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Matthew Knights looked decidedly unimpressed at the quarter time huddle, with the Bombers going goalless in the first, but the spray looked to have done little early as the Tigers went forward and scored a behind then a goal to Pettifer after the Dons failed to clear the ball from the kick in.
Shane Edwards missed a gettable shot, but with the Bombers looking completely out of sorts the pressure continued to mount. The bombers went deep into attack but the kick towards Lloyd was not on target and the Tigers cleared after the captain gave away a free from high contact. Edwards made up for the miss on the previous scoring shot as he ran across inside the Richmond 50 and marked in front of Lovett-Murray then kicked his second major.
Essendon's pressure had picked up, ut some sloppy tackling saw a few free kicks undo the good work, then Chris Hyde continued the pain with another Richmond goal.
It was proving tough to find a good player in Red and Black, but both McVeigh and Hille were working hard, as the possesion count showed Richomd having double the disposals of the Bombers.
A turn over as the Tigers attacked saw the Bombers run the ball forward without the pressure of Richmond flooding back. Lloyd was able to contest one-on-one and marked 35 from goal. The captain went back and kicked the Bombers first goal of the game.
Matthew Richardson marked out in front of Fletcher, but the kick was almost across the 50 arc and impossible for Fletch to stop. The Tiger spearhead kicked the long bomb perfectly and the margin was back out to 49 points.
Adam Pattison brought up the 10th goal for the Tigers as the clock ticked into time-on in the second term. The Bombers still looked to be fighting hard, but no where near up to the task. A Richo free kick made the Red and Black fans shake their heads, but the kick was the Richo of old as he missed a simple chance.
The Bombers went into attack from the restart and a up-and-under kick from Lovett-Murray saw three Richmond players flying for the ball against the solitary Bomber, McVeigh. The Tigers were too wary of McVeigh and infringed when they might not have needed too, giving McVeigh a simple shot for goal. Mark made no mistake and brought up the second Essendon major.
As the siren went for half time the ball was mere metres from McVeigh's hands, robbing him of another shot for goal from gettable range. But two extra seconds would not have brought the team much closer as the margin sat at 50 points as the two teams headed for their rooms for the long break.
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