A good start to the season in which the Tigers had won their first three games (Carlton, St. Kilda and Bulldogs) has been tempered in the past fortnight with losses to Collingwood and last week, a heartbreaking and controversial one point loss against Fremantle in WA.
That loss sees the Tigers on 16 competition points in sixth spot, just in advance of Fremantle, Collingwood and Carlton but with each of these teams clear favourites in their respective clashes this weekend, the Tigers could slip outside the eight at the end of the round.
They’ll be keen to keep their good start to the season going and are playing with great vigour but come up against the benchmark of the competition this week.
Geelong remains undefeated and earned it the hard way with wins over Sydney (in Sydney), Collingwood and Hawthorn in their first five weeks.
They did what they had to do last week when accounting for the Western Bulldogs and the 21 point win could very well have been a lot larger, had the Cats been able to convert a portion of their seventeen behinds.
You have to go back to Round 9, 2006 to find the last time the Tigers have had the better of the Cats and even though they appear to be in the best form they have been in recent years, Geelong are simply a champion side that know how to win.
Odds Comparison:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Richmond Tigers | 3.05 | 3.05 | 3.00 | 3.05 | 3.05 | 3.07 |
|
Geelong Cats
|
1.38 | 1.38 | 1.41 | 1.38 | 1.38 | 1.39 |
Teams:
Richmond Tigers: 
B: Steven Morris, Alex Rance, Troy Chaplin
HB: Dylan Grimes, Ricky Petterd, Bachar Houli
C: Chris Newman, Trent Cotchin, Matt White
HF: Brett Deledio, Shane Edwards, Dan Jackson
F: Luke McGuane, Jack Riewoldt, Ty Vickery
Foll: Ivan Maric, Dustin Martin, Nick Vlastuin
Int: Brandon Ellis, Jake King, Shaun Grigg, Chris Knights
Emerg: Jake Batchelor, Shane Tuck, Robin Nahas
IN: Steven Morris, Troy Chaplin, Jake King
OUT: Brad Helbig (hamstring), Robin Nahas, Jake Batchelor
Geelong Cats:
B: Andrew Mackie, Tom Lonergan, Corey Enright
HB: Joel Corey, Harry Taylor, Taylor Hunt
C: Mitch Duncan, Jimmy Bartel, Steven Motlop
HF: Allen Christensen, Steve Johnson, Billie Smedts
F: Paul Chapman, Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly
Foll: Mark Blicavs, Joel Selwood, James Kelly
Int: Cameron Guthrie, George Horlin-Smith, Trent West, Mathew Stokes
Emerg: Jackson Thurlow, Jordan Murdoch, Mitch Brown
IN: Paul Chapman, Tom Hawkins
OUT: Jared Rivers (knee), Josh Caddy