Richmond assistant coach Ben Rutten provides ‘Roar Vision’ with a snapshot of the main attributes of Greater Western Sydney’s game ahead of this Saturday’s clash between the Tigers and Giants at Spotless Stadium.

Elite stoppage work (No. 1 team in the competition for clearances, No. 2 for contested ball)

“Winning the stoppage battle’s really important. But the guys outside of the stoppage (Scully, Kelly and co.), being able to spread and surge and score, is what makes them really dangerous. We have to match them inside the contest.” 

Elite rebounding defenders (Wilson, Shaw and Williams)

“They’re all really dangerous players . . . Heath Shaw is a bit of a general back there for them and really sets them up. They (the rebounding defenders) like to get the ball on the outside and use their run and dash. It’s a real strength for them, that rebound off half-back . . . The preferred option for us is to try and make it a bit more predictable (force them to kick down the line). But there’ll be times they’ll get out, and we just need to make sure we’re scrambling and defending the best we can.”

Big, powerful key forwards (Cameron, Patton and Lobb)

“They get their forwards running back towards goal and they’re able to score on the back of that. Those guys are dangerous in the air, but also at ground level because of their mobility . . . Hopefully we can get the ball forward and lock it in our forward line, so that we don’t have to worry about running back to goal so much.”

Veteran star forward Steve Johnson

“He’s probably not putting together the full, four-quarter performance that we’ve traditionally seen from him and that’s he known for. But that sort of performance you see when the game’s on the line (his match-winning goal v Collingwood last Saturday) . . . it’s when the cream comes to the top. Stevie’s still more than capable of doing those sorts of things. So he’s a dangerous player . . . a very good player.”