Round 3, 1996 - Brisbane vs Richmond

Richmond have won the battle of the ex-coaches, toppling the Bears by three goals at the Gabba to start the year 2-1.

A barnstorming second quarter where the Tigers kicked five unanswered goals was the catalyst for the 15.18 (108) to 13.12 (90) win.

Justin Charles continued his great start to the season

In what was a milestone match for Wayne Campbell who was playing his 100th game, the Tigers would not let him down, even despite missing one of their prime movers in Matthew Knights due to a severe ankle injury that would see him miss a large chunk of the 1996 season.

The other interesting plot twist to this game was the fact that the Bears and Tigers had swapped coaches in the off-season, with John Northey heading to Brisbane, while Robert Walls took on the Richmond job.

Both teams traded blows early and while Brisbane were going into the game as hot favourites, Richmond were able to hold their own with the game still all-tied at quarter time.

The second quarter started off rather dull with neither team really being able to trouble the scorers, that was until Richmond had a purple patch, and in particular, Chris Bond.

The hard nut midfielder kicked three goals in the second term, a rare occurrence for an entire game let alone a quarter, which helped his side burst out to a five goal lead at the main break.

From there, it was all academic really as Richmond more or less just traded goals with the Bears for the second half, recording an important win on the road against a heavily fancied Bears outfit.

For the Tigers, Matthew Richardson again showed that he was going to be a major problem for defences in 1996. While he didn't quite have his kicking boots on with 4.3, he was absolutely dominant in the air taking 10 marks, many of which were contested.

He was very well supported by his Tasmanian partner in crime, Brendon Gale, who too was inaccurate in from of goal with 1.3 but did take 11 marks to go along with his 17 disposals.

While the milestone man Campbell had an impressive 29 touches and a goal, he was just shaded by fellow midfielder Paul Broderick who had 33 and a goal to lead the Tigers from a disposal point of view.

Justin Charles had the arduous task of taking on Brisbane ruck Matthew Clarke who had been dominant in the opening two rounds of the season, however Charles bested him, getting on top at the centre bounce and around the ground, and finding plenty of the footy too with 17 disposals and a goal.

Speaking of milestones, this match saw the debut of Ben Holland, who was picked up by the Tigers in the off-season via a trade with Fitzroy. He plied his trade well and showed some great signs as an 18-year old key tall, taking four marks and picking up nine disposals.

It was also Paul Broderick's 50th game for the club, who had been terrific since crossing from Fitzroy.

The match would be Stuart Edwards' last in the AFL, finishing his career with 46 games and 52 goals for the club.

 Stats for the game courtesy of AFL Tables

A Fighting Fury player ratings - click here for explanation

Matthew Richardson	13
Paul Broderick	11
Brendon Gale	8
Justin Charles	7
Wayne Campbell	6
Chris Bond	5
Nick Daffy	5
Jamie Tape	5
Mark Merenda	5
David Bourke	5
Chris Naish	4
Nathan Bower	4
Michael Gale	4
Ashley Prescott	3
Matthew Rogers	3
Darren Gaspar	3
Paul Bulluss	2
Ben Holland	2
Duncan Kellaway	1
Stuart Edwards	1
Jason Torney	0