the Eagles young gun seen teary-eyed<\/a> alongside star teammate Harley Reid post-game.<\/p>\nRichmond goalkickers: Lalor 3, Ralphsmith, Lynch 2, Short, Ross, Taranto, Nankervis<\/p>\n
West Coast goalkickers: Waterman, J.Williams 2, Cole, Shanahan, Duggan, Johnston, Duursma<\/p>\n
THE 3-2-1…<\/p>\n
3. MINI DUSTY STARS TO RISE TIGERS OFF THE CANVAS\u2026 BUT MRO DATE LOOMS FOR TEAMMATE<\/p>\n
A career-high three-goal haul from Sam Lalor proved a massive catalyst for Richmond\u2019s 11-point win on Sunday afternoon, and Tigers fans will feel like they\u2019ve seen this all before.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s more than just the iconic No. 4 guernsey that he and Dustin Martin share, with Lalor producing arguably his most dynamic display of football this year after a frustrating mid-season lay-off through injury.<\/p>\n
From the opening bounce, the 19-year-old went toe-to-toe with West Coast\u2019s Harley Reid, commanding the attention of all 33,737 fans at the MCG in a fascinating duel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intrigue coming into this game was the midfield battle, particularly the young guns in there,\u201d dual AFLW All-Australian Ruby Schleicher told Fox Footy at quarter-time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first centre bounce, we got what everyone wanted \u2014 Sammy Lalor standing next to Harley Reid. But it is the Tigers who did the most damage out of the midfield that (first) quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of their goals had come from centre bounce. Toby Nankervis has been getting involved early in that ruck battle with Bailey Williams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yze proud of young Tigers in tight win | 09:10<\/p>\n
Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon added: \u201cRichmond have been really good with their pressure between the arcs.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the nucleus alongside Lalor was seasoned campaigner Tim Taranto, who was outstanding at the contest all afternoon, particularly in the first half.<\/p>\n
The inside bull racked up 16 disposals, seven clearances, six tackles, two goal assists and a goal before half-time, before finishing with 32 disposals and 11 clearances.<\/p>\n
While Adem Yze\u2019s side finished with eight less clearances and seven less inside 50s, they were able to win contested ball \u2014 and crucially \u2014 be 5.9% more effective inside their attacking arc. <\/p>\n
However, in an annoying blow, second-year teammate Luke Trainor looks likely to receive a suspension after an off-the-ball hit on Eagle Jack Williams behind play in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a week off,\u201d three-time premiership player Cameron Mooney said on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n
Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon cheekily added: \u201cI was just about to say, might want to paint the house this week!\u201d<\/p>\n
2. \u2018WASTEFUL\u2019 EAGLES SHOOT \u2018SELVES IN FOOT DESPITE SIX-GAMER\u2019S RED-HOT START<\/p>\n
Having barely been on an AFL list for two months, West Coast\u2019s Marcus Herbert has already imposed himself as one of the most impressive new faces at the top level in 2026.<\/p>\n
Off the back of a 36-disposal match last week in his maiden Western Derby, the 23-year-old filled his boots in his first-ever senior game at the MCG to rack up 11 disposals and three score involvements inside the first 14 (!) minutes of the opening term.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s followed up his strong run of form from last week (which) was just his fifth game,\u201d Ruby Schleicher said at quarter time. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can really feel it down here when he has the footy. He\u2019s so calm and composed with ball-in-hand. He really has been an incredible mid-season pick-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Geelong VFL product led the charge for Andrew McQualter side coming out of the back half, while Harley Reid, Tim Kelly and Elliot Yeo were among the other regular ball-winners for the visitors.<\/p>\n
The high-pressure contest saw both sides make plenty of mistakes in sunny Melbourne conditions, but ultimately the Eagles\u2019 horrific accuracy in front of goal cost them the four points \u2014 evidently the more controlling of the two sides in general play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re too teams trying to play with high pressure, but they can\u2019t actually absorb that pressure very well themselves,\u201d Schleicher added at half time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has felt intense down here, but you can\u2019t question the effort that\u2019s coming out from both sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Eagles are just wasting so many opportunities at the moment, although they have looked more composed going inside \u2014 and they\u2019re getting a few more looks at it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
1. SIX TO ONE: \u2018MATURE\u2019 HARLEY LETS ANTAGONISTIC TIGERS GO<\/p>\n
No player in the AFL has conceded more free kicks than Harley Reid in 2026, but on Sunday afternoon, you would\u2019ve been forgiven for assuming the complete inverse.<\/p>\n
West Coast\u2019s emerging star was awarded a whopping six free kicks before the main break, in the days after the club\u2019s informal discussion with the AFL regarding how he is being officiated by umpires.<\/p>\n
It was a narrative Richmond tried to play into from the first siren, but he didn\u2019t let it phase him as he had another stellar game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way they\u2019re going about it, they\u2019ve clearly got a plan to go after Harley \u2014 knowing he\u2019s previously been a bit of a hot head \u2026 and try to make him react,\u201d Collingwood AFLW star Ruby Schleicher told Fox Footy at half time.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually his teammates are trying to drag him away \u2026 but I think we\u2019re seeing a really calm version of Harley. He\u2019s letting it come out in his football, and he\u2019s playing really good football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon added: \u201cHe\u2019s not going to react, because a year ago he would\u2019ve bitten the lure. But now, he knows it\u2019s fake.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s matured a little bit in that space. Six free kicks to one against (at half time). When you ring the AFL, you can get the job done.<\/p>\n
McQualter laments Eagles errors | 04:35<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the fact he has matured. He\u2019s rolling his sleeves up. It\u2019s not going his way, but he\u2019s not reacting \u2026 today we\u2019re seeing a different Harley.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old racked up 19 disposals and six clearances before half time, but failed to make the absolute most with the Sherrin-in-hand in the first half, registering two behinds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a bit of energy when Harley\u2019s around the footy,\u201d Dixon said at the first break.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing he\u2019s done really well this year is his ability to shape at clearance and bring everyone else into the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor his first couple of years, he felt like he had to be \u2018the band\u2019. But, he\u2019s starting to work it out and he\u2019s got some good support around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Re-live our coverage of Richmond vs West Coast in our blog below! Can\u2019t see the blog?Click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adem Yze\u2019s Richmond are back off the bottom of the ladder with three rounds remaining, after one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-840475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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