Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch provides a snapshot of the Tigers’ forward line preparations, plans, personnel, and potential for the 2018 season.
Further injection of forward youth
“We’ve got a mainly young group coming in this year. We didn’t trade in any experience in the off-season, so most of the kids we’ve got coming through – the ‘talls’ – are in their first season . . . Noah Balta and Callum Coleman-Jones. They’re boys that are going to take a couple of years to develop into their spots, but they’re really exciting types for the football club long-term. We’ve got a really young group as it is in our forward group so naturally, with a year of progression, we’re going to be a little bit better just with experience . . . Guys going into this pre-season like Dan Butler and Jason Castagna and Shai Bolton have a bit more experience behind them. So it’s still an exciting time for our group.”
Butler and Castagna pace-setters
“Daniel and Jason have probably led the way on the track for us this year in their professionalism and going to another level. I’ve been really impressed with how they’ve presented themselves for the season. At this stage it looks like they’re ready to go for another good year, but you still obviously have to complete the journey.”
Development of Moore and Chol
“We’ve got Callum Moore and Mabior Chol that have been around the footy club a couple of years as rookies, and they get their opportunity now to step up and show what they’ve got. And both have had really good pre-seasons, so that’s exciting . . . We know Jack (Riewoldt) needs a little bit of help down there in the tall department, so we’re hopeful those two boys can fill that task.”
Riewoldt’s importance
“We’re very fortunate that while we’re a young group, we’ve got a guy in Jack, who’s an on-field leader . . . he’s an on-field coach. So if you’ve got just that one person who can direct traffic and put young players in their positions, it makes a big difference to the functionality of the forward line. Jack’s really been the driver of the on-field coaching for us, so he’s invaluable for what he does for us on the field, not just in his performance, but how he leads our kids.”
Hot competition for forward spots
“We’ve got a lot of small forwards, so there’s some good competition. Shai played maybe eight or nine games last year and Tyson (Stengle) played a couple of games there as well. There are enough guys pushing to play who have got AFL qualities, so it’s exciting. It’s a lot of pressure on those boys because you can’t fit too many ‘smalls’ into the one forward line, although we probably fit more than anyone. There is a big competition, but they thrive off that competition . . . It’s only a good thing for us.”
Small forwards provide variety
“Each one of the smalls does bring something different. I know they all get bracketed together in the one package, but Daniel (Rioli) brings his elite pressure part of the game, so does Dan Butler. Dan Butler’s probably a little bit higher up the field than Dan Rioli. Jason Castagna’s a really good offensive option for us. He’s a good mark inside 50 and we probably direct the ball through him more than any of our smalls. And Shai Bolton’s got that electric speed, and ability to jump up in the air to take a mark as well, which the others don’t have. So they’re all somewhat different in what they provide for us, and that’s the exciting part. They’re not the same type of player.”
Drummond’s new forward role
“We’ve put Nathan (Drummond) with the forward group this year . . . (earmarked him for) that half-forward role, which is a little bit what Kane Lambert plays for us as well. We think ‘Drummo’ can do that sort of role, where he can get up the field and back again. You can consider him a bit of a ‘mid’, a bit of a forward. Obviously, his first thing is to get back from his knee (injury) and get confidence in himself and that belief again in his performance – that’s first and foremost – but we feel there’s a gap there for Drummo to fit into.”
Pre-season forward focus
“Most of the stuff we’re working on this time of the year is skill development. Our game planning stuff we’re relatively over. What we did last year’s going to be 80 percent the same . . . there are always tinkerings every year. One thing this time of year brings is just the ability to get better at your craft – making sure our goalkicking’s better than ever, our pressure, our strength, and our wrestling and grappling work is done really well, so we don’t slip off tackles. All those sorts of things are what we work on hard in the pre-season. From about now onwards we start to bring in a bit of the game planning and some of the finer parts of the game. It’s really about player individual development more than anything in the pre-season.”
