Hardwick's post-match media conference/ Our defence let down by front-mids

[one-eyed]

Dimma just had his post-game presser:

* You can't beaten up in both uncontested and contested. Planned for them to have more uncontested but not that many.

* Lucky to be within 3 goals at 3/4 time. Down -23 in contested ball. Out lowest tackle numbers since 2015. Collingwood got their hands free and got it to the outside too easily. Beaten the same way in the last two meetings. So we've got plenty of work to do.

* Better to cop a bad performance now like the Adelaide game last year. Gives us time to work on things.

* Don't know about Jack's hand injury yet. He'll get scans in the morning.

* Don't want to carry a genuine second ruckman. That's not how we are. Jack and Lynch need to ruck.

* Not sure yet who played well in the ressies.

* Our defence held up well until the last 15 minutes. They overpowered us. Backline let down by those upfield.

* Clunky again going inside F50. Left goals on the table again like last week. Two in particular went down the other end for goals to Collingwood. Things we've got to fix.

* Things weren't going nowhere well enough in the first quarter so that's why Dimma went down to the bench.

* Stacks of mistackles. The Pies got an arm free and got the ball to the outside. We'll work on that at training this week.

* We expect to play better as a side. We can single out individuals but that's not how we run at Richmond.

* The back end of our team wasn't the issue (re: Rance). It was our front-mid. We have the personnel there. Our system was poor tonight. That can be easily fixed at training and we believe we can turn it around.

[Lozza]

I think the problem is bigger than fixing something at training. The 666 has definitely affected out game strategies and I still think we are coming to terms with that and losing Rance in the process certainly doesn't help.

It just feel that with the extra space in the middle our midfielders seem slower than everyone else's. Plus we seem to play Russian Roulette when marking up at bounces and we lose more often than not. Cotchhin tries hard but we haven't in games so far this year had a dominant in form midfielder who grabs the game by the scruff of the neck because normally Dusty is that player and he is so far off its not funny.

Our disposal efficiency has been terrible so we wouldn't even be capable of executing a game plan like the Pies did tonight. They were so clean and sharp with their disposal and we were downright clunky in comparison, not exactly sure how virtually every small forward appears so far out of touch.

Usually at least one player would have some impact but all smalls fired blanks tonight. Let's hope it's an abomination but there were definitely some red flags that worried me tonight.

[The Machine]

Didn't help when one winger went straight to defence which left Sidebottom all on his own which worked well for them... not us.

Out played and out coached big time tonight.

[Tigeritis™©®]

Didn't help when one winger went straight to defence which left Sidebottom all on his own which worked well for them... not us.

Out played and out coached big time tonight.

What do you do knowing full well that when we played them last year, when Sidebottom was left unattended, wreaked havoc?

............Leave him on his own on a wing 

[mightytiges]

One winger going straight to defence is part of us sticking to what we know with our defensive set-ups. Otherwise, we seemed content to go head-to-head with the opposition midfield. Problem was we don't have the in form mids nor the depth to compete with the Pies at the moment. As Lozza said the 6-6-6 rule has put our natural gameplan out of kilter. There's a retro 80s feel to the 6-6-6 rule as it seems to be making wingmen influential again. Pushing a wingman back to be our extra defender robs us on that influence. Collingwood killed us on the outside wings as well as winning the contested ball.

[one-eyed]

Damien Hardwick laments loss to Pies

Herald Sun
March 28, 2019

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has lashed his side for getting “beaten up” on the inside and on the outside with the Tigers also left with a nervous wait for scans on Jack Riewoldt’s injury.

Hardwick declared his team’s 44-point loss to Collingwood – its heaviest defeat at the MCG since 2016 – an “un-Richmond-like” performance.

The 1-1 Tigers gave up 158 uncontested marks, lost uncontested ball 338-185 and were also beaten in the clearances and tackle count as the Magpies slammed on the last five goals.

“You can’t get beaten up through the uncontested game and also get beaten up in the contested game as well, that was really disappointing,” Hardwick said.

“We knew they wanted to hold possession. We expected that, we planned for that and we gave up way too many uncontested marks.

“They took 150-odd in the end and then when they did kick to a contest we got beaten in the contest as well.

“We got beaten in contested ball by 23, beaten in the tackle count – we were lucky to be within a couple of goals at three quarter-time to be perfectly honest.

“Incredibly disappointing night … we’ve got some work to do, no doubt.”

Hardwick was unsure the extent of Riewoldt’s injury although the spearhead played out the match in a positive sign.

Riewoldt was used as a second ruckman and Hardwick said that was a simple reality of his structure, built around playing one ruckman (Toby Nankervis) and two key forwards (Riewoldt and Tom Lynch).

Defender Dylan Grimes is likely to face a charge from the MRO today after collecting Jamie Elliott with a raised elbow late in the game.

Hardwick came to the boundary line late in the first quarter and coached from there due to the difficulty getting messages to players due to the new restrictions on runners.

Richmond’s tackle count of 31 was its lowest in years while tagger Levi Greenwood kept Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin to 18 disposals and just one behind.

Hardwick blasted his players at halftime for missing tackles and said that would be a key focus at training this week.

The Tigers have road trips to face GWS and Port Adelaide in the next two weeks although Hardwick was pleased with their first-up performance covering five-time All-Australian Alex Rance.

“I don’t think the back end of our team is the issue, it was more the front and mid,” Hardwick said.

“That’s the thing we’ve got to get better. We’ve got the personnel we need, we’ve just got to make sure we get our system better.

“Our system was really, really poor tonight. That can be fixed – a couple days of training, get our system back up and going and results can turn pretty quickly.

“Our forward line, as we spoke about last week, we were a little bit clunky going inside 50 tonight.”

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/richmond-v-collingwood-tigers-defence-set-for-first-test-after-alex-rance-injury/live-coverage/a408d89f8ed3fa323ecb687940edfbba

[Diocletian]

Oh look....

[georgies31]

One winger going straight to defence is part of us sticking to what we know with our defensive set-ups. Otherwise, we seemed content to go head-to-head with the opposition midfield. Problem was we don't have the in form mids nor the depth to compete with the Pies at the moment. As Lozza said the 6-6-6 rule has put our natural gameplan out of kilter. There's a retro 80s feel to the 6-6-6 rule as it seems to be making wingmen influential again. Pushing a wingman back to be our extra defender robs us on that influence. Collingwood killed us on the outside wings as well as winning the contested ball.

Our midfield is a big issue for me yet we overlook it.There are names there,but we don't win clearances or contested footy.Gez that's pretty weake regarding the 6-6-6 rule we had sll preseason to work on it ,that and a game plan we can use to counter teams.Our signs in the JLT series wasn't great either.

[yandb]

Hardwick "its the players fault"

He was sitting on the bench, if he couldn't influence the players face to face the maybe he had the wrong personnel or maybe the game plan was at fault.

Either way he needed to accept responsibility for the loss not deflect it.

[georgies31]

"Don't want to carry a genuine second ruckman. That's not how we are. Jack and Lynch need to ruck".Silly thinking Dimma it's horses for courses haven't learned from last year against team's like eagle's and pies and dees you need it or play Balta type simple as that.

[Diocletian]

He's under pressure again and reverting to type - the stubborn Halfstep of old letting us live and die on the game plan...

[Chuck17]

Rightio, I have had enough, I'm firing up the Sack Hardwick thread

[Assange Tiger 😎]

[torch]

Rightio, I have had enough, I'm firing up the Sack Hardwick thread

HAHAHAHAHA!

Most ignorant coach in the AFL!