‘That's not how AFL footy's supposed to look': Why Richmond versus Essendon didn't deserve a winner
For just over three minutes in the last quarter, scores were level. It would have been apt if it had remained that way. In many respects, this was a game that did not deserve a winner.
For all the criticism the AFL has copped for not having Saturday night football on free to air TV, it's just as well Richmond and Essendon played behind a paywall. This was a match league chief Andrew Dillon would not have wanted to be exposed to the masses.
Tomorrow's history buffs will look at the scoreline and wonder whether a game that produced a total of 10 goals, 23 behinds was played in teeming rain, only to be shocked it was played on close to a perfect winter's night.
In between Jayden Short's goal late in the first quarter and Tim Taranto's early in the last, just one goal was scored in close to an hour of football. On the previous night across town, Ryan Reynolds' Wrexham AFC put three goals past Melbourne Victory in 35 minutes.
Often, games dubbed 'the worst of the season' come about because the coaches are locked in a tactical game of chess and a battle of defensive strategies. Think 'the Shame Game' between Hawthorn and St Kilda in 2007, or last year's equivalent between St Kilda and Gold Coast.
But this one couldn't be blamed on Ross Lyon, or even the coaches involved.
Two injury-depleted and low-scoring sides who came into this game with five- and seven-game losing streaks played accordingly. They struggled to perform the basics of the game. Kicks went over teammates' heads, ground balls were fumbled, and chest marks grassed.
Even Zach Merrett, one of the best ball-users in the competition, had trouble. Twelve of his 18 kicks were ineffective or clangers. Kamdyn McIntosh, a dual premiership winner who has played more than 200 games, managed to turn an attempted drop punt into a torpedo that landed in row K.
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