Pre Game
00:00
Ryan Abbott will debut for the Cats tonight coming off some stellar form in the VFL. He has averaged over 42 hit-outs in his last four VFL matches whilst sharing the ruck duties with Zac Smith in three of these matches.
Quarter 1
00:00
Q1 is now underway.
02:32
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Daniel Menzel)
04:32
Daniel Menzel has won 48 per cent of his offensive one-on-one contests this season - ranked second of the top-50 players to be involved in a contest. His first contest won tonight results in a behind after hitting the post.
06:08
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Daniel Menzel)
07:16
Menzel wins his second one-on-one contest for the night and this time he converts the goal. He has now grabbed two marks inside 50, already one more than his entire match total last week v Brisbane.
08:13
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Rushed)
11:08
The Cats are withstanding the pressure from the Tigers well. The Tigers have gone inside 50 nine times and lead time-in-forward half with 77 per cent, however the Cats have managed to limit them to just the one behind despite the territory dominance.
13:35
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Sam Menegola)
15:02
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Jack Riewoldt)
15:24
The persistent forward pressure by Richmond has finally resulted in a goal. The Tigers lead forward-half tackles 16 to zero.
16:04
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Trent Cotchin)
17:29
Richmond's first two goals of the match have both been sourced from stoppages. They have been in great recent form at stoppages, kicking 16 goals in the past two weeks from this source.
19:30
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Jason Castagna)
21:32
Richmond has now laid 20 forward-half tackles, and have seven players who have recorded multiple tackles in this zone. This is the most amount of forward-half tackles for Richmond in a single quarter this year, beating their previous best of 17.
22:28
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Tim Kelly)
23:52
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Rushed)
24:21
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Kane Lambert)
25:39
Ryan Abbott kicks a goal with his first career kick, converting a set shot from 45 metres out from goal. He has started strongly in the ruck, keeping Nankervis disposal-less and leading him in hitouts-to-advantage three to zero.
29:27
The Cats are winning the ball in the contest, leading contested possessions by 17. Sam Menegola leads the way with eight to go along with his two clearances.
31:59
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Jack Riewoldt)
32:03
A goal after the siren to Jack Riewoldt (his second of the quarter) extends the Tigers lead to 10 points at the first break. The Tigers have been wasteful, scoring from 32 per cent of their forward 50 entries compared to the Cats who are at 55 per cent.
Quarter 2
00:00
Q2 is now underway.
02:51
Richmond has kicked long 43 per cent of the time this season - the second-highest rate recorded by any side. They have not been allowed to play this direct style tonight, with just 26 per cent of their kicks being long.
03:58
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Liam Baker)
05:23
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Toby Nankervis)
06:03
Richmond has kicked their third goal from a forward-half intercept, and have now kicked five of the last six goals of the match. They lead forward-half intercepts 13 to four, and have kept the Cats scoreless from their intercepts in their respective zone
07:15
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Liam Baker)
07:52
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Dustin Martin)
09:37
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Jack Higgins)
09:50
The Tigers have all the momentum here. They have eight of the first nine inside 50s and lead contested possessions by five for the quarter after trailing by 15 in this stat in the opening term.
11:25
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
16:00
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Tim Kelly)
16:20
The Cats have been poor by foot this quarter, kicking at 46 per cent efficiency (well down on their season average of 65.5 per cent). Just seven Geelong players have recorded an effective kick this quarter.
19:26
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Jack Henry)
19:55
Geelong are fighting back, kicking the last two goals of the match. Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield have been involved in both of these goals, taking their total score involvements in the match to five and four respectively.
22:09
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Jack Henry)
23:11
Jayden Short is enjoying a great second quarter. He is going at 100 per cent efficiency from his six disposals, and has also registered 251 metres gained, three inside 50s and two rebound 50s this term.
24:42
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Sam Menegola)
25:00
Geelong has been the most efficient side when going inside 50 in the last four weeks, scoring from 49.3 per cent of their entries. This trend continues tonight, scoring from 61 per cent of their entries compared to 30 per cent for the Tigers.
27:17
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Jack Henry)
29:50
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Josh Caddy)
30:13
Richmond's 38 inside 50s is the most inside 50s for the Tigers in a first-half since Round 22, 2012 (138 matches ago). Despite this territory dominance (17 more inside 50s than the Cats) they enter half-time holding a slender five point margin.
Quarter 3
00:00
Q3 is now underway.
