Relieved Tigers escape with a win

THE Suns leave Cairns with broken hearts and more broken bodies after falling to Richmond by nine points at Cazaly's Stadium.

Defender Rory Thompson was  taken to hospital with internal injuries after a crunching collision with Matthew Arnot midway through the third term of the 6.7 (53) to 6.9 (44) loss. 

He had kept his opponent, Richmond superstar Jack Riewoldt goalless in a superb performance to that point.

		P	W	D	L	%	Pts
1	Hawthorn	15	13	0	2	141.97	52
2	Geelong	15	13	0	2	132.74	52
3	Essendon	14	11	0	3	129.86	44
4	Sydney	14	10	1	3	131.58	42
5	Fremantle	14	10	1	3	125.89	42
6	Richmond	15	10	0	5	116.69	40
7	Collingwood	15	10	0	5	109.40	40
8	Port Adelaide	15	8	0	7	108.89	32
9	West Coast	14	7	0	7	109.95	28
10	North Melbourne	14	6	0	8	118.60	24
11	Carlton	14	6	0	8	109.19	24
12	Adelaide	15	6	0	9	102.46	24
13	Gold Coast	15	5	0	10	89.02	20
14	Brisbane	14	5	0	9	78.08	20
15	Bulldogs	14	4	0	10	76.90	16
16	St Kilda	14	3	0	11	84.44	12
17	Melbourne	15	2	0	13	53.98	8
18	Greater Western Sydney	14	0	0	14	52.21	0

The Suns' injury list has reached a critical mass. It is unclear just who will play on Collingwood spearhead Travis Cloke next week.

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Vice captain Nathan Bock kicked nine goals in the reserves earlier in the day but Suns officials say he is still only playing at 50 per cent fitness and could not be considered for Saturday's game against the Pies at Metricon Stadium.

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Richmond scored through Daniel Jackson moments after Thompson left the field on a stretcher and then the rain came.

At that was it. 

Richmond led by a goal at the time and the Suns never got closer.

It was a superb performance by Jackson who won an engrossing battle with Suns skipper Gary  Ablett.

It was the complete taggers game, restricting Ablett to 26 possessions and breaking free to kick two crucial goals himself. 

"I'll never be a flashy, star player but if I can grind out the contest and work hard then I can get myself a happy career,'' Jackson told reporters.

Ablett dispelled any fears his injured calf was still troubling him when he burst out of the centre from the opening bounce of the game and sent a long bomb spiralling toward goal.

It hit the post leaving the fans to ponder what might have been – a familiar sentiment by the end iof the evening.

Once again the Suns lost the game in their attacking fifty – the area of the ground where games should be won.

Nothing separated the two sides in the inside fifty entries –Richmond were just able to make more of the their chances.

However, unlike previous weeks there was no glaring difference between the two sides in marks taken inside fifty which was largely due to a superb performance by the Suns defence.

The inclusion of North Queensland product Josh Hall look like it was going to pay dividends in the opening moments. 

The former Olympic high jump hopeful, was brought into the side to provide a badly needed marking option in the forward fifty and he clunked the first high ball that came his way which led to the opening goal of the game to Harley Bennell.

He took another late in the third quarter which led to a shot on goal after the siren but they were his only real moments and he finished the game nursing an injured shoulder.

Fears ran high the game would be a slog when sideways rain swept across the ground 30 minutes before bouncedown but by the time the siren blew there was perfect sunshine.

However there was a strong breeze favouring the Northern end, or as some locals have dubbed it the "Karmichael" end after Hunt's heroics here last year.

The Suns entered the first break with a two goal lead but coach Guy McKenna would not have been entirely comfortable with the amount of opportunities his side squandered kicking with the breeze.

Bennell, Aaron Hall and Steven May all lost their opponents on the lead only to see the delivery sail wide or over their heads.

After kicking just one goal in the opening quarter, to Arnot, the Tigers managed three in the second through Jackson, Nathan Foley and Brandon Ellis to lead by a straight kick at half time. 

A goal apiece in the second, Jackson's second for the Tigers and a superb right-footed effort from Trent McKenzie gave the Tigers a seven point lead and the benefit of the breeze in the final quarter.

The Suns needed some magic to pull this one off.

But there was to be no repeat of the stunning finish to last year's  match when Hunt delivered the season's most memorable moment with an after the siren shot on goal that handed the Suns a stunning victory.

"I knew there was a couple of minutes to go and we wanted to make sure the same thing didn't happen as last season,'' Tigers ruckman Ivan Maric told the Seven Network.

"This game is about how far this group has grown. There's a perception with Gold Coast that they can beat us and we had to change that today.

"We're going in the right direction to change that perception.''

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