Vs Richmond; Round 3 1007.
Last year Presti spent some time on Jay Shultz. But last night, as predicted, Presti played the entire match against Matthew Richardson.
In all the times Presti has played on Richo, i think Presti was beaten once a few years back when Richo kicked like 9 goals and Presti got injured.
I always love the 'Presti Vs Richo' thing! Richo is one of those players i love to hate, and i look forward to it every time!
After the coin toss, Presti went straight to Richo. And the game began.
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1st Quarter;
Vs Richardson: 1 Mark, 1 Kick, 1 Handball, 1 Free Against, 4 Spoils.
When the players lined up there was a bit of pushing and shoving, which isnt anything unusual, but its always good to see Presti shove back and stand in for the other players (Especially the younger ones).
Early in the quarter Presti was outmarked with a stong mark from Richo. This led to Richos first shot at goal which was a behind.
A few moments later and Richo took an open mark from a long lead infront of Presti, where he played on and once again, kicked a behind.
One thing i noticed during this quarter was alot of checking made on Presti in an attempt to get Richo free. Graham Polak was doing most of the checking.
Midway through the quarter Jay Shultz outmarked Wakelin, but Presti was there to attempt the spoil, but Richo was also in the way.
Richo was given a free kick for holding. Presti argued for the free but the umpire gave Richo the ball (and the goal). It was a 50/50 free... some umpires would have let it go, some wouldnt have. Not much you can do.
Presti then got 3 spoils in a row. One in which he played on with the ball and spun to get away from an opposing player.
He did end up getting tackled but Presti got the handpass out to Brad Dick who went forward with the ball.
One of these spoils was against Luke McGuane who was cleaned up by Presti. McGuane was taken off for a while after the clash.
Late in the quarter, Presti took a mark from a kick in where he took a bounce and then kicked the ball long to 3 on 2 in Richmonds favour.
Presti then made another spoil and before the end of the quarter Richo got another running mark infront of Presti, where he proceded to kick the ball out of bounds on the full. He was too far out.
2nd Quarter; (Far end of the ground where i was sitting)
Vs Matthew Richardson: 1 Kick, 1 Handball, 2 Spoils.
Early on Richo made another long running lead. Presti wasnt far behind, but the ball went over their heads when they ran towards the ball as trickeld out of bounds. Presti's leg speed showed as he would have gotten there first.
Another spoil made against Richo.
Richmond got on a bit of a roll during parts of the quarter and Shultz got free and was sneaking in their forward 50 from the flank area, as the ball was coming through the midfield. At the time Presti was planted on Richo who started running towards CHF. For a moment it looked as if Presti didnt know who to go to. He had to either leave Schultz or Richo open. He ended up staying with Richo and the ball went to Schultz who kicked a behind.
Later on Richo took a mark as Dale Thomas tried to spoil the ball. I couldnt even see Presti at the time. And he wasnt on screen during the replay of the mark. As it turned out Richo kicked another behind.
Soon after, Richo went to ground as Presti got the ball and made a bad handball to Leon Davis. Presti ended up getting the ball back and kicking it to Scott Pendlebury going forward.
Mid way through the term Richo took a good mark in a 1 on 1 against Presti, in which Richo kicked a goal.
Towards the end of the half, Presti followed Richo around the CHF, Flanks and FF areas. Richo dropped a mark infont of Presti. He didnt get a spoil, but could have been lucky that Dale Thomas was infont to put Richo off. (Man Dale can jump!)
The only thing that happend with Presti before the half was another spoil made which led to a Richmond poster.
3rd Quarter;
Vs Matthew Richardson: 2 Kicks, 1 Handball, 1 Free For, 2 Spoils.
Early on Presti made another spoil. Not long after, in another contest, Travis Cloke was back and cut off Richo before Presti had a chance to spoil.
There was a moment around the Tigers CHF where the ball was spilling across the ground and Richo was leading and running towards the ball. Presti was with him the whole way applying huge pressure on Richo who ended up doing nothing.
Presti got another spoil on Richo, but Richo recieved a free for a high tackle against another Pies player. I thought it was Rhyce Shaw, but papers said he didnt give away a free.
Presti then recieved a free kick when the ball was kicked out of bounds on the full.
Mid way through the term Richo took a mark way way out infront of Presti on the flank. Richo had nowhere to go and his kick went nowhere.
Before the end of the quarter Presti gathered the ball off the ground and got a kick away.
Just before 3 quarter time Richo was making another lead with Presti right with him. Richo fell to the ground and Presti gatherd the ball from the gound again, but he also fell to the ground
and got a handball out which went nowhere before being tackled.
4th Quarter;
Vs Matthew Richardson: 2 Marks, 2 Kicks, 1 Handball, 1 Tackle, 4 Spoils.
Another soild quarter from Presti. Richo seemed more CHF and struggled with pressure from Presti.
Richo took a mark once again making a massive lead into the flanks.
Presti made a spoil on the wing and Richo got a free for some reason on this play.
Josh Fraser then took a speckie ontop of Presti and Richo stopping the contest.
Presti then got 2 good spoils in a row. One went out of bounds and the other one came from an excellent Presti bump.
Richo got his last goal when he took a mark on a lead infront of Presti.
Presti then got another spoil which couldn have been a bit high.
Richo kicked a behind when he took Schultz's free kick after he had to leave the ground. (He copped Prestis elbow in the head, not intensional).
Presti took an awesome mark but shanked the kick. It turned out to be ok, but he didnt hit his man on the chest.
Towards the end of the game, Presti actually took a lead to get a mark and kick. And not too long before the final siren Presti made a top tackle on a Tigers player, throwing him out of bounds. (I think it was McGuanne).
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Prestis 2nd half was much more soild, where he seemed to apply more pressure and grunt in his contests. Once again he tried all night and never gave up in any situation. I'm telling you this bloke has the heart the size of the MCG!
Considering Presti didnt have the support of Clement (injured) and Wakelin (playing forward), i think he did an exelent job and could have easily been named in Collingwoods best. Another notch on his belt.
Goals kicked against: Three.
