Western Bulldogs vs. Richmond Match Recap

Western Bulldogs 24. 13. 157 def.
Richmond 14. 5. 89

The Western Bulldogs have defeated Richmond at Etihad Stadium in Terry Wallace’s last match as Richmond coach. Wallace fittingly finished his 247 game coaching career against the Bulldogs. The Tigers were thrashed by 68 points by a far superior Bulldogs team who wanted to win more than their opposition. The disappointing thing for the Richmond faithful is the fact they were in front going into the main break, but failed to capitalize in the second half. The question on everyone’s lips at the end of Terry Wallace’s time as coach is “Where to from here for the Richmond Football Club?” An announcement is expected tomorrow on the care taker coach for the rest of season 2009.

Turning Point of the Match

The third term was when the Bulldogs stamped their authority on the match kicking 7 unanswered goals to set up the win. The Tigers were their own worst enemies turning the ball over and making crucial mistakes.

Key Players for the Western Bulldogs

Matthew Boyd – Had a fantastic game with 28 possessions, had 4 clearances and kicked a goal. Put the ball inside 50 on 5 occasions, with 3 assists, really helped to set up the win.

Brad Johnson – Had a good game up forward for the Dogs kicking 2 and having 21 disposals for the night including 5 inside 50s. When he plays well the Bulldogs generally win.

Liam Picken – Extremely good game from Picken, didn’t have a lot of stats but was able to negate any impact from Brett Deledio who only had 13 possessions. Picken had 15 of his own and kicked 2 goals.

Key Players for Richmond

Daniel Jackson – Had 30 possessions and tried hard all night for the Tigers. Laid 8 tackles, gained 6 clearances and had 6 inside 50s. Is starting to show a lot of promise for the Tigers.

Shane Tuck – Had another good game for the tigers, racked up 32 disposals and of those 15 were contested. 8 clearances for the match, if only the Tigers could have more players who played like him.

Musings from the Match

• Not a lot of emotion shown for Terry Wallace’s last game, probably not a surprise considering the situation.
• The Bulldogs had too many winners in the second half, showing they are a force in 2009 if they can play 4 solid quarters of football.
• The Dogs had 14 different goal kickers, a club record.
• Who will coach Richmond? The word is Campbell but who knows down at Tiger land.
• Jack Riewoldt and Mitch Morton were really the only forwards with any impact for the Tigers.
• Richmond must look back on the last 5 years and think what a waste…. So much talk and not a lot of delivery.

Supercoach

Shane Tuck had 123 points a match high. Jack Riewoldt was well up on his season average scoring 104 points while Deledio was will down only scoring 58 points highlighting his inconsistency. Higgins and Boyd were standouts for the Dogs with 111 ad 112 points respectively. Ben Hudson and Ryan Griffen both had bad scoring games both at least half their season average.

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