If Terry Wallace is still coaching Richmond at the end of this week, he should give all his players a DVD of the Fremantle-Western Bulldogs and tell them to have a good look at it on Friday night.
The Tigers, who let Wallace down dreadfully last Thursday night to turn a showpiece game into a shambles, could learn a lot from watching how the Dogs used precision kicking to hit teammates who were moving to the right places and, equally importantly, holding what came their way.
You couldn’t imagine a bigger contrast with Richmond’s woeful efforts: badly directed kicks, some forwards standing still and letting their opponents slip in front of them to intercept passes, and others spilling lollies of marks on the rare occasions they managed to get in the right position.
The proper way to play the game was on display in abundance at Subiaco on Sunday night, with the Dockers playing their part early through quick goals from rookies Stephen Hill and Rhys Palmer.
But after that the Bulldogs settled down, looked inevitable winners at quarter-time and eventually scored by 63 points in what I rate the most impressive performance of the weekend.
It was enough to make me even more convinced than I was last week that they’ll be credible threats to Geelong and Hawthorn in September.
Fremantle’s capitulation after such a bright start raises the serious possibility that they’ll give Essendon and Melbourne some competition for the wooden spoon.
The Dees, at least, showed that they could have some chance of getting off the bottom rung of the ladder by keeping the losing margin down to a fairly respectable 34 points against North Melbourne, but will face a stiffer test this week against the wounded Magpies.
Collingwood’s conquerors, Adelaide, showed they’ll be in serious contention for a top-four spot, and were among a number of teams, also including Carlton, whose policy of giving youngsters a chance to show their wares paid off.
Another was the until-now virtually friendless Port Adelaide, whose demolition of the Bombers showed last year’s performance was probably an aberration and better things can be expected.
But the biggest talking point after the full round of games was still the abysmal effort by Richmond against the resurgent Carlton way back on Thursday night.
Things aren’t going to get any easier for the Tigers, either, with another couple of probable demolitions looming away to Geelong and then against the Bulldogs at Docklands.
Sacking a coach on or before April Fool’s Day isn’t without precedent.
But if Wallace does go in what remains of this month or over the course of the next, he won’t be the record-holder for a quick departure. Wayne Schimmelbusch was asked to resign before the season even started after shocking performances by North Melbourne in 1993 pre-season games.
It was refreshing to see that Ben Cousins refused to blame the Richmond medical staff for his last-quarter breakdown, saying that contrary to the belief of most observers (me included), the problem he had at three-quarter-time was niggling tightness behind the knee, rather than the precursor to the torn hamstring he suffered six minutes after the break.
Cousins’ defence of the medicos was in keeping with the way he has handled himself so far in his comeback, which hopefully will continue to be judged by what he does on the field.
On Thursday night that was a respectable, if unspectacular, start before he broke down. Pretty much what could be reasonably expected, really, given his age and the length of his absence from the game.
And for those wondering what Tasmanian football has to do to convince the intransigent AFL that its expansionary future lies south of Bass Strait rather than west of Port Jackson, the state’s new-look competition structure looks like a positive move.
This season there is a 10-team State League, with five teams from the south of the island, three from the north and two from the north-west.
This will be supported by second-tier competitions in the south (12 teams – that might be a bit excessive), the north (eight teams) and north-west (six), with an under-23 team chosen from those three leagues to compete in the Australian amateur championships in Adelaide in July.
That, surprise, surprise, will perpetuate Tasmania’s status as a fertile breeding ground for the present AFL clubs.
It would be far better if it was channelled into a Tasmanian team to compete at the elite level, which could go some way to preventing what otherwise appears to be an inevitable drift away by youngsters to soccer, particularly if Tasmania gets an A League team, as is looking more and more likely.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
It was quite noticeable in the first round the effect of the new rushed-behind rule, ie. clearly players were looking to play out of trouble rather than go for the easy option - it was far more exciting, and it also meant that there was potentially more reward for forwards to try and bottle the opposition in - getting more numbers forward to do so - definitely makes for more attractive football.
Redb
Guest
ren, I agree the rushed behind rule worked really well. Even if a player fakes a handball to a team-mate narrowly missing him and it goes through the goals (as a Hawks player did on Friday night), they still can't just rush the ball back over the line when kicking out which in my opinion was the biggest crime against the spirit of the game. A pretty good round of footy bar the Carl v Rich game. The Geelong-Hawthorn was a cracker as expected. matta, not sure about the Tigers now I think they're already a shattered club. Perhaps new coach might tur it around, seems to always work like a miracle eh? Redb
ren
Roar Rookie
on another note the new rushed behind rule gets a big thumbs up. It definitely enhanced he contest and is a great rule as long as the umpires dont get it wrong which in itself is s bit much to ask.
ren
Roar Rookie
thanks pip, thats definitely the ng.one thing you miss at the game, other peoples thoughts and observations on what is going wrong
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Matta this has been a trend over the past decade (not sure of the stats, but increasingly teams with more bounces are generally the more successful teams). At first it was happening to combat the flood, but increasingly it's just as useful to combat the rolling cluster. It goes hand in hand with the increasing use of short, sharp handballs, i.e. if you're confronted with a stack of bodies clogging up the middle of the ground, better to quickly move laterally, while holding onto it and still going forward, and only kicking once someone is released up forward, as opposed to bombing it long to no one in particular. At the end of the day though, it's the old fashioned concept of drawing the defender and creating the loose man.
matta
Guest
not sure if anyone else thinks so but there seems to be a lot more running with the ball in AFL right now. Its a bit like the coaches are using he old Union term "ball in hand".... pity Union is taking on the early 2000's AFL aimless chip kicking.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
sorry - helps explain three things!!
