Richmond will be wary of an improved Gold Coast outfit in this Sunday afternoon’s Round 12 clash at the MCG.
The Suns have regained the services of several of their key players in recent weeks, and have lifted accordingly without winning.
“Over the last four weeks, they’re No. 4 for contested ball and tackles. So, it’s definitely not going to be a walk in the park,” star Richmond key defender Alex Rance said at Punt Road on Thursday morning.
“They’re really going to bring it up to us, and we’re going to have to bring the good process that we put in place against Sydney (Round 8), and when we played some really solid games earlier in the season...
“We’re going to have to have a real crack.”
Rance was full of praise for his expected opponent on Sunday, star Suns’ spearhead Tom Lynch, who is in third place on the competition’s goalkicking list this season with 35 goals.
“He’s a fantastic athlete, has a massive tank for a big guy, he’s got really good hands, and is a good competitor,” Rance said.
“I’d almost go so far as to say he’d be probably the number one forward in the comp. at the moment . . . number one or two.
“They’ve also got big ‘Two-metre Peter’ (Wright) . . . He’s actually their No. 1 target (up forward) over the last four weeks.
“I think Dave Astbury and I will probably chop and change between the two ‘talls’, because they’re both as potent as each other. But I’ll probably take big Tom.”
