Young ahead Jacob van Rooyen has taken a hovering mark and booted three clutch targets to interrupt the shackles for Melbourne of their 18-point AFL comeback victory over Richmond.
Van Rooyen kicked two majors in a four-minute span early within the closing time period after which added the sealer in his facet’s 15.6 (96) to 11.12 (78) win on the MCG on Monday evening.
Richmond, impressed by Noah Cumberland’s three-goal first quarter, led by 25 factors earlier than halftime in entrance of 83,985 followers.
But the Tigers (1-1-4) coughed up 9 targets to 3 after the principle break in a fourth straight defeat that leaves their season hanging by a thread.
Making issues worse for Damien Hardwick’s facet, Maurice Rioli Jr hobbled off within the closing jiffy with a hamstring difficulty.
Gun midfielders Clayton Oliver (32 disposals, six clearances), Jack Viney (30, 5) and Christian Petracca (26, three) all shone for the Demons and Michael Hibberd put the clamps on Cumberland after quarter-time.
Captain Max Gawn was influential on return from a knee damage, claiming six contested marks and kicking a late objective, and helped ruck associate Brodie Grundy flip the sport.
“It was a win full of character, coming from 25 points down,” Demons coach Simon Goodwin stated as his facet superior to a 4-2 report.
“Sometimes you’ve got to win differently and tonight was one of those times.
“You can begin to construct on these experiences because the yr goes on and I feel that is actually necessary for us as a membership.”
Small forward Kade Chandler kicked three goals – all after halftime – and put Melbourne in front early in the final quarter.
In his fourth senior game, van Rooyen took a towering grab with a ride on Noah Balta to set up his first goal and added a second soon afterwards.
The 20-year-old had just four touches in the first three quarters before bursting to life.
“It’s an amazing factor for Jacob,” Goodwin stated.
“At three-quarter time he definitely wasn’t having the perfect evening and at one stage we have been enthusiastic about subbing him, so thank God we did not do this.
“He managed to turn it around … and he had a really good last quarter.”
Richmond have been nicely served by veteran ahead Jack Riewoldt (4 targets) and Tim Taranto (33 disposals, six clearances) was busy, as was speedster Jayden Short (30 touches) on return from a calf damage.
But the Tigers kicked 1.5 within the closing quarter and have been left ruing missed possibilities all through the match.
Superstar Dustin Martin was astray, kicking 1.3 from his 25 disposals.
“We’ve got to get better in areas that we can control,” Hardwick stated.
“We always call it ‘Richmond hurting Richmond’ and I thought we had a couple of them tonight, but what I couldn’t question was our side’s intent.
“They performed with nice spirit and it was a great, laborious, powerful recreation however we simply weren’t adequate for lengthy sufficient.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
