Face of Nation : It’s hard to complain about a 92-point AFL win.
But Richmond coach Damien Hardwick reckoned there was room for improvement after an astonishing first half set up the Tigers’ 23.12 (150) to 9.4 (58) victory over Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
Remarkably Richmond had iced the result by halftime, defying wet conditions to lead the bottom-placed Suns 16.7 (103) to 3.1 (19) at Metricon Stadium.
In fact Richmond’s Brandon Ellis had already cast his mind to next week’s opponent Greater Western Sydney when interviewed by Fox Sports as he came off the field at the main break.
“Our percentage isn’t great at the moment so a good win today hopefully boosts that up and we look forward to GWS next week,” Ellis said.
It was the Tigers’ third-highest half-time score, just short of their record 17.9 (111) against North Melbourne in 1931.
The 84-point deficit was Richmond’s second-biggest half-time lead.
And it also marked the first time in seven years that an AFL team had racked up 100 points in a half.
Hardwick admitted it would have been difficult to sustain their first half perfection in the second stanza but claimed sixth-placed Richmond (9-6 record) have “work to do” on their finals push.
“You have a commanding lead at halftime and the game very rarely continues on that front,” he said.
“If you had have said to me at the start of the day you’ll win by close to 100 points we’ll take that, but we also realise we have a fair bit of work to do in a few areas as well.”
The Tigers had started the match with a percentage of 95.3 – the worst of any team inside the top 13 – but now sit on 103.
The Tigers appear ideally placed to turn home and make a serious finals run, with their next seven games at the MCG.
But Hardwick wasn’t so sure, admitting he would get a better gauge against the fourth-placed Giants.
“That’s a pretty formidable challenge for us, we’ll get a better understanding of where we’re placed,” he said.
“They beat us by about six goals earlier in the year so we’re looking forward to challenging ourselves against one of the better sides in the competition.”
For the Tigers, Jason Castagna kicked five goals and had 10 marks and 18 touches. Former Suns skipper Tom Lynch kicked three goals, as did Kane Lambert.
The home thumping marked last-placed Gold Coast’s 11th straight loss.
“It was embarrassing, the first half,” Suns coach Stuart Dew said.
Adding injury to insult, the Suns’ Will Powell is expected to miss the rest of the season after breaking down with a knee injury in the opening term.
