AFL Friday Footy Fix: Putrid Eagles hit rock bottom, Tigers feast on the carcass

Some losses, no matter how big, feel greater than the eventual margin. Richmond’s 109-point victory over West Coast at their one-time fortress at Optus Stadium, was one of them: it felt like 200.

Scratch that – it might as well have been a billion.

Losses don’t get uglier than this, at least not at this level. Aside from 10 minutes of resistance in the third term when the match was shot, this was as abject a performance as you could see from the Eagles.

That the commentators for both Channel Seven and Fox Footy gave the Eagles some excuses for the performance – their COVID and injury battle has made 2022 a waking nightmare – did no justice to the fans who came to watch, nor the few (and I mean few) players who left nothing out on the field.

COVID didn’t suddenly make the Eagles unable to hit a target coming out of defensive 50, or allow Richmond to waltz it out of the centre square. The injury excuse doesn’t really cut it when Tim Kelly and captain Luke Shuey, walk-up starters, went into every tackle like they’d never performed one before.

The Tigers were ruthless, relentless, and brutal, but you could hardly call them brilliant when the opposition served up what they did. After a 2-4 start to the season, the former champs sensed early they had the Eagles ripe for the picking, and made hay.

By the first half of the first term, the Tigers had six marks inside attacking 50. They’d been averaging nine per game in the first six rounds.

Most were taken by Tom Lynch, who would probably have been too good for Harry Edwards anyway, but with the Eagles’ defence under siege almost from first minute to last, he never had a prayer. In the end, Lynch’s inaccuracy – he’d finish with 7.5 for the night, many of his misses within 30 metres – prevented the sort of bag we don’t often see in modern footy.

Where Richmond can be given all the credit they’re due is with their defensive set-up. Minus Robbie Tarrant, Damien Hardwick opted to shift Noah Balta back to cover. Together with Dylan Grimes, back in the side from a hamstring injury, and a first-year tall in Josh Gibcus who looks more assured every time he plays, the Eagles knew the sort of long bombs the Tigers were getting away with weren’t going to fly up their end.

But when Kelly, who looked bereft of ideas all night, was caught holding the ball in about seven minds after choosing not to kick into attacking 50, it didn’t seem a bad idea to try.

Then, there was the Eagles’ kicking. It seems harsh to pick on Patrick Naish, one of the Eagles’ few tireless workers throughout the year – but Tigers fans will joke that he hit more yellow and black chests tonight than he ever did during his years at Punt Road.

Even Shannon Hurn succumbed to the malaise, one of the league’s best kicks inexplicably handpassing to an under-pressure Edwards, who proceeded to kick disastrously across goal. Boom. Another one.

The Tigers’ quarter-time score of 7.3 was their highest since Round 16, 2019, with scores coming from a staggering 67 per cent of their entries.

It got worse after that, both on and off the stats sheet – all 12 of the Tigers’ first half goals came from intercepts, including 39 points from forward half intercepts alone.

76 points on turnover for the half was the most ever recorded – by the end, it was 20 goals to 2 on that score. When Matthew Lloyd described the performance as ‘as bad as I’ve seen’ on 3AW, he wasn’t kidding.

Jason Castagna of the Tigers celebrates after scoring a goal. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

It wasn’t enough to call it the worst first half of the year – it was probably the worst half by any side since Gold Coast and GWS in their infancy.

Eagles fans were left to find solace in Bronx cheering Jack Darling, Adam Simpson totally bereft of ideas as the carnage unfolded in front of his eyes.

63 points down at half time, it would have been hard to show less effort in the second half. And to their (very minimal) credit, the first ten minutes were a marked improvement.

Finally finding some supply, Josh Kennedy showed why he is almost without peer when it comes to forwards in the last decade, strongly marking for both their two goals. For him to finish with four for the night, given what unfolded, was exceptional.

By the second half of the term, though, the rout continued, with all the attention turning to Maurice Rioli Jr. With three goals in quick succession on either side of the three-quarter time break, the son of a legendary Tiger had a third game to remember – but let’s wait until he faces some meaningful opposition before declaring the great Rioli line to have blooded another star.

The biggest takeaway for the Tigers wasn’t the margin, though – it was the performance of Jayden Short, thrust into a new on-ball role in the absence of Trent Cotchin.

A distributor off half-back up until now, even winning a best and fairest in the Tigers’ 2020 premiership year, Short translated his skills into the middle, with his trademark run and scything right boot now finding targets heading inside 50 rather than on the rebound.

With five inside 50s for the first half, he was a clear best afield – while Shai Bolton may have pipped him for that honour by the end, he gained 774 metres for the match with his 30 disposals, 26 of them kicks.

It’s a tactic worth persisting with for Damien Hardwick – though again, we’ll have to see it against an actually decent opposition to judge it for real.

The Eagles have had it rough this year – but not so rough as to make a loss like that in any way excusable.