This was probably the best way to bill the game, although it sounds a little unkind. Both sides had a horrendous 2004, Richmond picking up the wooden spoon and Hawthorn narrowly avoiding it and finishing 15th, both had 4 wins for 2004 and were separated on the ladder only by percentage. Hawthorn sacked coach Peter Schwab and Richmond did not renew Danny Frawley's contract. Hawthorn surprisingly appointed former North Melbourne and Melbourne defender Alastair Clarkson as their coach, although Clarkson may turn out to be a fine coach, it was surprising that Hawthorn elected to gamble on an untried coach at senior AFL level. Richmond on the other hand appointed former Hawthorn premiership centreman and Western Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace, generally held to be the best credentialled of the experienced coaches in the hunt for a job last season. Another parallel of the two clubs was the 2004 National Draft. The order of the first 4 picks were: Richmond, Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs, Richmond. Richmond used their prized number 1 pick on Brett Deledio and surprised no one, most of the press about Deledio said that he was the best youngster in the country. Picks 2, 3 and 4 were tipped to be exciting Aboriginal player Richard Tambling, South Australian midfielder Ryan Griffin and raw defender Jarryd Roughead respectively. Hawthorn threw everyone by selecting Roughead at number 2, which left the way free for a delighted Richmond to pick up Tambling. It would have been interesting for Roughead and Tambling to debut this week and face each other from opposite sides, but it was not to be. Tambling was nursing a sore toe and Roughead was gaining some form and fitness for Box Hill. Even at this early stage of the season this game had been tipped as the one to decide the wooden spoon. Given that Richmond lost by 62 points to Geelong and Hawthorn 63 points to Sydney that really wasn't surprising.

The game itself was an armwrestle, at no point did the margin exceed 15 points. Richmond played with more passion than their disappointing showing against Geelong and the senior players that went missing in that game played well against the Hawks. Johnson, Brown, Bowden and Richardson were all amongst the best and they played a lot of minutes. Hawthorn for their part had some of their stars firing in Peter Everitt, Sam Mitchell and Shane Crawford. Youngster Josh Thurgood who should be recognised for his hairstyle if nothing else managed to catch the eye with his play and number 5 draft pick Lance Franklin looked to be an avenue to goal and a star of the future. In the end when the game was Hawthorn's to win the Tigers seemed to find some steel. Kane Johnson manufactured a goal out of nothing. Shane Tuck shut down the damaging Sam Mitchell and kicked a goal. Matthew Richardson threw the ball onto his boot and Nathan Brown took one of the marks of the day which he converted into a goal. Then the unlikley hero was the much maligned small forward Kayne Pettifer, first leading hard into the pocket and taking a juggling mark from which he kicked a genuine pressure goal and then taking the ball from the centre and kicking one through long which iced the match and made sure that Richmond finally ended their long losing streak.

It wasn't much of a game, but no true Tiger wanted to miss it.

Player ratings:

2. Darren Gaspar, not as good as last week, but the mobile, small forward line of Hawthorn was never going to be suited to Gaspar's style of play. To his credit he never stopped trying.

3. Brett Deledio, quieter than last week, although he was certainly there working hard at the end. One thing I like about Deledio that bodes well for his future is that he is one of those rare players who always seems to have time and uses the ball very well.

5. Troy Simmonds, in and out of play, did take one very telling mark in the forward line. Needs to show more.

6. Mark Chaffey, tried his hardest as always, still has trouble finding options and kicking is letting him down.

7. Nathan Brown, after a disappointing showing against Geelong, put in a four quarter effort, bagging 3 goals and culminating in an inspirational mark and goal that may have sparked the win.

9. Wayne Campbell, very quiet day. Spent most of it on the bench, got a little bit of the ball, but didn't have any impact on the game.

10. Greg Stafford, our best ruckman, the only one of the 3 who really held his own against Everitt and his height and marking power is always useful in the forward line.

11. Joel Bowden, got a heap of possessions early until Clarkson realised he was too dangerous to leave unmarked. Once he got on top of his tag sparked a number of forward forways out of defence.

12. Matthew Richardson, had a 'Richo special' in front of goals, 3 goals, 2 points and an out of bounds. Kept his side in it in the 2nd quarter and was responsible for the 10 point lead enjoyed at half time.

13. Trent Knobel, better than last week, but still dreadfully slow and clumsy.

15. Kayne Pettifer, the unlikely hero with 2 last quarter goals that sealed the match for Richmond. May finally have found his spot as the dangerous small forward.

17. Kane Johnson, led by example for most of the day. A heel injury forced him to spend more time on the bench than he would have liked, but his last quarter goal out of nothing was a real captain's effort.

21. Shane Tuck, fairly quiet until the last quarter when he took on the task of holding the dangerous playmaker Sam Mitchell, did it well and even kicked a goal.

23. Daniel Jackson, on the bench for most of the day. Contributed when he came on, but unlikely to remember the match as anything special.

24. Mark Coughlan, another step back from osteitis pubis. Started to regain touch, kicked a beatiful long goal and proved that the leg strength is back, will get better the more he plays.

27. Andrew Krakouer, kicked one of his usual miracle goals and laid on a few tackles, still tends to disappear for long periods of time, a worrying aspect of his game.

31. Chris Hyde, another solid effort alternating between defence and the midfield. Still the sides best tagging option.

32. Greg Tivendale, another one who played off the bench mostly. Tries to do too much and gets caught, still looks far too casual and his kicking is off target.

33. Brett Hartigan, took on the small forwards and was his general reliable self. Did make one bad mistake which resulted in a turnover goal, but can be satisfied with his effort overall.

34. Mark Graham, quiet overall, had a bit of aggro again, but beaten fairly soundly by young gun Lance Franklin.

35. Chris Newman, not sure who his opponent was, he seemed to have a few, backed up from last week, but effectively shutting them down and he's still one of the Richmond players who rarely picks the wrong option.

39. Andrew Kellaway, a marked improvement on last week, he's still slow and still can't kick, but his courage cannot be faulted. I lost count of the amount of times he put his body on the line for the good of the team, be nice if some of his more talented teammates had his willingness to take a hit for the cause.

Chris.