Riccardi touched by Carlton’s ire

IT’S a question Geelong fans have attempted to ignore from one of the great moments of the early 2000s: was Ricco’s goal touched?

A rare bright spot in a dark period as the Cats embarked on building their dynasty, Peter Riccardi buried the Blues 15 years ago with a kick after the siren.

Geelong led Carlton by 38 points at one stage in the final term that day, before the Blues hit back and an extraordinarily questionable 50m penalty to Matthew Lappin put them in front with 26 seconds to go. A left foot pass from David Clarke after the centre bounce landed in Riccardi’s arms and he lined up for a shot after the siren from outside the arc.

Riccardi was a beautiful kick and his set shot spun awkwardly from right to left and just cleared the line, with Carlton defender Simon Wiggins adamant he got a hand to it.

The man himself was unsure when asked about it on Pulse FM’s The Sport Fix this weekend. “Simon Wiggins has said he was convinced he maybe got three or four fingers on it but it still went through,” Riccardi said. “I have no idea though, it was impossible to tell.” Unfortunately, a forensic scrub of the footage doesn’t clear up the question either.

A YouTube video uploaded by user The Black Cat, like many videos from the time, is frustratingly grainy.

Riccardi certainly did get close to Wiggins (who was alongside five other Blues on the mark) and the young defender was immediately adamant he touched it.

However, the silky left-foot winger who played 288 games for Geelong was never a super long kick and any touch would have probably resulted in the 52m shot falling short. With Geelong running into Carlton again at the weekend, one thing is for certain, Riccardi has crafted his answer well over the past 15 years. “Whenever I am around Carlton supporters, I certainly like to say it was touched,” he laughed.

– JOSH BARNES