Round 8, 1995 - Richmond vs Geelong

Richmond's dream start to the 1995 season hit its first speed hump, when it ran into a rampaging Geelong outfit at the MCG in Round 8.

The game lived up to its high level expectations for the first half, but the hardened Cats were able to hit Richmond with multiple quick bursts of goals in the second half to run away with an easy 24.19 (163) to 14.7 (91) win.

Mark Neeld gets a kick away against his former side.

The bookies couldn't split the two sides heading into the clash, despite Geelong owning Richmond over the past ten years, with the Tigers only having beaten them once in that time.

A big part of that domination had been Gary Ablett, whose career history against Richmond at that stage was 104 goals across 17 games, just an absolute terror for the Tigers defence.

Both sides traded blows early, although Geelong's inaccuracy in front of goal probably kept the game closer than it should have been, kicking 6.6 to Richmond's 5.1 in a high quality opening term.

Richmond full back Scott Turner did his best to keep Ablett quiet, and had accomplished that to halftime, with the Geelong champ having only kicked one goal for the first half.

You can't keep a legend down for long though, as Ablett took over in the second half, adding six more goals to his tally to finish with seven for the day.

For Richmond, Matthew Richardson kept his hot run of form going with another five goals straight against some strong opposition in Tim McGrath. The accurate Richardson moved to 27.3 on the season, a remarkable feat.

Duncan Kellaway, while not a prolific ball-winner, played well in a close checking role on a variety of different opponents, while on the other end of the spectrum, Wayne Campbell was easily Richmond's best midfielder with 29 disposals.

Hard nuts Michael Gale and Stuart Wigney both flew the flag for the young Richmond side, providing some much needed toughness around the ball, but ultimately Geelong's spread of experience across the field meant that they were able to shrug off most of the pressure coming their way.

Paul Bulluss was another who put in a reasonable performance despite the loss, and given Greg Dear wasn't able to really play much of the game due to potentially coming back from injury too soon, Bulluss was called upon to do some extra ruckwork and fought on admirably.

Stuart Maxfield's two goals took him to 50 for his career.

Even first year player David Bourke had a stint in the ruck, which kind of showcased the lack of a star ruck for the Tigers, as Johnny Barnes had his way with the Tiger talls and was one of the game's most influential players.

It was a bit of a wake up call for the young Tigers, who learned first hand the standard they would need to meet to seriously challenge for the flag in 1995.

Stats for the game courtesy of AFL Tables

A Fighting Fury player ratings - click here for explanation

Matthew Richardson	10
Wayne Campbell	7
Duncan Kellaway	6
Stuart Wigney	6
Chris Naish	6
Paul Bulluss	6
Scott Turner	6
Matthew Knights	5
Paul Broderick	5
Stuart Edwards	5
Michael Gale	4
Nick Daffy	4
Stuart Maxfield	4
David Bourke	4
Nathan Bower	4
Chris Bond	3
Brendan Gale	3
Jamie Tape	2
Mark Merenda	1
Mark Neeld	1
Greg Dear	0