Round 1, 2000
Richmond vs Melbourne
Wednesday 8 March
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 41,648
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Richmond | 7.1 | 11.6 | 14.7 | 14.10.94 |
| Melbourne | 4.3 | 6.6 | 10.9 | 13.14.92 |
Richmond win by 2 points
Goalkickers: James Cook 2, Jeff Farmer 2, Steven Febey 2, Travis Johnstone 2, Adem Yze 2, Cameron Bruce 1, Brent Grgic 1, Russell Robertson 1
Brownlow Votes:
Nil
Best and Fairest
29 - Jeff White
26 - Steven Febey
19 - Anthony McDonald
18 - Stephen Powell
9 - Cameron Bruce
Milestones:
First game and First goal
Cameron Bruce
First MFC game
James Cook
Stephen Powell
Last game
Scott Chisholm
Richmond's best opening quarter against the Demons since Round 11, 1981 set them up to start the season with a win.
Future Demon Ben Holland kicked the first goal of the season, the 276,000th in league football, and Richmond had the first five within 13 minutes. Melbourne steadied with goals from Farmer and Bruce with his first kick in league football, making the margin more respectable at the first change.
Richmond once again opened a big lead in the second term, late in the half they were still 33 points in front. Melbourne dominated general play in the third term but a dysfunctional forward line meant that they couldn't capitalise on their domination and were still nearly four goals down at the last change.
Tiring in the last quarter Richmond almost threw it all away. Melbourne fought back to two points behind after a Travis Johnstone goal but just fell short, giving Danny Frawley his first win as a senior coach. David Schwarz was blanketed by Richmond defender Darren Gaspar and was unable to exert any influence on the match in the first half. He sparked in the third quarter to help lead the Demon revival but was robbed out of a goal in the second quarter when a clear mark in the goalsquare was not paid, then the umpire paid a free-kick against him for vigorously questioning the decision. A bad night for the Ox got worse when he suffered a finger injury.
It was Melbourne's 10th straight loss, dating back to 27 June 1999. Speaking about the loss Neale Daniher said "To give any team a five goal lead at half time is usually going to be costly. As a group we are terribly disappointed that we lost the game, but pleased that we fought the game out. We almost got up and pinched the game."
Anthony McDonald, Jeff White and Stephen Powell were Melbourne's best. Anthony Ingerson suffered a cut forehead and White a cut shin. McDonald was reported for wrestling and fined $1200.
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Age - 08/03/2000, 09/03/2000