Richmond v Hawthorn – The Packed Preview

RICHMOND v HAWTHORN
MCG 7:20pm AEST – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Televisions around Australia will be tuned into a mouthwatering qualifying final tonight at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between the Richmond Tigers and Hawthorn Hawks. It is the first time in VFL/AFL history that the two sides have lined up against each other in finals football which is an amazing stat given that Richmond have been in the competition since 1885 and Hawthorn in 1902.

The two major Melbourne powerhouse sides boast recent successes in the competition with the Hawks registering a three-peat between 2013-2015 while the Tigers are the reigning premiers after defeating the Adelaide Crows last year. The teams have strong and vocal supporter bases with the MCG expected to fill up with over 100,000 spectators at the game.

Both teams had tightly contested finishes to the season with Hawthorn winning four of their last five games by under 2 goals, with the other result a blowout 59 point win over Fremantle. Richmond had three of their final five games decided by under 8 points with only comfortable wins over Collingwood (29pts) and Gold Coast Suns (74pts).

James Sicily is a welcomed addition to the Hawks outfit after sustaining a broken wrist in round 17. The Hawthorn hot-head will be out to ruffle some feathers and attempt to give his side a mental edge, will it backfire and will the Tigers get under his skin? Sicily missed their last clash with Richmond in round 3 due to suspension. In that game the Tigers lead by 39 points early into the last quarter before the Hawks came home hard to narrowly miss by 13 points.

Hawthorn will need to call upon all their 265 games of finals experience to undo a relatively inexperienced Richmond team of only 114 finals appearances. Shaun ‘Silk’ Burgoyne has played in 33 games and his composure will prove pivotal deep into the final moments of the game along with the likes of Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O’Meara and skipper Jarryd Roughead. Richmond have the dominate midfield of Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin, Kane Lambert and Dion Prestia to compliment a forward line of 2018 Coleman Medalist Jack Riewoldt and livewire Jack Higgins.

The reigning Brownlow Medalist Dusty Martin will line up in his 200^th game and by his standards has had a fairly quiet year. He will need to stand up with a 30+ disposal game and a couple of goals to see the Tigers victorious.

The match-ups: It will be a fascinating battle with Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn) and Trent Cotchin (Richmond) going head to head. Both players display sublime skills, good efficiency and great footy brains. They are fierce competitors and give their all for their respective guernseys.

Where to from here? The winner will have a week off and advance to the preliminary final, while the loser will battle it out with the winner of the Geelong / Melbourne game.

Watch it on: Channel 7 or Fox Footy

CHANGES

RICHMOND
IN: Lambert
OUT: Ellis

HAWTHORN
IN: Sicily, Frawley, Ceglar
OUT: Brand, Miles, Mirra

LAST TIME THEY MET

Richmond 15.12 (102) def Hawthorn 13.11 (89) – Round 3 at the MCG

FANCY A BET?

Tip: Richmond 1-19 @ $3.75
Half Time / Full Time – Hawthorn/Richmond @ $26.00
First Goal Scorer: Jarryd Roughead @ $18.00
* The Sporting Base encourages responsible gambling