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Bradley Kanaris / AFL Photos
The Richmond Tigers celebrate victory after their 2020 AFL Grand Final victory over the Geelong Cats at The Gabba.
The Richmond Tigers overcame a 15-point deficit at halftime to win their third Australian Football League title in four years with a massive 31-point victory over Geelong.
Dustin Martin, who won the Norm Smith Medal Most Valuable Player award for a record third time, scored four goals to help Richmond to a 12.9 (81) to 7.8 (50) victory in Saturday’s historic decider at the Gabba.
The Tigers kicked 10 goals to two after the Cats led by 22 points in the second quarter.
It was the first Australian Football League final to be held outside Melbourne since the competition began more than 120 years ago. The title fight moved to the Gabba from Melbourne Cricket Ground two months ago due to an increase in Covid-19 cases in Melbourne.
The Tigers’ victory came after they and Geelong spent more than 100 days in interstate biosecurity centers, having left Victoria state in July to continue the pandemic-stricken season.
The Melbourne-based AFL, known as the Victorian Football League before its national expansion, has played almost all of its championship games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground since 1897.
The MCG was not used during World War II after the government requisitioned it for the military. In 1991, the grand final was played at another stadium in Melbourne while the MCG was being improved.
Gabba’s crowd on Saturday was restricted due to social distancing rules, so only 29,707 fans were allowed in the 42,000-seat stadium. The heavy rain in the afternoon subsided when the game started, but the field was still slippery.
Bradley Kanaris / AFL Photos
Dustin Martin, left, again won the Norm Smith medal.
The last time Richmond and Geelong met in a grand final in 1967 at the MCG, a crowd of 109,392 watched Richmond beat Geelong by nine points _ 16.18 (114) to 15.15 (105).
It was the 357th and final game for Geelong veteran Gary Ablett Jr. He injured his left shoulder in the fifth minute and had to be assisted from the field, but returned to a limited role for the remainder of the game.
Before the Tigers began a victory lap around the stadium, they gave Ablett Jr an honor guard off the field.
Richmond captain Trent Cotchin became the first Tigers captain to lead his team to three Premier League titles.
“ All the credit to Geelong … they challenged us, but the credit to our guys is that they showed the resilience that we know they can, ” Cotchin said.
Cotchin received the Prime Minister’s trophy from tennis player Ash Barty, who has often referred to herself as Richmond’s number one fan.
