I made the trip down to Geelong last Sunday, and after the game what I felt was pride, but at the same time I was shattered. We were gallant all afternoon, but again, a few minutes here and there of lapses in concentration were again the difference in the result.
I feel our current record of 1-3 doesn’t do the start to our season justice. We’ve brought it right up to some of the best teams in the league, and we wouldn’t have been out of place to at least come away with the four points in one of those games.
This week is another chance to grab a major scalp, and I think the boys will be determined to come out and really give the Eagles a shake. I think if you asked any Richmond fan at the start of the year that if we came out of the first five rounds at 2-3, they’d take it.
Now the hard task is to actually go out and get those four points.
It won’t be easy. The Eagles are undefeated, they like playing at Etihad stadium, and they have an abundance of tall players that any club in the league would struggle to match up on.
It will be interesting to see if the match committee decide to bring in an extra tall this week in place of Addam Maric. I think it’d be a good idea, because currently we only have two tall key defenders in Dylan Grimes and Alex Rance. The Eagles have shown they’re not afraid to play four talls up in their forward line at the same time, so that could pose a really big threat to the Tigers. Jack Darling’s really taken his game up a notch this year, and he’s floating very high up the ground. I like Jake Batchelor with this match up. Batch is in great form, so we should back him with this one.
Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui pose the biggest threat in my opinion. Cox has been playing about 70% of the game up forward this year and then having a really dominant five to ten minute spell in each quarter in the ruck. Nic Naitanui is the main ruckman around the ground now, but the Eagles like to play a few tricks with their rucks. Sometimes you’ll see Naitanui start in the midfield at a centre bounce, but he’s actually playing up forward. He’ll lose the midfielder, and all of the sudden there’s a mismatch in the forward line. Naitanui’s improved his tap work ten-fold this season so it’s crucial our midfielders are aware of what he’s trying to do with the likes of Luke Shuey, Scott Selwood, Matt Priddis, Daniel Kerr and the rest of their guys.
Coming out of their backline, Shannon Hurn is the other guy we must try and shut down. He might only get 10-15 kicks a game but each one of those gains about 60 metres each for his side. Matt White is known for his great efforts on opposition small defenders, so I think he’d be a pretty good match up for Hurn to make sure he’s kept responsible. If he gets off the leash and has a 30 possession game, it’s pretty much the game right there.
The Eagles have lots of weapons, but again so do we. Melbourne made a big mistake last week by tagging every Bulldogs player they could, but they couldn’t find the footy themselves. It’s crucial the game isn’t played on West Coast’s terms. They like to kick short and spot up leads and with their precise kicking and it’s hard to stop, especially with the talls they’ve got.
It’s a massive game for the Tigers. Make sure you get down there Sunday to give them that extra edge!
Follow me on Twitter @KristianPisano
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