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Not long ago, if you said that you were from “Tigerland”, you would have been laughed at. The “noughties” weren’t a fun time for the guys from Punt Rd.
They won just 37% of their games under Terry Wallace from 2005-2009, and it wasn’t much better after his departure.
“Ninthmond”, as the Tigers became known, was a phrase used amongst opposition supporters, coined just to annoy the Richmond faithful after consecutive years of finishing 9th on the ladder and the fact they haven’t played in the finals since 2001.
Fast forward to now and things are starting to change at Punt Rd., and for the better. It wasn’t that long ago that both Richmond and Melbourne were in the same position as each other.
Both clubs were “rebuilding” and both had a talent pool of youth at their disposal as high draft picks for poor performances were given to the struggling clubs.
However, one should not be so quick to applaud the recruiting of the Richmond football club. If anybody can remember, they picked Richard Tambling over Lance Franklin in the 2004 draft.
One issue that has been raised is the development of players once they arrive at a club. One can say that it has been poor at Melbourne; almost deplorable.
St. Kilda was great at it during the mid 2000s, with players like Riewoldt, Dal Santo and Luke Ball all being a product of the way St. Kilda was able to develop its young stars.
The Tigers have been good at developing these young players. One player in particular is Dustin Martin, whose four goal performance on the weekend showed how damaging he can be when he is switched on and wants to play football.
Jack Riewoldt, on his day, is the most damaging player in the competition who can kick goals at will. He is an important element to the Tigers success. When he is on song, the Tigers can match it with any other team. History shows that teams with great forwards will win the flag.
Their midfield now has so much depth players like Cotchin, Deledio, Houli, Foley, Jackson, Cotchin, Grigg, Conca. There is no reason not to be excited about this group of players. They have the perfect mix of ball winners and line breakers. Add a great ruckman to the mix in Ivan Maric and you almost have one of the best midfields in the competition.
The Tigers also have a good mix of small and tall defenders, and to add to this, they added an experienced defender in Troy Chaplin to their team, and a great first year player in Nick Vlastuin, who, if not for Jaeger O’Meara, would more than likely have taken home the Rising Star of the year.
Another thing the Tigers have worked on is their disposal efficiency. They are ranked second behind Hawthorn, but only by .6%. This shows how well the Tigers are using the ball.
If they want to have any realistic chance of winning the premiership, they need to beat three of their next four opponents. Their real test comes in round 17 against a red hot Fremantle, who have seemed to just grind their opponents into the ground.
Many have decided that this season is a four horse race, but AFL is a funny game. History shows it’s hard to win a premiership from outside the top four, but you can write off the Tigers at your own peril.
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