Richmond coach Damien Hardwick took several positives out of the Tigers’ second-round NAB Cup loss to Fremantle in last Sunday’s second round NAB Cup clash at Patersons Stadium.

An undermanned Tiger team worked hard to get within a goal of the Dockers 10 minutes into the last quarter, before the home side steadied and kicked the last five goals of the match to win by 38 points.

Richmond went into the game without players such as Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio, Nathan Foley, Daniel Jackson, Shaun Grigg and Dylan Grimes, and then rested the likes of skipper Chris Newman, Dustin Martin, Ivan Maric, Ty Vickery, Bachar Houli and Alex Rance in the second half. 

“I think the first half is probably a true reflection of where we’re at.  We took five or six of our senior blokes off (in the third quarter) and another two or three just after three-quarter time.  So, overall, we saw some good signs,” Hardwick said.

“There are some things, obviously, we’ve got to work on, but it gave the younger guys some experience there in the last quarter.

“I think our backline at one stage had a grand total of 83 games - and ‘Lukey’ McGuane had 80 of those!
“It was a good test for those guys . . . they certainly learned the pace of the game and that’s something they can take home and build on.”

Hardwick was particularly impressed with the way the Tigers’ forward line functioned early in the match, with tall targets Jack Riewoldt, Ty Vickery and Brad Miller all looking sharp.

“I thought our structure looked really good, but then we rested Jack, ‘Millsy’ and Ty, so we were kicking to some young kids at the end,” he said.

Richmond’s No. 1 pick in the 2011 AFL National Draft, Brandon Ellis, again was impressive, pushing his claims for a berth in the team for the big opening round clash with Carlton.

“We’ve still got two games to go, but he’s putting his best foot forward at this stage.  He’ll be thereabouts on his performance this far,” Hardwick said.
And the form of ex-Crow, Ivan Maric, in the ruck, delighted the coach . . .
“I thought he was very, very good in the first half.  We were up clearances quite comfortably in the first half,” Hardwick said.
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