There was not a lot of media focus on Richmond and what there was, was bad. Fleming was of course cited and received 3 matches, which ended his season and I personally felt that the tribunal were lenient. Most of the talk was about how bad Richmond were. Danny and Richo came out and apologized to the supporters and said that an 80 point thrashing was unacceptable and that the players were not instructed to play that way. In a way that's worse than if they were, if they just slip into that style of play against instructions then it means that the coach is not getting through to them and I ask again if he cannot do that why does he still have a job? What happened at the selection table confirmed most people's view that Richmond has no depth. Fleming was suspended, Schultz was dropped for no good reason and they were replaced with Pettifer (even the media is now referring to him as an excuse for a footballer) and Houlihan (tried and failed many times). Admittedly they played well for Coburg, but it's a huge step up and both of these players have showed repeatedly that they are not up to it.

Essendon were on a roll. They were never going to lose this match. Richmond started quite well and for the second week in a row Rodan kicked the first goal. A lovely running goal from about 50 metres out. How can anyone not like this kid? The Tigers got one more and then it all fell apart. Essendon got into gear. Zantuck tried hard, but he was giving away height, weight and experience to Lloyd. Richmond kicked points when they needed goals. They did well to keep it respectable in the second quarter, but a goalless third quarter saw the Bombers get a big lead, Richmond's response was to go into damage control. Rodan went on the ball and did his best. Coughlan starred with 34 possessions. Johnson worked hard. Richo surprised by playing an extremely good second half in the backline. Again Richmond had plenty of the ball and used it poorly and that's why they lost by 39 points. I hope Greg Miller can recruit well, because whoever is doing it at the moment has not got a clue.