For those who follow (@BenDepedro) me on Twitter might have seen a friendly bet I have made with a colleague. Talking footy with the boys at work we discussed the tigers and Freo game to which my Colleague had said that Richmond would get annihilated by Fremantle. My reply was that not only would we beat Fremantle but I believed that we would win 2 of the next 3 games with Fremantle, Sydney and Hawthorn, and the bet was born.
With the first leg of that bet down we have beaten Fremantle, rather convincingly, at their own game, you may query where I believe the next win will come from and the answer is Sydney at the SCG. Tiger fans always remember a win and the last time we played both of last year’s grand finalists Richmond came away with convincing wins. That is the first reason I believe we can win, the second reason comes back to belief in the coaching and playing group there is greater depth and flexibility in the Tiges this year which also bodes well for us.
Sydney also have the addition of Kurt Tippet which has added more potency in the Sydney forward line. However, at the SCG they drew to an undermanned Fremantle of whom we had defeated by 27 points and are around the pace we need to be.
So let’s talk stats which highlight where we are better and where we need to improve, the areas we are better than Sydney are as follows (all stats are averages sourced from the AFL website):
Richmond Sydney
- Disposal efficiency 72.3% 69.5
- Uncontested Possession 219.8% 206.6%
- Marks inside 50 12.6 12.2
There are areas of our game in which we pride ourselves such as:
- Rebound 50’s 35.2 37.9
- Clearances 37 43.7
- Contested possession 136.6 159.9
Which are areas we need to focus on to win this game. Sydney will try to play a clearance style game and dominate possession and the scoreboard on their home ground. With Mike Pike playing some of his best footy the former Basketballer is dominating hit outs and floating forward to impact the scoreboard. Big Ivan will have to be on top of his game once again to give us first use of the ball, should that fail we may employ the same clearance tactic as against the West Coast Eagles where we dominated the clearance of their hit outs by creating a ring around the tap out, let them get first possession then apply pressure to the next movement of the ball.
All of which is merely speculation but I am of the belief that on our best day we can beat Sydney. Which brings me back to the bet mentioned earlier, it seems a bit risky to put all my eggs in one basket but the 3 from 2 idea was predicated on the fact that we had beaten both Sydney and Hawthorn the last time we met as well as the similar style of play we have with Hawthorn. We are a good chance in both games.
I must admit that I have been very confident in the boys this year which has led me to such bold claims and I think that all our remaining games are winnable and we are a chance to make the top 4 in a best case scenario and while that is a possibility I will remain hopeful.
My pie in the sky ideas can be followed on twitter @BenDepedro and as always GO TIGERS #tigerstop4 start trending.
