If you wanted irrefutable evidence that aerial supremacy is not a key component of Richmond’s current, highly-successful game plan, look no further than the marking column in the statistics from the 2020 Grand Final victory over Geelong at the Gabba.
The Tigers took a total of just 36 marks, which was the lowest by any Grand Final-winning team since the introduction of match statistics in the AFL/VFL competition in 1965.
Of all the Grand Finalists throughout the past 55 years, only one has finished a premiership-decider with less marks. That was Richmond, which managed a meagre 34 marks in its 1982 Grand Final loss to Carlton.
Kane Lambert led the Tigers for marks in this year’s Grand Final with four, while six other team members had three – Liam Baker, Shai Bolton, Tom Lynch, Kamdyn McIntosh, Jack Riewoldt and Jayden Short.
There were six Tiger players who didn’t register a mark against the Cats – Shane Edwards, Jack Graham, Toby Nankervis, Marlion Pickett, Dion Prestia and Nick Vlastuin, who was sidelined after the first minutes of the match due to concussion.
Richmond averaged 68.4 marks per game for the 2020 season and was ranked 10th competition-wide in this category.
Geelong, who had a combined total of 51 marks in this year’s Grand Final, was the No. 1 ranked marking team in the competition.
