Qualifying Final, 1995 - Richmond vs North Melbourne

North Melbourne have got the better of Richmond for the second time in three outings in 1995, overrunning their plucky opponents to run out 30 point winners in a qualifying final.

The Tigers had hit the lead in the final term, but the Kangaroos rattled off five in a row to take it out 17.12 (114) to 12.12 (84)

Justin Charles takes a mark.

While the 68,000 strong crowd was a little underwhelming in terms of numbers, they more than made up for it in voice, as Richmond fans celebrated their side being back in September action.

Despite Richmond finishing third and North Melbourne sixth, it was the Kangaroos who went in slight favourites, with most punters believing that they would back up their Round 19 win over Richmond.

The game lived up to all the billing of a final early on, with the ball pinging up and down the field as players took a while to settle into the moment. The game was played at a frenetic pace that signalled that finals had truly arrived.

North Melbourne would be the team to settle first though, kicking three of the first four goals to open up a handy early lead.

They were quickly reeled in by the Tigers though who hit the lead halfway through the first quarter. What was also helping was that Paul Bulluss, playing his 50th AFL game, was keeping Wayne Carey quiet early, but that would soon change...

A clever goal by Chris Naish to start the second term had the Tigers out by 8 points, but multiple goals to Wayne Carey and John Longmire in the space of mere minutes had the Roos back in front by 16 to continue the topsy turvy encounter.

The final also featured the return of Stuart Wigney, who had been out of action since Round 9 due to a broken ankle.

Wigney started on the bench but came on in the second quarter to take on Carey who had started to lift his team, but it was a massive ask for the new recruit after such a long layoff with injury, as Carey continued to gain the ascendancy.

The Tigers hit back late in the half through goals to Naish and Brendon Gale to have the margin back to just a point at the main change.

Gale continued to have a strong impact for the Tigers and after booting his third goal halfway through the third term to put the Tigers in front, which was quickly matched by Carey, and then matched again by Matthew Rogers.

Longmire and Carey kicked back to back goals to again wrestle the lead away from the Tigers and lead by nine at the final break.

Richmond started well in the last, and when Bulluss ran into an open goal seven minutes in, the Tigers were all of a sudden back in front.

From there though, the Kangaroos took over the game quickly, with Round 19 villain Brett Allison again getting amongst the goals and ultimately sending Richmond into a semi-final with Essendon.

For the Tigers, the Gale brothers were outstanding, with Brendon somewhat of a lone hand up forward in terms of talls with three goals, while Michael had 21 disposals and was seemingly back into the groove of things after missing a bit of football later in the season due to a nasty collarbone injury.

Wayne Campbell was Richmond's best midfielder with 29 disposals and could have had an even bigger game if not for kicking 0.4.

Nathan Bower and Jamie Tape were also among the Tigers best, with Tape in particular finding plenty of the footy with 20 disposals to go along with his usual courageous acts.

Stats for the game courtesy of AFL Tables

A Fighting Fury player ratings - click here for explanation

Brendon Gale	7
Michael Gale	7
Matthew Rogers	7
Wayne Campbell	6
Jamie Tape	6
Nathan Bower	6
Chris Bond	5
Chris Naish	5
Nick Daffy	5
Mark Merenda	5
Paul Broderick	3
Duncan Kellaway	3
Stuart Wigney	3
Stuart Maxfield	3
Paul Bulluss	3
Scott Turner	2
Matthew Knights	2
Stephen Jurica	2
Ashley Prescott	1
Greg Dear	0
Justin Charles	0