It seems the heartbreaking photo of a young Tigers fan's crumpled, tear-stained face after his football was stolen tugged on the heartstrings of the thief.
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Five-year-old Dallas Dwyer's was playing kick-to-kick on the MCG after his team's nail-biting loss to Geelong on Saturday, when his "favourite possession" was taken.
His father, Jarrod, posted a photo of his forlorn son on Facebook, which was widely shared, including by several AFL-related social media pages with the hashtag #findthefooty.
"To the mongrel who stole my five year old son's Auskick Footy while playing kick-to-kick on the MCG after the Tiger's loss to Geelong today, this photo is for you," he wrote in the post.
"You have broken the poor kid's heart.
"I hope this photo finds you and you find some morality by contacting Auskick or Richmond FC to return it to him."
The emotional plea worked and the football was returned to the club on Tuesday.
Richmond posted a photo to Instagram of full-forward Jack Riewoldt holding Dallas' safely returned football on Tuesday afternoon.
Tigers fans haven't had much to cheer about this season, but Dallas's face is sure to be beaming when he is reunited with it at Saturday's game.
Hopefully for him, the Tigers can give him something even more to smile about with a win against St Kilda.
A photo posted by Richmond (@richmond_fc) on Aug 15, 2016 at 7:07pm PDT
