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Richmond will be looking to win some credibility against Geelong on Saturday night. Join our live blog with scores and commentary from 7.40pm AEST.
While the Tigers have had a reasonable start to the season, they have yet to take a serious scalp.
The Round 1 win against Carlton looks to be the most respectable but the Blues were always destined to spend at least the first half of the season adjusting to their new coach.
Victories against the Saints and Dogs were to be a platform for Collingwood.
From there the rise of Richmond hasn’t continued as many hoped.
After leading at halftime against the Pies they were blown away by Travis Cloke, who finished with seven goals.
Last week’s encounter against Fremantle didn’t pose the threat of a dominant key forward, but again the Tigers were unable to come away with a win.
Consistently losing close matches is no longer an option for Richmond.
But they’ve picked a bad week to force scrutiny on their ability to close out matches, because they’re coming up against the team that has dominated since 2007 and shows no signs of slowing down.
Led by Joel Selwood, Tom Hawkins and Harry Taylor, the Cats have transitioned from a side full of ageing champions to one well complemented by promising youth.
Despite having yet to field recruit Hamish McIntosh and former Demon Jared Rivers again going down with a knee injury, Geelong is undefeated.
The loss of Rivers means Taylor won’t be able to play forward, but the expected return of Hawkins will allow Chris Scott to not have to tinker too much with his line-up.
Further giving Damien Hardwick cause for concern is Richmond hasn’t beaten Geelong since 2006.
Although this correlates with a period when Geelong has been brilliant and the Tigers not so much, it’s yet another mental demon Richmond will have to overcome.
In their favour, the match will be played at the MCG, a venue these teams haven’t played at since 2008.
Not to say the Cats play bad football at the ‘G (apparently they’ve picked up a few premierships there) but Geelong has won their last seven matches at Docklands.
Troy Chaplin’s possible return will be important if the Tigers are to stop Tom Hawkins wreaking havoc in the forward line.
Ultimately though this one will come down to the midfield battle.
Richmond’s depth through the middle of the ground will be seriously tested.
The obvious names are still playing well for Geelong, but Matthew Stokes, Steven Motlop and George Horlin-Smith are among the lesser lights that have seriously impressed this season.
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