RICHMOND 3.4 6.10 12.13 14.17 (101)
NORTH MELBOURNE 2.4 7.6 8.9 9.12 (66)
GOALS: Richmond – Butler 2, Martin 2, Riewoldt 2, Lambert 2, Ellis, Rioli, Castagna, Edwards, Grigg, Cotchin.
North Melbourne – Wood 2, Atley 2, Brown, Waite, Hansen, Gibson, Higgins.
BEST: Richmond – Martin, Houli, Cotchin, Prestia, Lambert, Rance.
North Melbourne – Macmillan, Gibson, Tarrant, Ziebell, Dumont.
UMPIRES: Schmitt, Rosebury, Hosking, Foot.
CROWD: 36,100 at Etihad Stadium.
Richmond already had North Melbourne under the pump in a closely-fought first half at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
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Richmond too strong for Kangaroos
The Tigers made it back to back wins after a brilliant second-half display against North Melbourne.
The Tigers' pressure was top-notch, time and again forcing the Roos to turn the ball over. That was going to take some correction for the Roos to hang on to the narrowest of leads. What North absolutely couldn't afford was to go and shoot themselves in the foot as well.
But that's precisely what happened in the decisive first 10 minutes of the second half. Within a minute of the restart, Jack Riewoldt was held by Robbie Tarrant. As he shaped to take a free kick, Scott Thompson slung Josh Caddy even closer to goal. Result? A "gimme" for Richmond.
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Not three minutes later, Shaun Grigg with the ball in his hands, Tarrant infringed on Riewoldt again downfield. Result? Another gift.
By now, the Tigers could smell blood. Now Riewoldt nailed Tarrant in a tackle, and nailed the resultant shot on goal as well. Dustin Martin, again rising to the occasion, marked after a long sprint, played on and went bang. Now it was 22 points.
And when North finally had a chance to stop the tide, they squandered it spectacularly, Jarrad Waite marking out the back behind Alex Rance, knowing he had the Tiger backman beaten for pace, but for some unknown reason dribbling at goal from 30 metres out rather than run to the goal line. Naturally, given how things were trending, he missed.
Two more goals to just one in reply gave Richmond a five-goal break come three-quarter-time. And given how laborious was the business of scoring for either side at times in an error-riddled game, that was going to be enough.
Not much happened for a good 10 minutes after this game's opening. It took some midfield pressure from the Roos to create the first goal, Martin pressured into an errant handball, Marley Williams cleverly dishing off the spills, Sam Gibson planting the ball on Ben Brown's chest and the big forward converting.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick would have been seething at the Roos' second, skipper Trent Cotchin giving away a free kick off the ball just as his side went forward from a centre clearance, then Riewoldt compounding that error giving away another free downfield, Jamie McMillan cashing in for the Roos.
The Tigers, though, suddenly clicked into gear approaching time-on. Jason Castagna dobbed the first, Cotchin made up for his earlier error with a long bomb, and Kane Lambert finished off a neat chain of short passes.
It was pretty simple stuff, and often simply a case of capitalising on North's errors, 13 of Richmond's first 14 scores in the game the result of the Roos' turnovers, the bulk of which weren't the result of any great pressure.
North's response was pretty immediate, however, and certainly more efficient. Mason Wood kicked the first goal of the second term within 25 seconds of the restart. He had a second six minutes later, the Tigers now starting to turn it over and North making them pay, Shaun Atley's run and conversion making it three out of four and giving the Roos the lead.
Aaron Mullett now gifted Richmond another goal straight from a kick-in, but when Waite, barely sighted, bobbed up for North, followed shortly by Sam Gibson the Roos had four out of five, Richmond's last goal of the quarter to Dan Butler on the goal line by then badly needed.
Not that the Tigers would have been out of it. It was two points North's way at the long break, but not with the slightest hint that either side had any significant edge over the other.
It needed a game-breaker to do that. And once again, "Dusty" Martin was the man. Already best on ground at half-time, he went up another level in that third term with two goals of his own, an assist for another, and a general stamp of class on a game that often lacked enough of it.
North had beaten the Tigers seven times in their previous eight meetings. But they never looked like improving on that record shortly after the second half began, and nor did they deserve to.
Richmond were harder at it, more efficient, and at a critical moment in this contest when the game was still in the balance, more disciplined, too
Votes
Dustin Martin (Rich) 9
Bachar Houli (Rich) 8
Trent Cotchin (Rich) 7
Dion Prestia (Rich) 7
Kane Lambert (Rich) 6