The Roar
The Roar

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After four rounds, Richmond are a rabble

14th April, 2014
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Expert
14th April, 2014
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1810 Reads

It is early in the season and the blowtorch has already been applied to more than half a dozen clubs in the era of the 24-hour news cycle.

Collingwood have worked their way into the season after a horror Round 1, Sydney silenced their critics last week only to have them find voice again after their home loss to North, and Melbourne have bought some time after their first win under Paul Roos.

Little was expected of Brisbane pre-season and they’ve delivered less, striking unimaginable injury trouble along the way. Adelaide were under the pump after opening the season as victims of three consecutive thumpings.

St Kilda went into the season as favourites for the wooden spoon but responded in fine style to win their opening two matches.

Carlton’s ineptitude against Essendon last Sunday spared Richmond the heat after a loss to the Western Bulldogs in Round 3. The most despised of Tiger enemies again helped out their bitter rivals again by conspiring to lose to the hapless Dees, taking the focus off the Tigers’ embarrassing display against the Pies.

Well, not anymore.

It has been an alarming fall from grace for Richmond, after a 2013 rise which included periods of stunning football and heady results when obliterating both grand finalists, Hawthorn and Fremantle, in the middle-to-latter part of the season.

Richmond’s two losses and two close wins against Carlton over the last 12 months have been well documented, and offer penetrating insight into all that is good and bad about the Tigers.

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The last four times they’ve met the Blues, they have held leads of 37 points, 32, 30 and 37. The respective results have been Richmond by 12 points, Carlton by 20, Carlton by 10 and the Tiges by 5.

This is not a mentally strong football team and as a club they have to overcome decades of cultural softness and inadequacy.

At their best, which was seen increasingly consistently over seasons 2012 and 2013, Richmond was one of the finest exponents of ‘fast footy’ in the league.

Their trademark was instinctively switching the ball in the back half before sweeping it forward with a wave of runners alongside each other, whipping the ball between them with quick handballs and finishing it off on the scoreboard.

The Tigers would run hard, both to create space for a teammate and also to find it themselves, which helped when using short kicking to provide death by a thousand cuts. Being in space and hitting free players means not having to be as precise with foot skills as you do when under pressure.

This freedom actually sees you hit more laser passes because in your mind there is no punishment for error. Hawthorn has turned it into a fine art, but deliver the same precision when the heat is on.

The ability to cut a swathe through the middle of the ground with that sort of run and movement can only come from individuals playing with confidence and enjoying their footy. Right now, the opposite applies to every person wearing yellow and black.

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Playing stagnant football kills you in today’s game. Teams are defensively set up to stifle their opponents, and slow movement of the ball plays into their hands.

A player lacking confidence in a team under siege doesn’t want to make a mistake. He doesn’t want to be the one to let the team down. So he holds onto the ball and either chips it short – often sideways or backwards – or goes long down the line.

Neither scenario helps his team.

The sideways chip, when not part of an attacking switch, simply allows the opposition more time to set up their defensive zone. They can then sweat on the inevitable mistake, when the pressured man with the ball goes short to a 50-50 contest, and rush into an open forward line.

The long kick down the line isn’t much better. It is almost always to an out-numbered situation that involves the opposition ruckman, at least one key defender and the specialist third man up.

Having the entire opposition between the ball carrier and your forward line also makes it difficult for leading forwards to find space and forces them into one-on-three situations (hello, Jack Riewoldt). They become discouraged at their futile leads, and eventually stop working as hard, meaning there are even fewer options and the vicious circle becomes a noose.

Riewoldt is the poster-child for Richmond when things go awry, the easy target for both the media and opposition supporters who are probably lucky to watch the Tigers twice a year.

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As someone who has watched him closely, his work ethic and appetite for the contest is far higher than he is given credit for. Claims of his selfishness are so ridiculous as to be bordering on defamatory.

When a team is down on form and confidence the instinct is to focus on the players, savaging their faults and deficiencies. But the Richmond of 2014 has largely the same players as 2013.

Matt Thomas has come in for Shane Tuck as the hard-nut clearance specialist, and Shaun Hampson has been decent ruck cover for Ivan Maric, but the rest are the same.

Speaking of these additions, people are starting to criticise of the list strategy of mature-age recruiting. People have been vocal about Richmond getting ahead of themselves and ‘topping up’ for a premiership.

Shaun Grigg and Bachar Houli were whipping boys at their original clubs, christened as successes in their first few years at Richmond as the Tigers climbed, and are back to their original state now the footy has turned ugly.

Outside players are the first to cop it when form goes south.

Troy Chaplin finished third in the best and fairest last season but, like his team, is shadow of those capabilities. Ivan Maric was almost All-Australian in his first season at Tigerland, but has laboured under injury since.

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Aaron Edwards has played nine games for the Tiges, Shaun Hampson three, Chris Knights five, Matt Thomas four. Ricky Petterd has played fifteen, much to the chagrin of this Richmond-supporting writer.

This is hardly a list of rejects over-running the club. Most have shown they can be an integral part of a side finishing fifth on the ladder after a home-and-away season. It’s a fair question to ask whether they can take them any further.

There is a problem when too many limited footballers are in the one side. Any confidence and form issues are only compounded when the worst of each player is on display.

Damien Hardwick has built a list of hard-nosed footballers and solid citizens. On their bad days, they’re a bunch of one-paced triers. What his squad is lacking is speed and class, players who can turn a match when the chips are down.

Trent Cotchin has class. So too Brett Deledio, Dustin Martin, Riewoldt when on song and Nick Vlastuin. Chris Newman used to have it, but he’s barely touched the ball this year. It’s a pretty thin list for a supposed top-four contender.

Richmond couldn’t run with the young Gold Coast and Western Bulldogs sides, and Chris Yarran always has a field day in second halves when the Blues mount their comebacks.

Damien Hardwick has built this list, and now it’s up to him to turn it around. He’s been soundly out-coached on more than a few occasions in the last year. His lengthy honeymoon period is over. It’s grind-it-out time.

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His team needs to remember that fast mistakes are better than slow mistakes. The worst thing you can do is take too long to make bad decisions.

A trip to Brisbane this week comes at the right time, a chance to get out of Melbourne and play a team even further mired in the doldrums than themselves. A loss is not even worth contemplating.

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