Tigers Lose Again in Thriller

Greater Western Sydney Giants vs Richmond Tigers

Takım	Gol	Puan	Skor
GWS	11	12	78
Richmond	10	15	75

GOALS

GWS: Cameron 3, Reid 2, Scully, Lobb, Williams, Greene, Taranto, de Boer

Richmond: Riewoldt 2, Menadue 2, Cotchin 2, Castagna 2, Grigg, Lloyd

Richmond have once again let slip a considerable margin to lose in the dying minutes of the game to the GWS Giants. The winner came off the boot of Jeremy Cameron, who finished the night off with 3 goals.

In what looked to be a great victory for the travelling Tigers, the Giants surged in the last quarter to kick 5 goals in reply to the Tigers, who kicked 5 points.
The tigers could have and should have put the Giants to sleep after having the first two set shots of the last quarter, which would have kept the momentum with the Tigers, but let the two chances slip. It was the rise in intensity from the Giants and the smooth ball movement across the field, which allowed for the Giants to close the margin from 25 points.

The tigers had some hope in the last quarter after it seemed that debutant Shai Bolton had snapped at goal after a scuffle and scored. This was reviewed by the score review panel, and was deemed to be touched by a Giants player. Slack defence from the Richmond players allowed Nathan Wilson to play on and boot the ball 70 metres. The ball was then superbly punched forward by Phil Davis, which was then picked up by the Giants players who had the numbers pushing forward. It then fell into the hands of Jeremy Cameron who slotted the goal from 50 metres out to hurt Tiger hearts.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick wasn’t too phased by the loss, or at least it seemed that way, when he commented on the loss. “Its tough…it is heartbreaking to be honest…but I thought our players gave great intent and great effort but couldn’t close out the game. That’s what you get remembered for unfortunately. We do have a young list and a young forward line, so I believe they can learn greatly from this and move on”

Giants coach Leon Cameron, who is a former Richmond player, praised the Tigers and talked about football justice. “The Tigers played better, football is harsh. We only led the 120 minutes for about a minute. Richmond are playing some good footy but unluckily for them, they ended the night with a loss when they should have won.”

Richmond face the Essendon Bombers next Saturday night at the home of football, the MCG, as part of the Dreamtime at the G game in what seems to be a season defining game. The Dreamtime game is an annual encounter between Richmond and Essendon, which pays respect to the original Custodians of the land, the Aborigines.

The Giants will travel to Perth to face the West Coast Eagles.

It is now the third game that the Tigers have lost under a goal. But where to from now? Can the Tigers revitalise their morale, or are these close losses too big a mental hurdle to jump over? I guess that will be answered next Saturday night.

 YAS