ROUND 18 - RICHMOND vs COLLINGWOOD - M.C.G. (AWAY) 30.07.04 SUMMARY: It wouldn't be Tigerland without another episode of off-field brawling. Fortunately, the risk of losing the expertise of Director of Football Greg Miller, the threat of losing out on the best coaching candidate available and the immense repercussions to the recruitment of talented players, has made the warring parties lead by President Clinton Casey and former board member Brendan Schwab respectively sit down and form a temporary truce until a December Annual General Meeting to give the Club some off-field peace and stability. So it's back to footy matters this Saturday at the MCG as Richmond face arch-rival Collingwood in match that has no bearing on the finals as both sides languish at the wrong end of the table. The Tigers were a class below the high flying Demons last week. Once again our inefficiency, poor skills and decision making as well as our undersized backline were exposed. Returning for Richmond this week are Captain Wayne Campbell from a shoulder injury and Darren Gaspar. Making way for these inclusions are youngsters Daniel Jackon due to school commitments and Tom Roach. Our opponents, the Magpies, scored a rare win this year against the hapless and inaccurate Bulldogs last week and would be favoured going into this match with both sides missing key players. It seems like years ago that we comfortably defeated Collingwood in the first game of the season. The Pies poor form this year showed in hindsight it was only a win against a fellow struggling side. PAST ENCOUNTERS: Overall: 81-107-1 In the 00's: 5-3 At this venue: 28-25 Last Time: Round 1, 26.03.03. Home at the M.C.G. Richmond 2.5 6.7 11.9 14.13 (97) Collingwood 1.2 3.3 5.6 8.9 (57) Attendance: 55,622 KEY MATCH-UPS: DEFENCE: Eighteen weeks after their first meeting both sides come into this match with similar problems to what existed in round one. Richmond will have to make do with a questionable backline even with the return of Gaspar given he hasn't rediscovered his old form since coming back from a knee reconstruction. Collingwood will again be missing Anthony Rocca, this time due to injury, as well as Chris Tarrant. In their absence the Maggies goalscoring duties fall heavily onto their small forwards and midfielders. Fraser, McKee, Lokan and even possibly Jason Cloke will be pushed forward to provide a tall target. AK or Gas normally get the match-ups on Tarrant and Rocca however with the two Pie forwards absent and both Tiger key defenders struggling to return to form after injury, Razor Hall and Joel Bowden will have to mind Collingwood's key forwards. In round one, the Tigers were able to strangle Collingwood's forwards, not allowing space for their nippy goalsneaks in Didak, Holland and Davis. Didak will be missing as well for the Pies so Newman will get a job on one of the other two or be freed up to play a more attacking or midfield role. It'll be interesting to see how each side lines up given that for the first time in a long time in a Tigers-Magpies match the standard match-ups won't apply. MIDFIELD: Collingwood's main threat will come as usual from its running midfielders - Buckley, Licuria, Burns, Woewodin, O'Bree and Lockyer. The Pies can very dangerous when allowed to get on top in the clearances which is an area which has proven to be a weakness of ours for a number of years and once again this year with Cogs initially hampered then absent for the most of the year due to his pelvic instability problem and Cambo struggling for leg speed after his achillies injury. Johnson has flown the flag with Brown but Brown will again be missing on Saturday so most of the midfield responsibility will fall on the shoulders on our second tier - Krakouer, Rodan and Fleming. All three gave respectable performances last week so it'll be a question of them backing up this week. In the ruck, both sides will be missing key bigmen in Stafford and Richards respectively - leaving Otto to contend with Fraser and ex-Tiger McKee. Last time it was Richmond's intensity and tackling that allowed us to dominate in the middle. So much so that Buckley was forced to find kicks inside our forward 50. We would need a similar effort on Saturday to take advantage of the Pies' current weakness down their spine. FORWARDS: With Wakelin and Presti out you would normally say the opposition forwards would significantly test the Pies defence as Jason Cloke is then forced out of his comfort zone as "third man up" and is forced to be accountable to the CHF. Under Frawley, Richmond doesn't play through a CHF and bypasses this region to go longer to Richo. If we play as we have been of going to Richo far too often then Jason Cloke will be able to float off his direct opponent and tag team Tiger Full-forward Richo in tandem with Magpie Full-back Walker. We really need someone other than Richo to step up and present as another leading forward. Last week Pettifer did score 4 goals yet still most of our forward forays were too many times predictably to the big fella. THIS WEEK'S TEAMS: RICHMOND B: Zantuck Gaspar Fiora HB: Chaffey Kellaway Hartigan C: Bowden Johnson Fleming HF: Moore Richardson Pettifer F: Rodan Hall Tivendale R: Ottens Campbell Krakouer I/C: Hyde Houlihan Newman Dragicevic IN: Campbell, Gaspar OUT: Jackson (school commitments), Roach COLLINGWOOD B: Johnson Walker Cole HB: Clement J Cloke Lonie C: Wodewodin Buckley O'Bree HF: Lockyer Fraser Maxwell F: King Lokan Holland R: McKee Burns Licuria I/C: Davis Rowe Shackelton Shaw < BACK TO 2004 FIXTURE >