1. Did the Tigers tell a little porkie about Dusty's corkie?
Dustin Martin was never fully fit. It started last Friday when Damien Hardwick was trotted out to the cameras to insist his superstar was fine and continued during the week with head of football Neil Balme laughing off concerns. The reigning Brownlow Medallist never extended beyond second gear, lacked his explosive power and looked proppy. It turned into an easy night at the office for tagger Levi Greenwood, Martin offering little as he spent much of the night deep in attack. Martin's metres gained average for the season was 454 pre-game, on Friday night he managed 175. Clearance?
2. Fly, fly Mr. American Pie
For stages of the opening half, a 211 centimetre man from Texas owned the MCG. Three goals and three contested marks to the main break, Mason Cox even had the crowd chanting “U.S.A” as he brought the Richmond defence to its knees. He exposed an underdone David Astbury who had battled illness in the build-up, while All Australian Alex Rance had no answers for his reach in attack. Having only allowed nine marks inside defensive 50 on average this season, the Tigers conceded 10 in the first half alone. With Cox playing a career-best match, spare a thought for Jeremy McGovern, Tom Barrass, Oscar McDonald and Sam Frost watching ahead of a potential decider next week.
3. Six-day breaks don't matter, Richmond are beatable at the MCG
What was Eddie going on about? With a six-day break compared to Richmond's 15, the Pies started hot, riding the momentum of last Saturday's semi-final win over Greater Western Sydney. The Tigers appeared flat footed in the opening stages, Collingwood attacking down the wings and running rings around the Tigers' defence. After 22 in a row, the Tigers' record of consecutive matches won at the MCG came crashing down in flames, the Pies knocking off their old rivals for the first time in a final since 1937.
4. The MCC needs all seats ticketed
They were lining up for hours pre-game, but still the MCC couldn't fill to the brim for the game everyone was talking about all week. Sales were through the roof, general public not afforded the opportunity to purchase tickets as members snapped them up inside 30 minutes on Monday. AFL Reserve seats were also gone in less than half an hour on Tuesday, however judging by the final crowd of 94,959, more than 5000 fans missed the opportunity to see the Pies book a berth in the Grand Final.
5. 'Jeremy Howe watch' will go into overdrive
Lucky he enjoys media. Howe will be forced to do plenty this week after being nursed through the final term with a right ankle injury. Coming from the ground late in the third quarter, Howe returned early in the last term to play on the last line of defence as Richmond mounted a charge for an upset. With the game in the bag in the final 10 minutes, Howe was put on ice. In the build-up in seven days' time, his injury will be a big talking point, having also missed the final four matches of the season with a corked leg.
