Melbourne vs Richmond (2009 AFL season)

See also: Melbourne Football Club tanking scandal

2009 AFL Round 18
Melbourne Richmond 12.10 (82) 12.14 (86)
1 2 3 4 MELB 2.0 (15) 4.3 (27) 8.7 (55) 12.10 (82) RICH 1.5 (11) 4.8 (32) 7.10 (52) 12.14 (86)
Date	Sunday, 2 August (1:10pm)
Stadium	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Attendance	37,438
Broadcast in Australia
Network	Fox Sports (Australia)
Commentators	Dwayne Russell

In round 18, 2009, an Australian Football League home-and-away match was played between Melbourne and Richmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 2 August 2009. The match became controversial for the coaching tactics employed by then-Melbourne coach Dean Bailey, with Melbourne losing to Richmond by four points after Jordan McMahon kicked a match-winning goal for his team after the final siren. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

Going into round 18 of the 22-game 2009 AFL season, both Melbourne and Richmond occupied 16th and 12th places on the ladder, respectively, with neither side considered a mathematical chance of playing finals that year. Earlier in the season, fifth-year Richmond coach Terry Wallace resigned after round eleven, having failed to take the club to the finals during his five-and-a-half year tenure as coach. ^[3]

This was the second meeting of the two teams during the season, with Melbourne winning by eight points at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round four. ^[4]

Match summary

Final quarter

With less than two minutes remaining in the match, Ricky Petterd kicked a goal on the run to give his side the lead by two points; from the following centre bounce, Ben Cousins drove the Tigers forward before the Demons managed to clear it out of defence, but with forty seconds remaining the Tigers would force the ball forward, and after a scramble in the final seconds, Jordan McMahon would take a mark right on the final siren. McMahon converted to give his side a four-point win, which would ultimately be their last for the season. ^[5]

Scoreboard

Round 18, 2009 Sunday, 2 August (1:10 pm) Melbourne def. by Richmond Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 37,438) 2.0 (15) 4.3 (27) 8.7 (55)  12.10 (82) Q1 Q2 Q3  Final 1.5 (11) 4.8 (32) 7.10 (52)  12.14 (86) Television broadcast: Fox Sports (Australia) 2: Dunn, Miller, Petterd 1: Bate, Davey, Grimes, Jetta, Jones, Newton Goals 3: Brown 2: Deledio, Morton 1: Hislop, McMahon, Nahas, Riewoldt, Vickery

Brownlow Medal votes 3 Ben Cousins (Richmond) 2 James McDonald (Melbourne) 1 Brett Deledio (Richmond)

Aftermath

The match became central to the AFL's investigation into Melbourne's 2009 season, at the end of which they won the wooden spoon for the second consecutive season under Dean Bailey. During the match, Bailey placed several players in unusual positions; these included placing ruckman Paul Johnson and midfielder James McDonald in the backline; playing forward Brad Miller in the ruck; placing defenders James Frawley and Matthew Warnock in the forward line, as well as leaving Russell Robertson and Colin Sylvia out of the game for Michael Newton and rookie Jake Spencer. ^[6] The Herald Sun later accused Bailey of making these changes during the match in an attempt to throw the match.

Melbourne would later claim Tom Scully at pick number one, which doubled as a priority draft pick which the club qualified for after winning five or fewer games in each of the previous two seasons. Future co-captain Jack Trengove went at pick number two, ^[7] while Richmond (which eventually finished second-last) used its first pick, at number three, to recruit future Brownlow Medallist, three-time Norm Smith Medallist and three-time premiership player Dustin Martin. ^[8]

Though they were ultimately found not guilty of tanking, Melbourne would later be fined $500,000 in early 2013 following the conclusion of the AFL's six-month investigation into the scandal, ^{[9] [10] [11]} with several personnel, including Dean Bailey (who by that point had become an assistant coach at Adelaide) and Chris Connolly, suspended from their positions for periods of fifteen rounds of the 2013 season and twelve months, respectively.

While Martin would later become central to Richmond's premiership era of dominance between 2017 and 2020, Scully and Trengove later left Melbourne after 31 and 86 games for the club at the end of 2011 and 2017 respectively, with the club failing to make finals during this period. ^{[12] [13]}

See also

• 2009 AFL season
• 2009 Melbourne Football Club season
• Melbourne Football Club tanking scandal

References

1. Ralph, Jon (3 August 2011), "How Melbourne tanked in 2009", Herald Sun, Melbourne, VIC, retrieved 10 November 2011
2. "Richmond Tiger's siren song as Jordan McMahon kicks winning goal".
3. "Friendly fire as Wallace resigns as Tiger coach". 2 June 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
4. "Tigers go down by eight points". Richmond Football Club. 19 April 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
5. "Tigers steal last-gasp win". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 2 August 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
6. Ralph, Jon (3 August 2011), "How Melbourne tanked in 2009", Herald Sun, Melbourne, VIC, retrieved 10 November 2011
7. Unsigned (15 December 2009), No. 31 and No. 9 - Scully and Trengove, melbournefc.com.au, Retrieved 21 April 2010
8. Quayle, Emma (1 August 2010). "He's strong and he's bold". The Age. Melbourne.
9. Carlton midfielder Brock McLean reveals he left Melbourne Demons because the club was tanking, 30 July 2012, retrieved 20 February 2013
10. "Demons tanked: McLean". The Age. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
11. Hayes, Mark; Timms, Daryl (31 July 2012). "AFL to interview Brock McLean over tanking claims". Herald Sun. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
12. Sheahan, Mike; Bradshaw, Finn (12 September 2011). "Tom Scully signs with GWS". Herald Sun. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
13. Burgan, Matt (12 September 2017). "Trengove, Spencer among four list changes". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 12 September 2017.

External links

• Match stats from AFL Tables
• Last two minutes on YouTube