1996, Round 5 - Geelong vs Richmond

Richmond have lost in heartbreaking fashion to Geelong at Kardinia Park, with a Chris Naish shot on goal after the siren fading late to grant the Cats victory.

The game was tight all day, a far cry from the two games in 1995 where the Cats put the Tigers to the sword, but the missed shot at the end ultimately resulted in a 13.13 (91) to 12.16 (88) Geelong win.

Nathan Bower goes for a run along his trademark wing.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Tigers, who went down to Sydney by a point just one week earlier, and now fall to 2-3 on the season.

The game saw the return of Stephen Jurica to the lineup, who hadn't played an AFL game since late in 1995. He had burst onto the scene in 1995 in the absence of Matthew Richardson, and with the two finally playing together, Tigers fans were salivating.

The game also featured the return of Tony Free, who had missed most of the 1995 season with an ACL injury.

The game also saw the debut of a 17-year old ruckman for Geelong named Steven King, who held his own against an in-form Justin Charles.

But it was Jurica who jumped out of the blocks and looked wonderful early, taking three strong marks and kicking two early goals to signify that perhaps last year was no fluke.

Richmond actually looked the better side early, potentially aided by the breeze, but it was a great start all the same.

Matthew Richardson was working his opponent over by running up and down the ground, Tim McGrath was simply unable to keep up with the young Tigers champ.

At one stage Jurica and Richardson had kicked all six of Richmond's goals, although the latter started to hobble around the ground early in the third term, but played on regardless.

One thing that hampered Richmond's chances of a win was their inaccuracy in front of goal, but also the way the ball was being delivered inside 50. Often it was coming in at Richardson's ankles making life tough for the enigmatic key forward.

A controversial decision right at the end of the third quarter gifted Geelong a free kick and a goal, and how telling that would prove to be.

Richmond looked to have the slight ascendancy early in the final term, and when Chris Naish kicked his second goal the Tigers lead was 9 with only 10 minutes to play.

Geelong struck back with two goals in the same amount of minutes to re-take the lead though, with the Tigers struggling to get any clean ball late in the game.

That was until Naish got on the end of a pass for a shot at goal after the siren, around 40m out on a 45 degree angle, however the ball drifted across the face of goal and sealed the Tigers fate.

For the Tigers, Mark Merenda continued his rich vein of form and looks to have gone to another level in 1996. The dashing playmaker had 23 disposals and a goal, and was cleaner than most in the middle.

While he did most of his damage early, Stephen Jurica made a great return to the lineup, kicking 3.3 from his five marks and proving to be a great second option behind Richardson. Paul Broderick was industrious with 17 disposals and Nick Daffy also had a strong game with 21 disposals and a goal.

Unfortunately, this game would be Tony Free's last at AFL level, after battling chronic knee injuries for his career. The former captain played 133 games for the club from 1987-1996 and kicked 46 goals.

 Stats for the game courtesy of AFL Tables

A Fighting Fury player ratings - click here for explanation

Mark Merenda	9
Stephen Jurica	8
Nick Daffy	7
Paul Broderick	7
Wayne Campbell	6
Chris Bond	6
Matthew Richardson	6
Justin Charles	6
Nathan Bower	5
Duncan Kellaway	5
Scott Turner	5
Jamie Tape	4
Chris Naish	4
Brendon Gale	3
Tony Free	3
Ashley Prescott	2
Michael Gale	2
Ben Harrison	2
Matthew Rogers	1
Darren Gaspar	1
Jason Torney	0