It was always going to be a tough ask for a young Tigers outfit to travel down the highway to Geelong and take on a Cats team that was looking to further cement their spot in the top 8, and potentially challenge for the top 4 spot.
Their task was seemingly made slightly easier before the game started, with the Geelong stating star midfielder Bailey Smith would be a late withdrawal due to illness and was replaced by Jack Bowes. Smith’s withdrawal from the side wasn’t the only late change that the Cats made, with George Stewart making his debut, replacing Tyson Stengle, who was reportedly pulled out of the side due to a family issue.
After the game started, though, the Tigers’ task got monumentally more difficult after they lost number 1 draft pick Sam Lalor, who suffered a second hamstring injury. Lalor was replaced by Tiger’s sub Maurice Rioli. However, Lalor’s injury was followed by issues with Jasper Alger and Tom Brown, both heading to the rooms for treatment during the first quarter.
Unsurprisingly, given the gulf in class between the teams and the early injuries suffered by the Tigers, the Cats jumped out to a handy 13-point lead, largely due to the Cats’ inaccuracy. The Cats turned up the intensity in the second quarter and piled on 8.6, to the Tiges’ 1.2, to extend the lead to 59 points at halftime.
Veteran Cats, Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron, led the way in the first half, kicking two goals each, though Cameron probably should have had more, missing multiple opportunities in the first half. In the middle, Max Holmes and Gryan Miers racked up lots of possessions and were clean with the ball. The league’s tackle leader, Tom Atkins, continued wrapping players up, locking in 13 tackles in a single half of football.
It took just over five minutes into the second half for Cameron to kick goal number three for the game, and goal 699 for his career, which extended Geelong’s lead to 62 points. The Tigers’ defence seemed almost helpless, and Geelong continued to pepper the goals with shots, but they again failed to make the most of their opportunities, with Cameron and debutant George Stevens missing gettable shots at goal.
With over half the quarter gone, the Tigers were finally able to hit the board in the second half through Rhyan Mansell. However, the Cats then kicked away with goals to Jack Bowes and Brad Close before Jeremy Cameron finally slotted through his fourth goal of the game and, more importantly, his 700th career goal.
Despite the heat being well and truly out of the game, no one told the Geelong players, with Shannon Neale kicking his third goal before former Gold Coast Sun and Blue, Jack Martin, kicked his first goal of the game after spending most of his time across the backline. These goals saw the margin blow out to 77 points. Jeremy Cameron took a mark in the pocket, but handballed it off to Oliver Henry instead of lining up for goal 701.
With the result in no doubt and the sting out of the game, the scoring dried up. Tigers kicked the final goal through Tom Brown with a few minutes remaining, as Geelong refrained from using their sub, Mitch Duncan, for the entire game.
Injuries piling up at Punt Road
Mere minutes into the game, Sam Lalor was substituted out of the game for the Tigers after suffering a hamstring tear. Not only did this put the Tigers on the back foot early, but it also added to an already too-long injury list that is hurting the Tigers, who are already missing Thompson Dow, Josh Gibcus, Samson Ryan, Jayden Short, Josh Smillie, and Mykelti Lefau. This is also on the back of Tom Lynch being handed a multiple-game suspension last week and the fact that Lalor had just come back from a hamstring injury.
Lalor wasn’t the only Tiger to feel discomfort, as Jasper Alger and Tom Brown were also brought to the bench after suffering injuries in the first quarter. Richmond were forced down to three men on the bench later in the game after Hugo Ralphsmith pulled his hamstring in the fourth quarter, but by then the game was over.
Late Changes for the Cats
Teams usually want to avoid late changes for a myriad of reasons, but that hasn’t stopped the Cats from ringing in the changes just before game time. This week, two stars were withdrawn from the Cats’ line-up after the teams had been named on Thursday. Bailey Smith, who has reportedly been struck down by illness, was withdrawn from the side and replaced by Jack Bowes.
The second replacement was the withdrawal of Tyson Stengle, who reportedly needed to deal with an undisclosed family issue. Stengle was replaced on the side by George Stevens, who had an impressive debut game. Stevens had 21 possessions, going at 85% efficiency, kicking a goal, as well as picking up two goal assists. It’s the kind of start that will give coach Chris Scott the good kind of headaches.
Suspensions left, right, and centre.
The way that some Richmond players are acting, you’d think that they were hoping to get suspended and have some time off from having to play for Richmond. Last week saw Tom Lynch suffer what can only be described as a meltdown, which resulted in the key forward being suspended for five games.
This week, Noah Balta is likely going to be looked at for a hit on Tom Stewart during the third quarter. Balta, who is currently serving an 18-month suspended sentence and a 3-month curfew after he assaulted a member of the public last year, seemed to move past the footy to make contact with Stewart. Balta, who has missed several games due to the curfew, could end up suspended for games that he was already ineligible to play due to his early bedtime, so that’s some silver lining for the Tigers, I guess.
Balta and Lynch weren’t alone, with Tigers’ defender Nick Vlaustin evening up a score from five years ago. During the 2020 Grand Final, Dangerfield knocked Vlaustin out while attempting to punch the ball. In this game, Vlaustin laid a shepherd on Dangerfield, which resulted in the two players’ heads colliding. Dangerfield played out the game without any issues, by Vlaustin’s bump will certainly be looked at by the MRO.
Cameron’s missed chances
Geelong forward Jeremy Cameron is currently leading the race for the Coleman Medal. Cameron is ten goals ahead of second-placed Ben King and is in a good patch of form. However, the Geelong forward should have been further ahead given the number of opportunities he had.
The usually accurate Cameron kicked 4.5, and handballed another away to Oliver Henry instead of taking the shot himself. Cameron, who is hitting the target from over 60% of his shots, would have almost put the Coleman race to bed had he kicked straight during the game.
Tiger Triers
While it was a dark day for the Tigers, there were certainly a few players who didn’t give up the fight despite the one-sided margin. Young star Rhyan Mansell did his best, kicking three goals straight to be the Tigers’ only multiple goal kicker.
Another Tiger who played a decent game was Maurice Rioli Jr. Rioli, who was named as the starting sub, got to play almost the full game due to the early injury to Lalor’s first quarter injury. Rioli kicked a goal, gathered 19 possessions and laid three tackles during the game.
The month ahead
Geelong will travel to New South Wales next week to take on the Giants in a game that both teams will need to win. The Cats will need to win the game to keep their top 4 hopes alive, while the Giants will need the win to keep their hopes of making the finals alive, with Fremantle breathing down their neck.
The Cats then face off against the Saints back at GMHBA Stadium before facing North at Marvel Stadium before rounding out the next month back in Geelong, where they will host Port Adelaide. Given how close most of the teams in the top 8 are, the Cats will need to win all these games to keep pace with the top 4.
Despite the growing injury list at Punt Road, the Tigers have a few games coming up that they believe they have a chance in. The Tigers host Essendon at the MCG next Saturday, with both teams hit hard by injuries. The Tigers will then travel to Perth to take on the bottom-placed West Coast Eagles in another game that the Tigers will hope to win.
The Tigers then return to Melbourne in round 20 to face off against Collingwood before rounding out the next month against the Gold Coast Suns at People’s First Stadium in another game against their former coach.
