Cotchin leads Tigers to big AFL win
Mar 30, 2017 - 12:37 PM Trent Cotchin has produced an outstanding captain's game to lead Richmond to a 19-point AFL win over Collingwood at the MCG.Cotchin had 26 possessions, kicked two goals and laid two crucial tackles in the last quarter on Thursday night as the Tigers won 14.15 (99) to 11.14 (80).
It is only the third time since 1995 that the Tigers have won their opening two games of the season.
The last time was 2013, when they returned to the finals.
Collingwood only had themselves to blame - for the second week in a row, they paid dearly for goalkicking inaccuracy.
It is the first time they have made a 0-2 start to the season since 2005, when they finished 15th.
This is a crucial season for Richmond coach Damien Hardwick and his Magpies counterpart Nathan Buckley.
As the Magpies repeatedly blew scoring chances, Buckley hit the wall in frustration and anger.
Richmond star Dustin Martin was not as dominant as round one, but he kicked the last two goals of the match to seal the result.
Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy also starred and, along with captain Scott Pendlebury, helped bring his team to within 10 points twice late in the game.
But the Tigers held firm, kicking five goals to four in the last quarter.
Scores were level at quarter-time and, while Richmond looked better through the midfield, Collingwood's defence remained solid and, finally, the Magpies broke the deadlock.
They found key forward Darcy Moore by himself deep inside 50 and he goaled to give them back the lead.
Then Chris Mayne marked and goaled on the halftime siren and Collingwood had a handy 10-point advantage.
Collingwood extended their lead to 17 points early in the third term, but Richmond rallied as the game opened up.
Well held by Tyson Goldsack through the first half, star Tigers forward Jack Riewoldt kicked two third-term goals.
Small forward Daniel Rioli also became more prominent as the Magpies kept blowing their chances.
The Tigers nearly tripled their score in the third quarter, kicking 6.3 to 3.4 and led by seven points at the last change.
Richmond ruck-forward Ben Griffiths was forced out of the game when he landed heavily in a third-term marking contest.
Hardwick later confirmed that Griffiths had suffered concussion.
The Tigers coach was pleased his team was able to grind out the scrappy win.
"We certainly won't be rushing to the video store to get that first half on tape," he said.
"The struggle between the two clubs was pretty high tonight and we were lucky to probably come out (winning) at the end of it, but we'll take a lot out of it."
Many Tigers had average nights, but Hardwick was particularly impressed that his team never relented.
"Everyone stood up at a certain stage ... it's exciting for our fans to see that," he said.
"We have more players who are capable of doing that now, which is important."
Buckley was left lamenting Collingwood's inability to put more pressure on Richmond when his side had the lead.
"We had our struggles forward of the ball again - we held up OK ... (but) we were never looking like we were on top of the ground or able to get much momentum," he said.
"We had a bit of a gap and then we let it go in the third quarter and got run over.
"Our ball use was not what we train ... (and) we just didn't play with the dare that we'd like.
"It invited a really dour game."
Richmond's Shaun Grigg made the most of the controversial new rule banning the third man up in the ruck contest to gain a crucial free kick in the last quarter.
Grigg kicked a goal from the free and Buckley said the incident was costly.
Source: AAP
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