Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch has explained the philosophy behind the selection of the Tigers’ 15-man squad for their AFLX tournament matches at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium this Saturday.
There are just three members of Richmond’s 2017 premiership side in the squad, with a combined total of 261 senior league games among the group.
SQUAD: Premiership trio selected for AFLX
“We’ve got a (JLT series) game in seven days’ time (v Essendon at Wangaratta) that we’re very conscious about . . . a pre-season trial, which is very important now that you’ve only got two of them. We have to travel to Sydney (for the AFLX tournament) as well. So we’re conscious of all those things,” Leppitsch said.
“But I think everyone that’s going out there is probably playing for a reason . . . the couple of premiership boys, the young ones, that we’re bringing up there for a bit of leadership to try and drive the group.
“There’s some players that weren’t regulars last year, with (Corey) Ellis, (Reece) Conca, (Sam) Lloyd and guys like that, who could really show some early signs . . .
“And, obviously, the blend of youth as well.
“So there’s a few different reasons why you pick the squad that’s going up there for us.”
Leppitsch, who will coach the Tigers in the inaugural AFLX tournament, admitted there was a significant unknown factor attached to the whole concept.
“We had a little scratch match with Hawthorn a couple of weeks ago and that was our first crack at it. And we had another 10 minutes after our training session last Saturday. So we’ve done a little bit . . . enough to sort of understand it,” Leppitsch said.
“If you were preparing for a proper season of AFLX you’d say we’re very under-prepared, but just enough not to break too many rules . . .
“It’s new to everybody, so we’re all kind of guessing on what to do.
“I think the only thing we all know is a super goal, or a Zooper goal (from outside 40 metres), is worth 10 points and a goal’s worth six. So you might see a lot of strategising to try and get as many 10-pointers as you can because there really is a limited time-frame.
“When you’ve only got two 10-minute halves, you’ve really got to try and maximise your scoring.
“So look out for a fair bit of kicking backwards in a few games to try and score as many ‘tens’ as possible.”
Richmond will play Greater Western Sydney at 4.10pm on Saturday followed by Brisbane at 5.06pm.
The winner of the Tigers’ Pool A will then play the winner of Pool B (Sydney, Western Bulldogs, Gold Coast) in the grand final at 7.03pm that evening.
