 14 record) gathered to watch these old rivals fight it out. There was much at stake, with the loser all but ending any hope it had of playing finals this season and the winner knocking on the door of the top 8. The Blues started favourites early in the week but when news got through that superstar recruit Chris Judd would miss with concussion, Richmond became clear favourites.

The first quarter was a very boring affair with a total of 3 goals and 12 behinds. No one would ever imagine that 29 goals would be kicked by the end of this game. When Brett Deledio kicked truly after the quarter-time siren, the Tigers went into the first break with an 8 point buffer.

The Tigers started off the 2nd quarter strong, scoring the first 2 goals to get out to an 18-point lead. Just as the Blues were starting to fade away, they characteristically wrestled back the lead with a 3-goal burst. The Tigers once again scored after the siren when Cleve Hughes goaled to give the Tigers a 2-goal lead at the main break.

After a rocket from coach Brett Ratten, the Carlton players came out firing in the second half and piled on the first 3 goals of the third quarter. The Tigers again had a chance to kick a goal after the siren but were unable to capitalise and managed only a behind and that would be their winning margin at three-quarter time.

With the well-held Matthew Richardson off the ground with a hamstring injury, the Blues well and truly dominated the last quarter: kicking 7 goals 4 behinds to 2 goals 3 behinds and running away 30-point winners and as they did against Collingwood in Round 8, 1992 when they were celebrating its 100 year, Carlton again spoiled Richmond celebrating its 100 years in the league.

In the absence of Chris Judd, fill-in captain Nick Stevens was clearly best on ground with 26 disposals, a career-high 10 tackles and a goal. Bryce Gibbs played arguably the best game of his career to date with his precision disposal and deadly skills combining with 3 goals. Jarrad Waite did an incredible job to negate one of the Brownlow favourites in Matthew Richardson. Richardson had very little impact on the game and his 12 disposals, 1 goal and 4 marks were well down on some of the great numbers he'd produced earlier in the season. Reigning best and fairest Andrew Carrazzo kept the dangerous Nathan Brown goalless while picking up 29 disposals himself.

Team

B:	32 Bret Thornton	40 Michael Jamison	17 Setanta Ó hAilpín
HB:	44 Andrew Carrazzo	30 Jarrad Waite	4 Bryce Gibbs
C:	15 Steven Browne	7 Adam Bentick	29 Heath Scotland
HF:	6 Kade Simpson	14 Brad Fisher	2 Jordan Russell
F:	19 Eddie Betts	25 Brendan Fevola	37 Jake Edwards
Ruck:	8 Matthew Kreuzer	24 Nick Stevens (a/c)	3 Marc Murphy
Interchange:	16 Shaun Grigg	26 Joe Anderson*	28 Cameron Cloke
	34 Simon Wiggins
Coach:	Brett Ratten
Emg:	21 Mark Austin, 9 Jason Saddington, 36 Darren Pfeiffer*

NB Late change on Friday night Joe Anderson for Chris Judd, with Pfeiffer replacing Anderson as an emergency

The great last quarter comeback

Milestones

Celebration Matches: Carlton spoiled Richmond's centenary celebrations in this match
Interesting Fact: This was the biggest ever Round 14 crowd in the history of VFL/AFL

Brownlow Votes

3. Nick Stevens, Carlton
2. Bryce Gibbs, Carlton
1. Brett Deledio, Richmond

Best and Fairest Votes

43 Nick Stevens, 38 Andrew Carrazzo, 34 Jarrad Waite, 33 Adam Bentick, Bryce Gibbs, 32 Heath Scotland, 17 Brad Fisher, 16 Simon Wiggins, 12 Kade Simpson, 10 Matthew Kreuzer

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Round 13 | Round 15