Remember the days when Alastair Clarkson loaded up his team with players possessing sublime foot skills? When power forwards and rucks mattered? When experience mattered? Well, those days are gone.
The 2017 grand final showcased not only the rise of Richmond, but also the rise of four new football strategies.
1. Foot skills are no longer key
The Tigers broke through opposition defences this year not with pinpoint passes but elite running and smothering.
Up forward, Richmond relied on quantity of delivery inside 50, not quality. They had the third-highest number of inside 50s and were the third-best in minimising opponent kicks per game, however they ranked 16th in marks per game and recorded the worst number of clangers in the whole competition.
2. Power forwards don’t matter that much
Richmond won without having a power forward who could be depended on for several contested marks and several goals per game.
In fact, the absence of a power forward was a key advantage because it allowed them to stack their forward line with six tackling machines.
This approach proved particularly suitable for finals. As pressure around midfield contests intensified and delivery into all forward lines became scrappier, the Tigers’ forwards were better adapted to lock the ball in.
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3. Who cares about winning hit outs?
Winning hit outs can be a disadvantage because having a ruck reduces the number of shorter, nippier players a team can have in the centre square and around the contests.
In fairness, the Crows’ ruck had some damaging hit-outs in the first quarter of the grand final, however Richmond’s response was both creative and unpanicked (unlike in previous seasons).
Toby Nankervis was replaced in the ruck by smaller players like Shaun Grigg for much of the middle part of the game and the Tigers’ midfield simply focused more of their pressure on wherever the Crows’ ruck was hitting the ball.
This was clearly a pre-set plan because Richmond went into the grand final with no back-up ruckman.
4. Experience means jack
Nearly half Richmond’s grand final players had fewer than 60 games’ experience, none of their players had played in a grand final previously, and only two had played 200 games.
The above four patterns were already beginning to emerge last season, if not earlier.
In 2016, the Bulldogs won a premiership despite their best field kick, Bob Murphy, sitting on the sidelines. They relied instead on being contested ball beasts and using strings of lightning-fast handballs to put their less skilled kicks out in the open when they kicked (and relying primarily on Jason Johanissen for elite running).
The Bulldogs played their best football when Tom Boyd was in the ruck and Jake Stringer was their tallest forward, allowing their small forward line to lock the ball in with ferocious tackling.
While the Bulldogs went into the 2016 grand final with two ruckmen, earlier in the 2016 season they had pioneered the use of mid-sized runners as rucks. For large chunks in many games, the Dogs played without seeing a need for a traditional tall ruck in the ruck contests.
And Luke Beveridge’s boys won despite having numerous inexperienced ‘role players’, such as Clay Smith, Joel Hamling, Shane Biggs, Zaine Cordy, Toby Maclean, Tory Dickson, Caleb Daniel, Fletcher Roberts, Josh Dunkley and Tom Boyd.
In 2018, expect to see kicking efficiency reduced in big games and many teams replacing their slower players – like veterans, rucks and lumbering forwards – with nippy, young tacklers.
Gecko
Roar Pro
Dougie your 5/6 theory for the forward line may be correct. It'll be tested next year. I've got another theory - 5/6 members of the backline must have played a lot of games together as a unit. Your doggies stretched that theory a bit last year but it's held up pretty well this century. (In contrast, the Tigers in 2017 have shown that the forwards don't need to have played that much together at all!).
Don Freo
Guest
I wonder what clubs would pay if Richmond offered "manic pressure" for a trade in the draft.
Don Freo
Guest
So, nothing like Sandi.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Any chance you'll take Cloke back?
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Mason Cox. He's a complete dud. International beanpole project player at Collingwood. A bit like a skinnier version of Aaron Sandilands, without any footy smarts yet.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Excellent article Terry. Great to see you back on The Roar. I agree with your summation and most of your comments. Although I still think there is room to carry one forward who is poor defensively so long as they are great offensively (e.g. Stringer), provided they are surrounded by 5 blokes who are good at competing when the ball goes to ground and good at applying pressure. Many backlines still carry tall blokes who are poor with the ball in hand under pressure (e.g. Grimes). So long as a forward can defend, chase-down and apply pressure against their direct opponent, then they aren't a liability. The team can have all the pressure forwards they like, but they still need to kick goals. Richmond's no-name forward line did that superbly in the finals (as did the Doggies under-rated forward line in last year's finals).
