GEELONG 2.2 3.7 4.13 10.22 (82)
RICHMOND 2.4 7.4 11.6 12.6 (78)
GOALS - Geelong: McCarthy 2, Menagola 2, Taylor, Caddy, J Selwood, Motlop, Hawkins, Smith.
Richmond: Lloyd 3, Rioli 2, Vickery 2, Lennon, Riewoldt, Edwards, Grigg, Hampson.
BEST - Geelong: J Selwood, Enright, Dangerfield, Menegola, McCarthy, Guthrie, S Selwood, Taylor.
Richmond: Rance, Martin, Astbury, Lloyd, Rioli, Ellis, Grigg, Riewoldt, Houli.
UMPIRES - Â Donlon, Hosking, O'Gorman.
CROWD - 45,567 at the MCG.
With half an hour to go, Geelong were six goals behind Richmond, a team they had not lost to at the MCG since 1999.
The Cats had been slow, stagnant, a little sloppy. At one point, they had scored nine behinds in a row. The ball had seemed to evaporate almost every time it went into their forward line.
The Cats looked like a team that had the energy to win. All the numbers suggested they could.
But their ability to take sudden, complete control of the game was one thing. Their capacity to reduce Richmond to a nervous wreck, just as quickly, was just as crucial.
The Cats began to win the ball. Whether they denied Richmond's runners, or Richmond stopped running, Geelong began to determine exactly where the play went.
They kicked one goal, then forced another. Then they started to come more easily: three, four, five and six.
They kicked all of them them before letting Richmond score one. They kept going until they got the lead, and they didn't give it back.
Geelong needed to wind themselves up, because until then the Tigers' desire had not only matched their own but more often surpassed it.
Richmond moved the ball earnestly, and with energy. They denied Geelong over and over at the other end, relying on the Cats to miss shots and finding other ways to get the ball back.
Alex Rance had kept Tom Hawkins to one first half kick. David Astbury had taken nine marks.
Nathan Drummond had laid six tackles, and Daniel Rioli had played with dash, dare and desire.
Dustin Martin did everything they did (except, perhaps, for the Hawkins part) and then a little bit more. And that was just the start of their good player list.
In playing with ferocity — going after the ball with their heads down, pushing it forward at pace, appreciating all of their chances — Richmond made Geelong look the exact opposite.
Their want to win was summed up late in the second half, though. Having kicked four of the last five major scores, Richmond were leading by 24 points when Jimmy Bartel snapped for goal late in the second term. His kick went right where it was meant to. But waiting on the goal line were three Tigers, and no Cats. On review, it was clear at least one of them had got their hand to the ball.
A last-minute Mark Blicavs snap was chased down by a Richmond defender, leaving the Cats with some work to do and Richmond with the idea they might, maybe, be able to win this one.
Geelong's re-start had more urgency to it, but a Scott Selwood point made it five behinds in a row and Richmond stretched their lead to 26 points in the nex minute, when Sam Lloyd scored.
His third — one minute later — continued the theme of Richmond taking the chances Geelong were more often than not giving back, but there was much more to their match than pluck.
Where Geelong looked stagnant, Richmond moved the ball quickly when needed, and with precision when they had more time. Often, they managed both.
Lincoln McCarthy broke a run of nine straight behinds with his first goal. Then Dustin Martin broke from the next centre bounce and kicked to Jack Riewoldt, who kicked a quick reply.
Riewoldt's next trick was to kick the ball over his head while he was being tackled, turning to see it land in the arms of Shaun Grigg, waiting all on his own in the goal square.
Geelong didn't go away though. They were missing goals, forced occasionally into kicking from tough spots, but they were generating enough shots to be in with a chance if they were able to string enough together, in a row, to stress the Richmond backline out.
A first-minute last quarter goal, via Josh Caddy after Patrick Dangerfield burst out of the middle, made things interesting. Already, the Cats were going after the ball more ferociously. Having Taylor and Henderson to deal with, as well as Hawkins, became an issue for Richmond.
A second goal, to McCarthy, chopped a 35-point three quarter time lead to 21, Geelong starting to move the ball urgently as a tentative Richmond began to make some nervous mistakes.
The Tigers needed to keep scoring, but they were kept too busy trying to hold the Cats out to play with the run and dare they had been. They tightened up, so quickly.
Their sense of dread must have risen after Sam Menegola snapped for goal, cutting the margin to 12 points, the Cats' forward entries multiplying by the minute.
It increased further when Steven Motlop added one goal to his four points, and when Harry Taylor's move forward paid off with a mark and goal that put his side in front.
He was there when it mattered for the Cats, as he already had been for 199 games. So was Bartel. So were Selwood, Dangerfield, Menegola, Guthrie, and the list goes on.
In the end, Geelong knew how to win. Richmond couldn't seem to imagine it.
VOTES
Alex Rance - Richmond - 9Joel Selwood - Geelong - 8Corey Enright - Geelong - 7
Dustin Martin - Geelong - 7Patrick Dangerfield - Geelong - 7