After a fantastic month of football where the club was looking to push into the top eight, a pitiful performance against a lower placed club in Port Adelaide provided most Richmond supporters with a tough-to-swallow reality check.
While many supporters have placed the blame firmly on the board and the President for selling that particular home game to Darwin, I think that’s a long bow to draw.
The fact of the matter is if that game had been played at the MCG, and we put up a performance like that, we would have been beaten in the same fashion.
It was a lacklustre match for the majority of the contest and despite being in the game until the final ten minutes, Richmond never looked like challenging for the lead.
Inconsistencies are going to be prevalent with such a young list however it doesn’t make them any less inexcusable.
With having the bye directly the week after it gives everyone involved at the club some time to stew over that loss, and hopefully drive them towards a much better performance against Sydney at the SCG on Sunday.
Sydney in general hasn’t been a fun team to play against during the past five years. Although we pulled off a very stirring and emotional win against them last year in Melbourne, the Swans usually touch us up by a fair margin.
With their dismantling of Brisbane up at the Gabba last week they are in some magnificent form not to mention being at almost full strength. Adam Goodes is a constant headache for every AFL club, however he always seems to provide a special performance for his games against Richmond. Keeping him below his usual lofty standards will be a key component of any type of Richmond challenge.
It will also be a great chance for our young midfield to redeem themselves against Sydney’s midfield, who are notoriously known for being very difficult to gain possession against. Cotchin, Martin, Foley and Grigg will all have to be on their games to match it with the ever-consistent Jude Bolton along with Adam Goodes and Ryan O’Keefe.
One positive this week looks to be the possible inclusions of Jeromey Webberly and Tom Hislop.
Webberly has been a standout performer for reserves side Coburg in what has been a bleak year for the VFL side so far. In my opinion he has been very unlucky to miss out on selection until now, as he is one of the safest ball users at the club coming off a wing of back flank. Also a very unassuming type, Webberly could possibly be a good match up for the dangerous Lewis Jetta or Trent Dennis-Lane.
Tom Hislop is a player who I’d love to see make it. He has had to deal with a lot of adversity over the past couple of years due to both injury and form issues, but it seems he has finally got his body right for one last tilt at making an AFL career. Hislop will provide a strong body around the footy if he does play, which has got to be a positive inclusion when facing a team as strong as Sydney. I wish him all the best.
All I’m looking for on Sunday is an improved performance. Finals shouldn’t even be on the radar at the moment, but a consistent four-quarter effort will at the very least show that the club is still on the right track, and that the Port Adelaide game was a mere speed bump.
