By Bruno Visentini
Coburg’s home opener saw the Lions suffer a 42-point loss against Richmond at Piranha Park
on Saturday.
The drizzly day began with Richmond winning the toss and choosing to kick towards the Bell
Street end of the ground and after two rushed behinds to the Lions, it was Richmond who would
kick the opening goal via Austin Johnson. It didn’t take long however for Sam Mason to reply
with one of his own, which was his first Coburg and VFL goal and put the Lions in front. Both
sides were full of run to start the match, but neither could put a large dent on the scoreboard
early on as both backlines were far too strong for the most part. Richmond managed one more
goal for the quarter and at quarter time the Tigers led by only 3 points in what had been a tight
affair.
The second quarter saw the Tigers break free from Coburg’s shackles and they added the first
five goals of the quarter to jump out to a 33-point lead. Richmond were looking dominant and
with Coburg needing to bring the Tigers to a halt, Luke Nelson and Kyle Weightman swooped in
to each kick a goal in quick succession. Momentum seemed to be swinging Coburg’s way and
the Lions faithful grew in excitement as the lead shrunk down to 20 points. A behind to Coburg
and two more to Richmond saw the half time margin sit at 21 points. Not an easy task to
undertake, but certainly a lot more promising than it had looked a good chunk into the second
quarter.
The match seemed closer than the scores suggested, with Coburg leading in clearances and
inside 50s, but efficiency up forward seemed to be an issue for the Lions. Even though a fair few
of their behinds were rushed, Coburg only managed 9 scoring shots from 27 inside 50s (33%)
while Richmond had 10 scores from 20 inside 50s (50%).
Flynn Gentile continued his ripping form from the previous week with 19 first half disposals,
while Tom Jepson and Josh D’Intinosante led the Burgers with 4 tackles each.
In the third quarter, Richmond got off to a flying start, getting the ball down to the goals within
the first minute, but could only muster a rushed behind. Eight minutes of back and forth later
and Richmond would break through for their first goal of the second half. The match was
becoming an affair with plenty of feeling in it with scuffles breaking out at moments in the
quarter, but it didn’t translate into much on the scoreboard for the Lions, with three behinds
added and not a single goal. Richmond went on to lead at the final change by 34 points.
With one last quarter to play a Coburg win was becoming less and less likely, and after a few
behinds Richmond broke through for a goal, Jacob Bauer’s third for the game to lead all players
on the field. One more goal would be registered for the Burgers in the match, this time from
Aaron Clarke, to break a drought of almost half the match without a Coburg goal. Richmond’s Kaelan Bradtke would go on to add an admittedly easy final goal for Richmond to sour Coburg’s
day that little bit more. The Tigers walked away from Piranha Park with a 42 point win.
Some positive signs were there for Coburg, leading Richmond in disposals, marks and
clearances and the Lions will aim for a better output on the scoreboard. Braedyn Gillard led
Coburg with 28 disposals while Mitch Podhajski had a game-high 11 marks. Tom Jepson and
Will Bella both had 6 tackles to apply the pressure on Richmond all game.
Next week we return to Piranha Park to take on the GWS Giants as we hunt for our first win of
2023 on Saturday 8th April with the game starting at 11.45am. We look forward to seeing a big
urger crowd!
GOALKICKERS:
(1) K. Weightman, L. Nelson, S. Mason, A. Clarke
BEST PLAYERS:
H.Nolan, A.Clarke, R.Exon, H.McGlashan, L.Nelson and B. Jepson
FINAL SCORE:
Coburg: 1.3 (9) | 3.6 (24) | 3.9 (27) | 4.12 (36)
Richmond: 2.0 (12) | 7.3 (45) | 9.7 (61) | 11.12 (78)
#WeAreCoburg
