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Opinion
We are just beyond halfway in the season, 13 games in the vault, with Richmond ninth. They are one game out of eight, with a higher percentage and played one game fewer than the eighth team.
The occupier of eighth is Collingwood who the Tigers beat four weeks ago. But the Magpies are the only top-eight team they have beaten.
Richomd are about to play Carlton at home then Geelong away – sorry, at the MCG.
This is their crossroads.
Does this scenario sound familiar? Did this not happen in 2019 and 2021? I am pretty sure this outcome will be different to those years.
Most teams in Richmond’s position you would not even consider that they were a chance of the finals, let alone to hold the cup.
At the start of the year, before the first game, I unwisely put myself on the line. I said Richmond would drop to 13th. Most predicted a Richmond bounce to top four. I believed that there were three main requirements for the Tigers to return from the wilderness: Tom Lynch playing like his salary demands, Damien Hardwick devising a new gameplan, and Dustin Martin recovering physically and mentally.
Lynch seems like a changed man. He has dropped the sneaky, sniper behind-play antics, although as a backman I would still be nervous. He has started to do his job, and do it well, of taking marks and goal. A recent hamstring injury has hobbled him for a few games but he is back now. Requirement one, tick.
Dusty has had it hard, following a serious kidney injury and his father’s death. When he has played, he has had flashes but he has not been a star. He will probably be out or at least weakened with the flu this week. He is a work in progress. Requirement two, a possibility.
Dustin Martin (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Hardwick did try a new plan, which pretty much the same as the rest of the league in a moving press and flood to stop the opposition’s progress. He tried a twist of playing two ruckmen to push through the press but has now gone back to the plan of old: three men back and as soon as they win the ball, a full team manic advancing run. But he has kept his talls, just in case the press is already in place. It has worked well against average teams, let’s see how it works against contenders or at least the good pretenders.
Richmond has been blessed with almost no injuries this year. This is a little surprising seeing their high number of older players. Even the old warhorse Dion Prestia is fit (mostly).
Shai Bolton has moved up and taken Dusty’s mantle. A very dangerous player and a game winner. Absolutely no defensive ability but that is not his role. It wasn’t Dusty’s either.
Jake Aarts seems to be a failed experiment. Sydney Stack, Matthew Parker and Marlion Pickett are in the same basket. Daniel Rioli is much loved but I am not sure if it is with the Richmond fans or the opposition’s bursting players.
Maurice Rioli is doing a few exciting things but not enough for a whole game. Fortunately, like his namesake, he does have a fast, desperate, lunging defence to put pressure on the opposition players.
So the Tigers have almost full availability but a mixed bag of ability with champion players. With their game plan, that is all they needed previously.
Carlton is the first test for the Tigers but it is more of a test for the Blues. Certainly last year, the spindly foal that is Carlton would not have the confidence to take on and beat Richmond. They have lapse quarters with no pressure. But the Tigers will need to be able to stem the goal onslaughts.
The Cats will be out for blood. If the Tigers can beat them, even be competitive, they will be on their way to the finals.
The week after they have the West Coast bye.
The Richmond train is at the station, there is a low rumble of their fans getting on board, getting excited. As the train pulls out, the fighting fury of expectations rise. This will be the same as 2019. All the Tigers need to do is make the eight. Dusty will take care of business then.
Richmond, this year, is it the enigma within the mirage or the mirage within the enigma?
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