I figured that my fellow bloggers would comment over the victory and the expectation that will follow our overall impressive Round 1 victory against Carlton however, I wanted to focus on what went wrong for the club during that final quarter. Almost half way through the third term the Tigers built a 42-point lead against the Blues. It was (up until that point) an impressive display that left Carlton shaking in their boots. Mick Malthouse changed his game style, admitting freely on Fox Footy’s On The Coach that Carlton had to adapt and change the way they played.
Carlton’s attempt at drawing Richmond closer to the boundary line didn’t work in the first half. Their changed gameplan hardly worked in the third quarter either; Richmond managed to maintain a healthy 30+ point lead at 3QT. What changed in that final quarter was belief. Carlton had a sniff and Richmond knew it. It was disheartening to see such a lead evaporate so quickly, but the mental demons that have placed a strangle hold over our Tigers is still relevant in 2013 as it was in 2012.
Several missed opportunities by Yarren, Kruezer and Hampson were lucky, just. What concerned me was the coaching decision on who should take the kick ins. Trent Cotchin (our best ball winner) took the kick ins when the scores were 99-105, 100-105, 101-105. In theory this sounds like a great idea, give our best decision maker the ball at difficult stages of the match so that decision can be his to make. Unfortunately the first two times Cotchin kicked deep towards the half back flank. It was not a precise kick only Cotch could do. He kicked it to a contest. Each time to a contest and, at every instance the ball came right back in. Taking Cotchin away from those contests to give him the kick backfired. At each opportunity Carlton regained possession and brought the ball forward. If Cotchin was up the field, and say for example Houli or Newman took the kick in, maybe Richmond would have cleared the ball forward?
The predictability and lack of creativity confused me. Why were we trying to defend a game we hadn’t won yet? The short kick in to our loose player in the defense followed by that long 60 meter kick to the wing was something we didn’t actually try. Jack Riewoldt had to run up towards CHB. How could we have kicked the winning goal with our Coleman medalist deep in defense? These observations I make are quite minor and will be sorted out by the coaching group. But again, it’s not what you want to see 5 minutes left in the match. Fatigue was an issue no doubt, but decision-making is just as important. Don’t continually kick to a spot where it’s just not working.
Ultimately I think winning that game will do so much for our psyche. It’s another demon we’ve eradicated in the last few years. The Collingwood & Geelong games are just as important. Richmond’s recent record has not been good against both these heavyweights. I cannot wait for this Friday night’s game against St.Kilda. Beating Carlton was fantastic and backing it up for back-to-back wins would be a tremendous start to the season and our best since 2005. Remember that Richmond members get in for free. The club has made this game against St.Kilda the replacement game for our home match against the Gold Coast in Cairns. Let’s get that attendance count ticking it ’s Tiger Time!!
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Constandinos Bouliopoulos