Don Freo
Guest
Which Cox? Not Brennan Cox? He's really quick...one of his outstanding traits for a big man. Watch that space.
Gecko
Roar Pro
And PD's well qualified to make that observation, having watched his Bulldogs' disinterested play in 2017.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Credit to Richmond but I can't see them winning any more flags with this list. Four champs, half a dozen reasonable players and a dozen modest blokes that other sides would baulk at if they were put up for trade is the reality. This year they bought-into the manic pressure gameplan as a 22 collective and reaped the rewards. Hard to see them sustaining that across all 22 after they become the hunted. They also enjoyed a phenomenal run of good fortune with no injuries this year, which odds would suggest won't happen again.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Fair comment Viv.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Like Bontempelli. ? Every teams wants their list full of Bonts who can do it all.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Seano, I still think a lot of people don't realize how valuable Tom Boyd is to the Doggies, even when getting low stats, not kicking many goals and dropping marks. Like Jack Riewoldt, he continually presents in the right spots and virtually never gets outmarked. He's obviously not as quick or agile as Riewoldt and is poor at chasing, but he's equally as good at competing when the ball hits the ground in his immediate vicinity. In 2016 finals, Zaine Cordy was also brought into our forward line and played a similar role to Caddy - i.e. strong, ferocious competitor who brought the ball to ground and tackled hard, plus a quick, good decision-maker. Josh Kennedy, Buddy, Nick Riewoldt, Tex Walker, Cameron, Lynch and Jarryd Roughead are the best forwards in the game because they do everything Jack Riewoldt does, but are bigger. Guys like Hawkins, Dixon, Jenkins, Patton, Cox, Daw, Darling, Schache, Vickery and to a lesser extent Daniher and Hogan, are a liability when the ball hits the ground.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
I disagree Cat. I think Richmond's game plan mimicked the Bulldogs 2016 identically, except for the lack of speed-handball tactic. Richmond's backline comprises a couple of ok players (Vlastuin & Houli) and three modest plodders (Grimes, Astbury, Broad), plus superstar Rance, yet they excelled because of the pressure applied by their mids and forwards further afield. The Bulldogs defense survived an injury-ravaged year for the same reason, i.e. whole-ground-manic-pressure. Hardwick copied Bevo very successfully. And the Tigers will fail next year for the same reason as the Doggies - partying off-field and unable to sustain manic pressure from all 22 players.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Another common characteristic of premiership teams is a fortunate run with minimal injuries. Richmond had a near perfect year on the injury front - from memory only Conca missed a lot of the year (and he wasn't able to prove himself in their best 22) and Vlastuin missed some games. So although Richmond's VFL side won the flag, I don't think their depth was tested even slightly this year. The Bulldogs in 2016 and the Hawks in one of their flag years are the only two exceptions (i.e. had to confront many injuries) I can recall in the last 30 years, making their achievements even more remarkable.
republican
Guest
.........the Swans started the rot with their flooding and defensive type win at all cost strategy, always nullifying what was the 'poetry in motion' trait that defined our code, by taking the contest to ground, literally. Its a travesty that it has never recovered while skill sets i.e. the speccie, open fluid play and many types of kicking are nothing but cliches for the marketing of the code, i.e. they are a commercial illusion, that have no relevance to the modern game, more a contest of handball than it is football, truth be told.......
republican
Guest
.......nah, Dusty is good but he is a certain type of player so it is very subjective and a very bog call, to say he is the best we will likely ever see. Dusty would probably be an even more effective Gridiron exponent given his attributes. Fo myself, the best was Jezza, because he was of my time and ilk while he would run rings around 'Dusty' in specific skill sets that have been rendered extinct sadly, in todays game.........
republican
Guest
Richmond can't take exclusive credit for the devolution of our once great game which resembles a grovel ball contest akin to Rugby more and more, with the passing seasons...........
truetigerfan
Guest
Boo-hoo.
Don Freo
Guest
They did, yes. Hard to work out WHY you said it. We all know. Surely you don't want to sound like JonBoy.
Slane
Guest
I didn't say you were knocking Richmond. I said that during Fremantles last few games (when they only had 4 players over 29), they copped a couple of massive floggings.