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Opinion
So Richmond let a 40-point lead slip against Gold Coast in Round 17. It’s not the first time they’ve suffered an infamous loss to them in Queensland.
It was a stirring comeback from the Suns and a rousing victory for their supporter base. It will give the players an injection of belief that they can win from anywhere, and was in some ways the perfect icing on the cake of Stewart Dew’s contract extension as senior coach earlier that week.
But the loss was a deplorable one for the Tigers. Not because it was to Gold Coast, who are becoming a formidable side, and not even because of the size of the lead. Sometimes comebacks happen. It was most disastrous because it was the latest example of a problem that keeps repeating itself.
Richmond’s 2022 has been a catalogue of giving up what would have been matchwinning leads in the hands of most teams.
Round 1 against Carlton: Richmond were four goals up early in the last quarter before losing by 21 points.
Round 3 against St Kilda: Richmond were five goals up halfway through the second quarter before losing by 33 points.
Round 8 against Collingwood; Richmond allowed a 47-point lead to be whittled to 21 points in the last quarter but still won. It showed bad habits from earlier in the year hadn’t been corrected.
Round 9 against Hawthorn: Richmond allowed a 35-point lead to become ten points in the space of ten minutes halfway through the last quarter but held on to win. The bad habits were repeated.
Round 11 against Sydney: Richmond were five goals up halfway through the third term before losing by six points.
Round 13 against Port Adelaide: Richmond held a five-goal lead in the first half but allowed Port to hit the front early in the last quarter. They were able to fight back and win, but by now this pattern was being seen every week.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
Round 14 against Carlton: Richmond led by five goals halfway through the last quarter, which was reduced to single figures in the space of minutes before they were saved by a contentious goal review.
Round 15 against Geelong: Richmond led by 17 points early in the last quarter but couldn’t kill the game, losing by three points.
Round 16 against West Coast: Richmond led by 39 points early in the third term and allowed the Eagles to get back to within 11 before three-quarter-time.
Round 17 against Gold Coast: Richmond led by 40 points with the first goal after half-time and were still four goals in front with 12 minutes to play but conspired to lose.
As we can see, the loss against the Suns was not an anomaly; it was the culmination of an escalating problem. One or two can be written off for various reasons, but not five losses that should have resulted in wins plus another five wins where the problem was apparent.
So what is it? Laziness? Arrogance? Ineptitude?
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Is it a playing group that is resting on its laurels after building these leads? It’s easy enough to think, with premiership medals hanging up all over the locker room. Putting the cue in the rack with the game ‘won’, thinking their former glories will see them through.
Is it a mixture of the older and younger players not being able to run out four quarters? Maybe. The Tigers do have a number of veterans and have been blooding a bit of youth. Both types of players tend to go into their shells when the opposition has a run-on.
Damien Hardwick is a three-time premiership coach so has plenty of credits in the bank. But this still has to be an example of some of the worst coaching we’ve ever seen.
The one constant in all of the examples above was how easily Richmond lost centre clearances when the opposition got momentum – one after the other after the other – while Tigers players helplessly looked on.
The midfield group, regardless of who was in there – and we are talking the biggest names here: Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin, Dion Prestia, Shai Bolton, co-captain Toby Nankervis, best and fairest winner Jayden Short, Jack Graham and Liam Baker – have been found to be inept when the heat has come on. They’ve gone to water.
These are all senior players. Multiple premiership players. Leaders. Between them and the coaching staff, they have shown no capacity to shut a game down and control it. It has been an indictment on them all.
The positives? The building of those leads of course. The Tigers have played some terrific football. But fits and starts doesn’t cut it unless you are the dominant team, like they once were.
If they’d won just three of those five games they dropped from almost unlosable positions, they’d be in the top four.
If they had just won two of the games they have lost by a goal or less after having significant leads, they’d be sitting fifth and we’d be talking about them at the pointy end again.
But they lost all five. With warning bells ringing in another five wins.
If there was to be one last hurrah for a generation of Richmond champions, it is all but shot now. Their top four chances are blown with only themselves to blame. Talk will move to retirements and trades.
The injuries are mounting again, the desire doesn’t burn as brightly as it once did and any aura of invincibility is long gone.
Damien Hardwick must also look in the mirror. Either he’s too lazy to implement a plan to protect a lead despite overwhelming evidence or the message isn’t getting through. He’s in his 13th season at Punt Road. Perhaps his time at Richmond should be up.