Trac's hammy blow takes shine off Suns' big win over Tigers

A HAMSTRING injury to Gold Coast star Christian Petracca has soured the club's 68-point victory over Richmond on Saturday afternoon at the MCG.

The new Sun had put together an impressive first half before leaving the ground midway through the third quarter after injuring his hamstring while being tackled.

TIGERS v SUNS Full match coverage and stats

Without their star recruit, the Suns were still able to register their third consecutive victory for the year, winning 19.14 (128) to Richmond's 9.6 (60) in front of a crowd of 30,468.

Suns key forwards Ben King and Ethan Read were exceptional in the perfect autumn conditions, combining for 11 goals between them. King booted an equal-career best seven goals straight, while Read took 11 marks and kicked four goals.

Remarkably Petracca was one of three players to suffer the same injury, with Richmond key forward Tom Lynch and Tigers' captain Toby Nankervis joining the 2021 Norm Smith Medallist on the sidelines with hamstring injuries of their own.

Lynch left the game in the second quarter while Nankervis exited just before the three-quarter time break, leaving key forward Mykelti Lefau to shoulder the ruck load in his first game since round 16 last season.

For the second consecutive week the Suns have won despite not playing four quarters of their best football. Against West Coast in round one, the Suns faded out after half-time and today there were moments where the Suns made unforced errors, missed targets and made poor decisions.

Midway through the second term, the young Richmond outfit were leading the premiership contenders by six points. But following Lynch's injury, the momentum in the match shifted as the Suns put their foot down kicking six unanswered goals to extend their lead to 31 points at the main break.

Richmond hung in in the third term matching the visitors goal-for-goal, but the Suns were a class above in the final term, kicking five goals to one to extend the final margin to 68 points.

More to come

RICHMOND 2.2 5.4 8.5 9.6 (60)

GOLD COAST 2.2 10.5 14.9 19.14 (128)

GOALS

Richmond: Campbell 3, Prestia, Lefau, Vlastuin, Armstrong, Ralphsmith, Lalor

Gold Coast: King 7, Read 4, Graham, Rogers, Jeffrey, Noble, Long, Miller, Powell, Clohesy

BEST

Richmond: Short, Lalor, Campbell, Taranto, Hopper

Gold Coast: King, Read, B.Uwland, Collins, Petracca

INJURIES

Richmond: Lynch (hamstring), Nankervis (hamstring)

Gold Coast: Petracca (hamstring)

LATE CHANGE

Richmond: Kane McAuliffe (illness), replaced in the selected side by Tyler Sonsie

Gold Coast: Nil

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