Dusty a trump with Lynch to miss Lions

RICHMOND will turn to megastar Dustin Martin to kick the Tigers into a fourthstraight preliminary final after spearhead Tom Lynch was ruled out of Friday night’s qualifying final.

With midfielders Dion Pestia and Shai Bolton set to return against Brisbane at the G abba, and Shane Edward san addition since the sides met in Round 10, Martin looms as the wild card to play alongside fullforward Jack Riewoldt.

The Tigers confirmed the Lynch (hamstring) blow on Monday, just hours after coach Damien Hardwick said he looked“promising” following a 60- minute skills session.

Back-up ruckman Mabior Chol is now expected to hold his place, with Jack Ross and potentially Josh Caddy making way for Pr es ti a and Bolton.

Martin slotted 12.2 in three finals last year, including a career-best bag of 6.0 in the qualifying final against Brisbane.

“He seems to perform pretty well in all big games,” captain Trent Cotchin said on Monday .“We all know what to expect from Dusty. No additional pressure, he just does what he does.

“The way he plays is inspiring ... hence why he’ s one of the biggest players, if not the biggest player, in the game .”

Hard wick guaranteed wingers Mar lion Pickett and Kamdyn McIntosh were safe as the Tigers took credit for Brisbane’s woeful goalkicking against them recently.

“We defend them in a certain way,” Hardwick said. “They had a big contested-ball win in both games, but the way we structure up and use our system probably counteracted a little bit of their scoring.

“They had a lot of shots, but a lot of those were wide, under pressure as well.”

Brisbane has kicked 12 goals from 50 shots in its past two games against Richmond, losing by 41 and 47 points.

The Lions’ accuracy of 27.6 per cent in last year’s final was their worst for 2019, while their accuracy of 19 per cent in Round 10 was their worst for thisseason.

Aside from Lynch, Hardwick said the Tigers were – again – peaking at the right time.

“We’ ve been happy with the brand of footy we’re playing,” hesaid.

“We do generally start off a little bit slow, we had some injuries that probably didn’t help that.

“We’re a forward-half team, we like to get the ball in our forward half and score from chaos.”