“Are you a sparrow or an owl?”
Richmond VFL coach, Craig McRae asked this question of his players a day before their early morning Mother’s Day game against North Melbourne.
Preparation is key in football, being switched on mentally and having the right mindset is crucial, and sometimes tricky to achieve at 9:35 am on a Sunday.
Well, the VFL Tigers brought a ruthless and relentless mindset to Etihad Stadium which equated to them slamming six unanswered goals in a blistering 19-minute burst in the opening term.
McRae felt that last week’s loss to Footscray was a bit of an 80–20 performance, with the Tigers’ just slightly off and the Bulldogs took full advantage.
Intent and application from the get-go were imperative, and the Tigers displayed a truck-load of both.
Richmond’s trademark pressure strangled the Roos, trapping them in their defensive half and the Tigers pounced and capitalised at nearly every opportunity.
What would have pleased McRae greatly, was the work of the collective to create opportunities.
Budding wingman, James Fletcher’s hustle and harassment lead to Brandon Wood getting the Tigers’ first major of the morning, which really set the tone.
Another to set the tone in the opening term, was the smooth moving Corey Ellis, who’s added a layer of grunt to his game in 2018, which is developing week-on-week.
Ellis extracted the ball from the centre square on four occasions in the first quarter, which went along to helping the Tigers play the game in their half and on their term.
Wood was elusive and dangerous inside forward 50, netting two opening-term majors and causing the Roos plenty of headaches.
Liam Baker obviously had no problem with the early morning start, as he goalled from just inside the arc, which kept the score ticking along.
Anthony Miles was prolific as ever in the opening term, but also found space inside 50 and showcased his effectiveness in front of goal.
His first major looked relatively simple on face value, but the timing and clean hands needed to rove the ball at pace and snap truly should not be underestimated.
Miles was to add another before the quarter was out, along with electric small forwards, Jake Aarts and Tyson Stengle.
Aarts especially, really set the tone with his aggression and class inside 50 and exemplifies all that’s good about Richmond VFL.
The game tightened up in the second term, with scoring not coming as freely as in the first, but the pressure was still fierce.
The Tigers were able to find goals through Noah Balta, Aarts and Shai Bolton, while the Roos kicked two of their own.
Miles continued to rack up the touches, finishing the half with 20 disposals, six clearances, four tackles and two goals.
The third term saw the return of a Richmond goal spree and a trio of majors to Tyson Stengle in an electric burst at the backend of the quarter.
It was trademark Stengle: strong, powerful, elusive and silky, as the prolific goal-kicker showcased the bevy of tricks he has at his disposal.
The Tigers banged home seven goals in the third stanza, which set-up another flurry of goals in the final term.
Richmond made the most of the shortened final term, slotting four goals with Brandon Wood and Shaun Mannagh (two goals) adding to their goal tallies, and Corey Ellis capping off a brilliant game.
Anthony Miles again found himself at the top of the stats sheet, finishing with a game-high 41 disposals, while Brandon Wood (26), debutant Charlie Thompson (25), Liam Baker (24) and Corey Ellis (23) were handy midfield lieutenants.
In front of goal, the Tigers once again shared the load, with Wood slotting a game-high four goals, while Tyson Stengle (3), Shaun Mannagh (3), Miles, Shai Bolton and Jake Aarts all snagged two goals apiece.
RICHMOND 7.3 10.7 17.11 21.13 (139)
NTH MELB 1.3 3.5 5.8 7.9 (51)
