Dion Prestia showed against Hawthorn at the MCG last Sunday just how much he is relishing his new run-with role at Richmond.
The Tigers’ mature-age midfield recruit had a huge assignment in his return to on-field action after being rested with leg soreness the previous round.
He lined up on the Hawks’ ball-winning machine Tom Mitchell, who’s averaging 35 disposals per match this season and is ranked No. 1 in the competition for total disposals.
Although Mitchell picked up his stock-standard 35 touches, just nine of them were kicks.
Prestia, in comparison, had 31 disposals, with 17 of them being kicks, a team-high seven clearances, 28 pressure acts, six tackles, and he scored a goal.
It was Prestia’s best game in his first season with Richmond after transferring from Gold Coast, and a performance pivotal to the Tigers securing a decisive victory over Hawthorn.
“I like going to players and working on them defensively and being able to get forward and use my running ability,” Prestia told ‘Fox Sports’ in a post-match interview.
“It’s a little challenge for me and that’s why it feels like it works . . . It was a role I did up on the Gold Coast a couple of times.
“It’s when we need to negate someone, rather than tag them, and I was happy to do it.
“I did it against Dayne Zorko a couple of weeks ago, which was good. I had Tommy Mitchell today, which was a bit harder.”
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick praised Prestia for his disciplined role on Mitchell, and the impact he’s been able to have on games recently.
“Dion’s starting to play some really good footy. He obviously missed last week, came back in this week, and looked really impressive,” Hardwick said.
“He did a pretty good job on (Tom) Mitchell . . .
“Mitchell’s always going to find the ball – he’s incredible at doing that – but really happy with Dion. He limited his effectiveness a bit.
“I thought Dion was pretty solid for us . . .”
