A STAR turn by Dustin Martin has fired Richmond to a 36-point win over an injury-depleted Hawthorn at the MCG.
The Brownlow Medal winner was influential from the outset on Sunday, finishing with 37 possessions and two goals in a 14.11 (95) to 8.11 (59) win in front of 64,936 fans.
The Hawks lost star defender James Frawley to hamstring soreness before the match, then had to make do without Ben McEvoy and Mitchell Lewis for most of the second half.
McEvoy didn’t return after the main break after his right ankle got caught underneath him in a tackle in the first quarter, while Lewis was ruled out early in the third quarter with concussion.
Richmond improved to a 6-3 record with the win, while the inconsistent Hawks dropped to four wins and five losses.
Bachar Houli (35 touches) and Brandon Ellis (35) were also important for the Tigers, with Tom Lynch and Josh Caddy each booting three goals.
Ricky Henderson (30) and Jaeger O’Meara (29) worked hard for Hawthorn, with Luke Breust their top scorer with three majors.
The Hawks dominated early but were wasteful in front of goal, allowing Martin to put the Tigers up by three points with a goal after the quarter-time siren.
Having weathered the early storm, Richmond booted four unanswered goals to help set up a 16-point halftime lead, Martin hitting the scoreboard late in the quarter for his second.
Breust fired the Hawks to within four points with back-to-back goals after the restart, but the Tigers slammed through five of the last six goals of the quarter to take a 28-point lead into the final term.
Tom Scully gave Hawthorn a glimmer of hope with the first goal of the last quarter but the Tigers weren’t to be denied.
© AAP 2019
RICHMOND 3.2 6.6 11.7 14.11 (95)
HAWTHORN 2.5 3.8 6.9 8.11 (59)
Goals: Richmond: J Caddy 3 T Lynch 3 D Martin 2 J Castagna J Higgins K McIntosh L Baker N Balta N Vlastuin. Hawthorn: L Breust 3 T Scully 2 D Moore J Gunston M Lewis.
Umpires: Shaun Ryan, Andrew Stephens, Robert O’Gorman.
Official Crowd: 64,936 at MCG.
