Richmond is well aware the Western Bulldogs, with their overall blend of strong defence and attacking flair, present a formidable challenge in Saturday night’s Round 16 clash at Etihad Stadium.
The Bulldogs cemented their place in the top eight (currently in sixth spot) with a superb victory over the powerful Sydney Swans side at the SCG last weekend, and they now have their sights set on a top-four berth.
“Their contested ball, tackles, clearances, pressure, they’ve been very good all year, so, for us, we’re going to have our work cut out around the ball. But we have absorbed a fair bit of pressure through our midfield this year, and hoping to do the same again on Saturday night,” Richmond assistant coach Brendon Lade said on this week’s edition of Roar Vision’s ‘Opposition Analysis’.
“They’ve got a great mix there (in the midfield) . . . They’re really high in contested ball (numbers), they all win their own footy . . . a lot of them win clearances and (Marcus) Bontempelli has shown he can go forward and dominate as well.
“If he just drifts down (forward), one of our ‘mids’ will take him. If he stays there, obviously one of our defenders will.”
Richmond is likely to assign its two best defenders, Alex Rance and Dylan Grimes, the significant task of curbing dangerous Bulldog forward Jake Stringer.
“They’ll probably both go through him at various stages. ‘Rancey’ has done well on him before and so has ‘Grimesy’,” Lade said.
“Grimesy’s been our match-up for those type of players in the past . . . Hopefully, one of them will do a job and he doesn’t kick too many goals against us.
“He (Stringer) goes through patches in games where he’s just unstoppable . . .
“That’s how he plays and we’ve got to make sure we’re switched on the whole time, so he doesn’t do that.
“He’s similar to Dustin (Martin) . . . he’s very hard to match up on in his forward line and does kick some goals for them.”
Dashing Dogs defender Jason Johannisen is another player who has figured prominently in Richmond’s plans for the match.
Johannisen returned to the Bulldogs’ line-up against the Swans last Saturday night, following 10 weeks on the sidelines with a severe hamstring injury and had an impressive instant impact, picking up 20 disposals and kicking the winning goal.
“It’s been a great comeback from him . . . straight into the side and to play well and kick the winning goal,” Lade said.
“He adds a lot of run to their side, dash and flair, so we have to be on our game to stop him . . .
“Their defence is a little bit different to most. They just take whoever’s next to them, so he (Johanissen) could end up on (Jack) Riewoldt at some stage, or he could be on someone like a Kane Lambert.
“For us, if you’re near him, we obviously don’t want the ball in his hands, especially getting handball-receives.”
