Round 1, 1997 - Richmond vs Geelong

Richmond got their 1997 campaign off on the right foot, downing Geelong by 9 points at the MCG.

The Tigers led at every change to record the impressive victory against a Cats side that had traditionally given them some trouble, finally winning out 15.14 (104) to 13.17 (95).

The big men fly.

It was somewhat of a new Tigers side for the first game of 1997, with Matthew Knights sidelined for the first couple of months of the season through injury.

This meant Wayne Campbell was the stand-in skipper, while other little tidbits included David Bourke moving from number 32 to 30 to match that of his famous dad Francis.

Matthew Manfield would make his Richmond debut after crossing from Fitzroy following their merger also.

The Tigers started well in the Easter Sunday clash, in what was a high quality standard for such an early season game, and booted 7 goals in the opening term.

Nick Daffy was dynamite in the first half, kicking four goals in it to help his side to a two-goal lead at the main change.

One slight cause for concern for the Tigers was Matthew Richardson, who seemed to have a limp up for most of the day, however he wouldn't show it taking 12 marks around the ground to run the Geelong defence ragged.

There were heaps of highlights in the game, for both teams really, so it was fitting that it would live up to a grandstand finish.

Geelong fought most of the way back late and seemingly had all the running, but some more choices going forward for them ultimately meant they would fall short, and Richmond would come out victorious in their first match of the year.

While Richardson and Daffy were Richmond's best, Chris Naish also put in a strong first up effort, and while the stats sheet looked modest, he had a hand in many of his teammates goals and picked up 6 tackles in a great showing of defensive-forward pressure.

Duncan Kellaway was another who put in a mighty performance across the backline, and was probably breathing a sigh of relief that there was no Gary Ablett to match up against, this time around.

Stats for the game courtesy of AFL Tables

A Fighting Fury player ratings - click here for explanation

Matthew Richardson	11
Nick Daffy	9
Chris Naish	8
Duncan Kellaway	7
David Bourke	6
Brendon Gale	6
Paul Broderick	6
Joel Bowden	5
Robbie Powell	5
Mark Merenda	5
Ben Holland	4
Justin Charles	4
Damien Ryan	4
Wayne Campbell	3
Michael Gale	3
Matthew Rogers	2
Chris Bond	2
Matthew Manfield	2
Darren Gaspar	2
Trent Nichols	1
Paul Bulluss	0