RICHMOND got on the board in the 2025 AFL Women’s season after an inspirational upset over Adelaide at IKON Park last Sunday. Against the odds, the winless Tigers surged home in the second half with six goals to two. They trailed by 11 points at the main break, but reversed that margin to win, 8.10 (58) to 6.11 (47).

Having six more inside 50s (39-33) despite losing the clearances by seven (18-25) and contested possession count by 11 (106-117), the Tigers took control on the outside with 28 more uncontested possessions (147-119) and clunked a brilliant 21 more marks than the Crows (56-35), nine of which were inside 50.

Richmond coach Ryan Ferguson said it was a great result for the footy club that though had shown signs at points during the 2025 season, was yet to register premiership points.

“Pleased for the players more than anything,” Ferguson said of the overwhelming emotion. “Relieved, excited, but mostly pleased for the players to get some reward for hard work.”

Richmond had only got within 10 points of another side once this season – a seven-point loss to St Kilda which saw the yellow and black lead for parts, particularly though the first half – but they also lead Brisbane in the Sunshine State last round before the Lions booted six goals to one in the second half to overrun the visitors.

Ferguson said there had “definitely been an element” of building for a while and the win over the Crows was the first time the Tigers had finally executed for four quarters.

“We’ve been building particularly the last two weeks into this week so the last three weeks now,” he said. “Sometimes its hard to convince the whole group of we didn’t get it quite right and we are building and it’s okay to be building and now we’re playing some really good teams, but we are building some momentum.

“They embraced that, got to work, played really well against Brisbane for a long time, but they flexed their muscle and were really good, but we were able to go with them for longer today and impart our game on them for the full four quarters than dropping away for a quarter.”

The victory also saw Richmond leapfrog Gold Coast Suns with a far superior percentage (62 to 37 per cent) and move into 17th ahead of a daunting clash against ladder leaders North Melbourne in Round 9. The Tigers then finish off the season against the other two bottom three sides in Collingwood and Gold Coast either side of a road trip west to take on Fremantle.

Adelaide’s defeat saw the Crows jumped by Carlton, Brisbane and West Coast to slide out of the top four and down to seventh. Coach Matthew Clarke said the Tigers – lead by Monique Conti (34 disposals, seven marks, 10 tackles, five clearances, six inside 50s and a goal – were simply the better side on the day.

“Well in the end, Richmond probably deserved the win because they played a bit better than us,” he said. “Ultimately they were able to control uncontested possession a little bit all throughout the game to be honest.

“We were up at half-time by obviously a couple of goals, but even in the first half they’d been able to find marks and move the ball pretty effectively. “By contrast, our skill execution, our fundamentals weren’t quite where they needed to be under pressure so they win, we lose.”