00:40
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Daniel Menzel)
03:00
Dustin Martin won six clearances in the first-half, his most to half-time since round 5 v Melbourne. He has only won 10 or more clearances in a match once this year, a feat he achieved three times last year.
05:32
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Kamdyn McIntosh)
05:52
Richmond has scored another goal from a forward-half intercept, taking their total intercepts in this zone to 28 compared to eight for the Cats. They also lead forward-half tackles 40-14.
07:51
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Jack Riewoldt)
09:31
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Jack Higgins)
11:05
Geelong are yet to take a mark this quarter. They have only grabbed 13 marks in the last 41 minutes of play spanning back to quarter-time. The Cats average 91 marks per match this season (ranked eighth).
13:33
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Jack Higgins)
13:43
The lowest inside 50 differential for the Cats this season came in the opening round, when they lost the count by 23 v Melbourne. Currently the Tigers lead the inside 50s by 23 (46-23).
18:26
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Mitch Duncan)
19:46
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Jacob Townsend)
20:22
Richmond has kicked 44 points from their forward-half intercepts tonight compared to seven points for Geelong. The Tigers are the second-highest scoring side from this source, averaging 34 points per match.
21:51
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Dustin Martin)
21:58
Dustin Martin has moved forward this quarter and is looking dangerous. Martin leads the competition in unique score involvements with 145 in his 17 games. After 17 games in 2017, he had recorded 143 unique score involvements.
24:53
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Rushed)
25:56
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Ryan Abbott)
27:00
Since 2014, Geelong has won the inside 50 count by five per game against Richmond - the equal second-best differential recorded by any side. They trail by 23 in this stat tonight.
29:13
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Toby Nankervis)
29:58
Richmond go into the final break with a lead of 21 points on the back of their immense pressure. They have applied 49 more pressure acts than the Cats, with Trent Cotchin leading the way with 31 of his own acts (11 more than any other player).
Quarter 4
00:00
Q4 is now underway.
00:46
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Jack Riewoldt)
03:28
Richmond has kicked 77 fourth-quarter goals this season, seven more than the next best side in Melbourne. They have also conceded the lowest amount of goals in this term (40), two less than the next best side in Port Adelaide.
05:44
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Zach Tuohy)
06:10
Zach Tuohy has kicked the first goal of the quarter to bring the margin to 16 points. Tuohy leads all players in metres gained (256) in the second-half of this match as well as having the most inside 50s for his side (three) in this time-frame.
07:18
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Daniel Menzel)
09:56
SCORE
BEHIND - Tigers (Josh Caddy)
10:54
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Jack Riewoldt)
12:27
Richmond continue to feast on the defensive-half turnovers of the Cats. The Tigers have won a season-high 45 intercepts in their attacking half of the ground, beating their previous best of 38 in round 17 v GWS.
15:18
SCORE
GOAL - Tigers (Sam Lloyd)
17:12
Tim Kelly has collected a career-high 35 disposals (15 of these contested), passing his previous best of 34 v the Bulldogs in round 15. This is the fourth time since debuting in round one that he has amassed 30 or more disposals in a match.
19:24
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Gary Ablett)
20:06
Richmond has scored 74 points as a result of turnovers caused by Jack Higgins pressure acts this season - ranked third in the competition. He has applied the equal-third most pressure acts for his side tonight with 22.
21:16
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
22:21
Connor Menadue has smashed his personal-best for intercept possessions tonight. He has won an equal game-high 11 intercepts, surpassing his previous best of six coming back in round 17, 2017 v St Kilda.
23:59
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Cameron Guthrie)
25:19
The Cats have kicked the last two goals of the match to bring the margin back to 10 points. They have all the momentum, with 76 per cent of the play in the last 10 minutes being held in their attacking-half of the ground.
26:01
Cats Interchange - Jed Bews and is possibly out for the game.
26:07
SCORE
GOAL - Cats (Sam Menegola)
26:36
The Cats have kicked their fifth goal of the final quarter, and their third goal in five minutes to bring the margin back within 3 points. Geelong has won two matches this year by less than 10 points, whilst Richmond has won just the one.
27:14
SCORE
BEHIND - Cats (Gary Ablett)
29:45
The siren has sounded to end Q4.
29:46
Weight of numbers ended up being the difference in the match, with the Tigers just holding on for the win in a nail-biter. The Tigers had 23 more inside 50s for the match, and laid 18 more tackles.