By Melissa Ryan
May 18 2003
Richmond spearhead Matthew Richardson last night made a stunning return from his hamstring injury to propel the Tigers to a thrilling nine-point victory over Melbourne.
The Tiger spearhead not only kicked four goals but also hauled in 16 marks, most of them contested, as he combined with in-form ruckman Greg Stafford to sink the courageous Demons in the final minutes of a tight match at the MCG.
Afterwards, Richardson was enthusiastic about Richmond's revival in the top four, but was cagey when the question of finals football arose.
"We want to make the finals like every team does and if we do the things we've been doing and play the way we know we can, hopefully we can get there and we can shake a few up," he said. "We'll see what happens, though. It's a long way to go."
Richardson came off the ground 20 minutes into the first quarter after he kicked his second goal, in a precautionary move by coach Danny Frawley to protect his star forward's suspect hamstring, which he had injured three weeks ago.
"We spoke about it during the week. I've had a history of recurring hamstrings and they just thought that I needed to have a spell at some stage tonight. I knew I was coming off but I wasn't filthy about it. When you're getting a bit of the ball, you don't really want to, I guess, but it was probably good that I had a bit of a break then," Richardson said.
In his absence, Melbourne promptly kicked four goals, but Frawley said it had always been the plan to rest Richardson. "He had to do a lot of marking and do a lot of chasing so it was just at that stage of the game when we thought, let's give him a breather," Frawley said.
"When you look at it, they really got back in the game from that point, but it was always to make sure that we get every game we can out of him and it showed tonight what a great player he is."
Stafford, who kicked the goal that sealed the match, was last night praised by Frawley for his bravery in returning to the field only five minutes after a jarred knee sent him crumpling to the ground.
"The hard thing to do as a coach, when you see a guy put his body on the line the amount of times he did tonight, (was) then to ask him to go back out. But to his credit he went down there and took a telling mark and a telling goal and I thought that was a sign of leadership," Frawley said. "Greg's pulled up well which is great news."
Melbourne coach Neale Daniher said he could not fault his charges' commitment last night. "I thought our boys were very brave," he said. "I thought they worked really hard for that first quarter where Richmond came out strongly. To work our way to get in front at three-quarter-time, I thought showed plenty of spirit and courage. (Richmond) just had too many big blokes at the end."
May 18 2003
Richmond spearhead Matthew Richardson last night made a stunning return from his hamstring injury to propel the Tigers to a thrilling nine-point victory over Melbourne.
The Tiger spearhead not only kicked four goals but also hauled in 16 marks, most of them contested, as he combined with in-form ruckman Greg Stafford to sink the courageous Demons in the final minutes of a tight match at the MCG.
Afterwards, Richardson was enthusiastic about Richmond's revival in the top four, but was cagey when the question of finals football arose.
"We want to make the finals like every team does and if we do the things we've been doing and play the way we know we can, hopefully we can get there and we can shake a few up," he said. "We'll see what happens, though. It's a long way to go."
Richardson came off the ground 20 minutes into the first quarter after he kicked his second goal, in a precautionary move by coach Danny Frawley to protect his star forward's suspect hamstring, which he had injured three weeks ago.
"We spoke about it during the week. I've had a history of recurring hamstrings and they just thought that I needed to have a spell at some stage tonight. I knew I was coming off but I wasn't filthy about it. When you're getting a bit of the ball, you don't really want to, I guess, but it was probably good that I had a bit of a break then," Richardson said.
In his absence, Melbourne promptly kicked four goals, but Frawley said it had always been the plan to rest Richardson. "He had to do a lot of marking and do a lot of chasing so it was just at that stage of the game when we thought, let's give him a breather," Frawley said.
"When you look at it, they really got back in the game from that point, but it was always to make sure that we get every game we can out of him and it showed tonight what a great player he is."
Stafford, who kicked the goal that sealed the match, was last night praised by Frawley for his bravery in returning to the field only five minutes after a jarred knee sent him crumpling to the ground.
"The hard thing to do as a coach, when you see a guy put his body on the line the amount of times he did tonight, (was) then to ask him to go back out. But to his credit he went down there and took a telling mark and a telling goal and I thought that was a sign of leadership," Frawley said. "Greg's pulled up well which is great news."
Melbourne coach Neale Daniher said he could not fault his charges' commitment last night. "I thought our boys were very brave," he said. "I thought they worked really hard for that first quarter where Richmond came out strongly. To work our way to get in front at three-quarter-time, I thought showed plenty of spirit and courage. (Richmond) just had too many big blokes at the end."
