Assistant coach, Backline and Defence, Justin Leppitsch, spoke to Richmond Media about the Round 2 draw against Collingwood in this week's edition of Coaches' Corner, presented by Hostplus.

How did you feel about the result?

"Well I was happy as the defensive coach because when you keep a team to a really low score like that, you’re always happy defensively. Neither team could really get their offence up and running, whether that’s a credit to the defence or the fact that we were a little bit rusty, probably a little bit of both."

As a coach, what can you take out of a game like that?

"I think both clubs would have spent a lot of time on their offence this week. Just making sure our connection and cohesion with the ball was a little bit better. We wasted a few opportunities, but it’s also a good opportunity to reinforce some the good things we’re doing defensively and we’re going to have to be really strong defensively against Hawthorn this week because they’re a team that will test us with the ball."

 What changed for Richmond after the first quarter?

"All (Collingwood’s) goals early were really based out of stoppage, kicking the ball forward and winning contests, or winning the ball in the front half from a contest…One thing we did really well was making sure they couldn’t move the ball from their backline all the way through to their forward line and that was done pretty consistently throughout the night. Once that turned around we found the game was on our terms a bit more, but we just couldn’t capitalise on some of the good work we were doing."

With Collingwood typically being a high-scoring side, how pleasing was it to see Richmond’s defence limit the Pies to just one goal after quarter time?

"It was a really good effort by our boys. There was a couple of hairy moments early, a couple of quick snap goals that Collingwood got. But all in all, the guys rebounded well. They got better with every minute of the game which is always a good sign, but they haven’t played together for a while so it’s going to take time to get that cohesion back."

Defender Nathan Broad played courageously and took a couple of crucial marks, what did you think of his efforts?

"It was a good growth in Broady’s game. He’s not often the spare player or put in a position like that to intercept the ball, but he had his chance and did it well a few times…he did a really good job."