Pippinu
Roar Guru
matta that's hilarious!! (in fairness, for a truer picture, you could have left out the two years they made the prelim!) Ren I should admit to you straight out that I'm a scragger from way back. Re the umps - I was watching with an ol' Footscray mate of mine, and every now and then we'd look at each other with a knowing look, like: we were bloody lucky then! So yes, I can admit that Freo didn't exaclty get home ground advantage from the umps! Also, despite the thumping, every now and then Freo did make our defenders look a bit silly, storming through the 50 - so there's no doubt that we need to tighten up our defence if we hope to improve on last year (which is a big ask, I might add). Re your comment about the Freo's defending, the commentary was saying that Freo was trying to work on this rolling grid defence (defending space rather than a man. etc) - and I'd say that this helps explain two things: 1. why at times you'd see three or four bullies roaring straight through the guts, seemingly up against only two dockers (if you were lucky!); 2. why at times there appeared to by very little close checking of a forward, enabling stacks of time and space for a shot; and 3. why the bullies handballed so much through the middle (but not only do you need the skills to do that, you need to have the legs - and as I said above, it's one thing having the legs in round one, it's a different story 4 months on).
ren
Roar Rookie
did you even watch the freo v dogs game. Yourarticle reads as though you just checked the scores and read an article on the afl website. Some errenous kicking by freo and some accurate kicking by the bulldogs especially in the third qtr meant the scoreboard didnt reflect the periods of freos dominance. Additionally when the dogs were hot they were really hot for example in the 1st qtr they were really able to hurt fremantle with 5 goals in quick succession, this also contributed to a bit of a blow out at the end, the margin was 22/26 points at one stage in the last qtr. But what hurt freo was the turnovers and this is where the bulldogs impressed me most, everytime freo turned it over they got hurt where it counts on the scoreboard. A lot of these turnovers came from players handballing behind the target (the running through the lines handball recieved). From what has been in the papers all summer, and the peformance yesterday evening freo seem to have spent far too much time on fitness and not enough on skills over the preseason, hopefully as the season moves foward the skill level will improve quickly. And just to put it all in context, the bulldogs were third last year while freo was third last, as pip said not the best test for where the bulldogs would hope to, and should be at. Pip- not sure if this was obvious on the tv, but the dogs destroyed freo everytime on the switch, it was painful watching it pan out at the ground, often the doggies were able to get 2 spare men on the switch. Though i think this had a bit to do with freo trying to put a zone on (but you really couldn't tell that well). Also to go with what pip said about the doggies always starting well, freo have now won just 1 of their last 8 opening games. And to finish off with I wouldn't be a one eyed freo man without having a dig at the umpires, not that it could ever have made any difference to the result but i thought that the umpiring was very inconsistent especially with the holding the ball / holding the man. They also missed a few of the bulldog players utilising the old flick pass, but the blame for that shocking display cleanly lands witht he dockers. Full marks to the bulldogs who with clean possesion and silky ball movement were able to hurt fremantle at every opportunity.
matta
Guest
I'll repeat what I said in another post "Wow what a shock that an over hyped Tigers team fail to deliver. I mean other than 83, 84, 85, 86, 87 ,88, 89, 90, 91, 92,93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07 and 08 the boys from punt road have really given so much back to the club haven’t they? I don’t there is an Australian professional club that makes me shake my head as much as Richmond………. I still think they will do OK and maybe make the final 8. But lets face it, you don’t really have to be that good to make the top 8 given there are only 16 teams in the comp and the natural draft cycle means there will always be a few teams in trouble. And dont forget that they always win a few at the end of the season when Bowden, Richo and Co figure their contracts are coming due"
Pippinu
Roar Guru
It's always dangerous to make bold predictions in the last weekend of March! I didn't expect the bullies to win, much less dismantle a Freo team who aren't all that bad (but with some players perhaps lacking on the mental side of things). We should keep in mind that the bullies have made a habit of opening seasons in that fashion for nigh on 12 years - it's a brand of football suited to the hard, dry grounds of March, with players full of run following the pre-season, yet to pick up niggly injuries and with other teams yet to get into the habit of locking down games. But peel away the gloss of yesterday's great win, and you'll find the usual issues: 1. No big man up forward; 2. an aging Johno filling in as a target; 3. an overwhelming reliance on outrunning your opponent; and 4. too much hope hanging on a bloke who is still learning the game. Having said that, the bullies probably look as hard and strong as they have ever looked since 1997-98, but Freo isn't really the true test of that side of the game!