Richmond great Matthew Richardson highlights six key points arising from the Tigers’ 34-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG last Saturday.
- The Tiger team learned a valuable lesson at the hands of one of the competition’s powerhouses.
There’s no doubt Richmond has improved further as a side this season. But, as Collingwood showed on Saturday, the Tigers still have a fair way to go before they can consistently match it throughout with the very best in the business. The Magpies have played in the past seven finals series for two Grand Final appearances (three if you count the drawn one) and one premiership. At the moment, as a collective group, they’re significantly more seasoned and stronger than their Tiger counterparts. They were able to apply constant fierce pressure to the Tigers and force them into errors. Precious little separated the two teams for most of the match, but Richmond’s 15-20-minute drop-off in intensity during the third quarter proved critical. It was the key difference between a top four team and one challenging for a finals berth. To successfully compete at that high level, you have to go flat out for 100% of the time.
2. Richmond’s resilience was an admirable feature of its game.
When Collingwood got that third quarter run-on and kicked eight unanswered goals, it looked like Richmond could have been blown right out of the water. The Magpie Army was in full cry, as their team bolted out to a 49-point lead, and the Tigers simply seemed incapable of stemming the bleeding. From there, however, they were able to kick the last two goals of the third quarter and the first two of the last, to cut the deficit to 22 points, with about half the final term still to play. They had chances to get even closer, too, before the Pies steadied and ran out comfortable winners. To me, that fightback was a sign of Richmond’s improved maturity as a group.
3. Conan the Barbarian wouldn’t have been able to stop Travis Cloke.
The powerful Magpie key forward is in awesome marking form at the moment, and he’s kicking for goal is pretty good, too. I reckon even two of the greatest full-backs of the modern era in Stephen Silvagni and Matthew Scarlett would struggle to curb Cloke right now, so Alex Rance shouldn’t feel too disappointed that he was well beaten by him. I’m sure the Richmond coaching team will be working on third man in assistance for future battles with the likes of Cloke and the competition’s other power forwards. The good news, however, is that there aren’t too many of them going around anymore . . .
4. Brandon Ellis is showing some really good signs.
The second-year Tiger has been the team’s sub three weeks in-a-row now, but he’s still managed to have an impact when he’s come on late in the game, which is testimony to his maturity and fine attitude. Ellis had 13 touches in less than a half after replacing Shane Tuck last Saturday and provided the team with some important run. I don’t reckon it would be easy for such a young, inexperienced player to exert much influence in the sub’s role, but Brandon Ellis has managed to do so – and against top-class opposition in Collingwood – which is a real credit to him.
5. The support offered by the Yellow and Black faithful is fantastic.
Richmond supporters outnumbered their Collingwood counterparts at the ‘G’, and that’s certainly no mean feat! It was amazing to learn that it was the first time in the Tigers’ history they had attracted two 80,000-plus crowds during a home-and-away season. And, we’re only four weeks into season 2013, with the big ‘Dreamtime’ game coming up in a few weeks, plus at least a couple of other huge-drawing possibilities later in the season. The Club already has more than 55,000 members for the season, and is right on track in the hunt for its 2013 goal of 60,000 members. Let’s hope the tremendous faith and loyalty of the Richmond fans is rewarded with Tiger finals action this season.
6. A fit Nathan Foley will be a huge plus for the Tigers.
I was delighted to see at the weekend that Foley got through his first hit-out at VFL level with Coburg unscathed after his serious Achilles injury problems of last season. Foley is the ultimate professional with regards to his preparation and approach to the game. He’s also a very good player – one of the best midfielders going around when fit. Let’s not forget he represented Victoria a few years ago. He will be a huge bonus for Richmond with a few more runs under his belt at VFL level. If anyone deserves a change of luck on the injury front, it’s certainly Nathan Foley . . .
