Richmond have ground past an injured Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium with a 33-point win to retain fourth place on the AFL ladder.
Dealt a huge blow on Saturday night when Gary Ablett was a late withdrawal, the Suns also lost Ben Ainsworth, Callum Ah Chee and Alex Sexton to injury during the game.
Left with a one-man interchange, they tried their best to stay with the Tigers but were slowly left behind in an error-riddled contest, Richmond winning 14.14 (98) to 10.5 (65).
Dustin Martin controlled the contest with 34 touches, while Daniel Rioli, Toby Nankervis and Jason Castagna each kicked three goals.
The Suns leaked errors throughout the game, Jack Martin among their best whenever he had his hands on the ball, Aaron Hall racking up 40 disposals and Tom Lynch battling hard for his three goals.
Ablett was in Gold Coast’s 22 on Thursday and managed to get through the team’s main training session that night, but woke up sore on Saturday morning.
It is the second-straight match and fourth in six weeks the dual Brownlow medallist has missed.
Injuries to Ah Chee (shoulder) and Sexton (jaw) ended their nights before halftime. Ben Ainsworth (knee) followed soon after the break to compound coach Rodney Eade’s problems.
In the third term, the Suns were within two goals when Lynch kicked his second, but Tigers captain Trent Cotchin steadied his side after a series of behinds.
Castagna, after missing four easier shots, then curled one through from the boundary line on the three-quarter time siren to give the Tigers a 25-point lead.
The Suns had the better of the opening exchanges, kicking three of the first four goals to lead by four points at the first break.
But Rioli, in the absence of injured forward line target Jack Riewoldt, stepped up to kick all of the Tigers’ three first-quarter goals and keep the visitors close.
Richmond dominated the clearances 12-4 in the second quarter and had 10 more contested possessions as the tide quickly turned.
Shaun Grigg reinstated the Tigers’ lead almost directly from the bounce, accepting a clever centring kick from Josh Caddy to kick truly.
Caddy was then rewarded with one of his own against his former club to give the Tigers a buffer they never relinquished.
