In last week’s blog I pleaded with the club that they put GWS to the sword and make a statement after the disappointing loss to Carlton a week earlier. Boy did they deliver!

As I said last week, it hasn’t been fun watching us lose to, or scrape past these expansion teams in previous meetings only to watch rival clubs rack up percentage boosting wins over them, so it was refreshing to see the boys stamp their authority on last week’s game.

It was also nice to see Aaron Edwards come in and have a scoreboard impact with five goals. While it may have only been one-way traffic after quarter-time, he still provided a good presence and leading target inside our forward 50 which is what we may need come September if Jack Riewoldt isn’t quite 100%.

Having multiple avenues to goal is a must for any team competing in finals, and I think Edwards compliments that perfectly given the fact he is strong on the lead and deadly accurate in front of goal.

Down the other end of the ground, young Giants superstar Jeremy Cameron may not have had a huge amount of ball coming his way, but the way Alex Rance absolutely dominated the in-form forward by keeping him to just two kicks for the day was an incredible feat.

‘Rancey’ still has some knockers on his kicking and the decisions he makes with the ball, but no one can question his defensive prowess and how often he beats his man in a one-on-one situation. There’s also no doubt that the addition of Troy Chaplin down back has helped his game immensely. Throw in a fit Dylan Grimes and we have a great three-pronged tall defensive unit who are all dour defenders that can attack when needed.

Then there’s our smaller defensive unit in Steve Morris, Bachar Houli and Chris Newman who have all now played enough football together to create a really strong and cohesive backline, which is a must when it comes to finals.

With so many unknowns going on in the AFL at the moment, it’s difficult to plan and predict what is going to happen over the next two weeks.

First on the agenda is obviously Essendon this week, who are probably going to be as unpredictable as an opponent can be given the ongoing saga that is currently affecting their football club.

How are they going to respond to the possible penalties to be handed out this week? Will the intense pressure and stress that they are under be too much to overcome? Or will they band together and play with pride and passion in what could potentially be their final game of the year to show that they are still a club to be reckoned with?

It is so hard to predict what will happen Saturday night, but if I was to have a guess I’d say it will be the latter.

That is not such a bad thing though for Dimma and the boys, as it will provide the perfect challenge and tune-up before heading into week one of the finals. Hardwick always talks about ‘controlling the controllables’ and just focusing on inside the four walls of the Richmond Football Club, which is exactly what we’ll have to do to not get caught up in all the controversy surrounding the Bombers.

The other interesting sideshow to all this is who we will meet in our elimination final. With speculation on the Bombers perhaps losing their place in the finals, this will directly impact who we may meet in our first finals series since 2001. I’m hoping it’s a meeting with Port Adelaide in Melbourne as I feel that’s our best chance to prolong our finals run, but it could end up being Collingwood, Carlton or even North Melbourne who have all had the wood over us recently.

The good news is that we look like we’ll head into the finals probably fielding our strongest side possible, so we certainly won’t be left wondering!

Before then though we have a massive clash against an old arch enemy with their backs against the wall, so hopefully we can continue on from the strong showing last week and give the Bombers some payback for earlier in the year!

Go Tiges!

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