The tiny tiger who typifies Richmond's new brand of footySeptember 26, 2017
Sarah Olle
FOX SPORTSJASON Castagna typifies the brand of footy Richmond has stamped as its own in 2017.
A small forward who prides himself on pressure, he will often go through matches without impacting on the scoreboard.
In the qualifying final against Geelong he fumbled the ball and loomed as a possible omission against the Giants on Saturday at the MCG.
But he kept his spot.
And opened the match with a blistering first quarter that validated the belief Damien Hardwick has had in him, and his vertically challenged teammates, all year.
“I think ‘Dimma’ has had a lot of confidence in us players, and has kept playing us, but I guess we’ve been inconsistent at times,” Castagna told foxfooty.com.au.
“Everyone has that and then they find their form and it pays off.
“I had a couple of quiet weeks. I thought it picked up a little bit last week and I just want to keep on building and hopefully can keep on building towards the Grand Final.”
When Hardwick told Fox Footy’s On The Couch that Richmond would play finals in 2017, few expected the coach to back up his words with action.
Making the Grand Final — after finishing 13th last season — puts the achievement in another stratosphere altogether.
A lot has been made of the new open culture at Punt Road this season, one that has fostered a sense of unity and belonging.
But Castagna said that was only the tip of the iceberg.
“We’ve just built this belief over the season from evidence of good footy,” he said.
“We’ve always said, ‘why not us?’ but we’ve just focused one week at a time. We’ve made it here to the Grand Final. Now we just look forward to that.
“I feel like we’ve been building and building and getting towards our best footy.
“Hopefully we can keep building next week.”
The Richmond ‘mosquito fleet’ — consisting of Castagna, Daniel Rioli and Dan Butler — has undermined the theory that a functioning forward line requires two talls.
And while the Tigers have relied on some input from the likes of Dustin Martin and Trent Cotchin — and in the latter part of the year Jacob Townsend — to create a winning score, it’s the mosquito fleet, along with Jack Riewoldt, that has been a constant.
“The main thing we focus on is our pressure,” Castagna said.
“Sometimes our offensive output isn’t as high for some of us, but it kind of evens out over the whole season.”
On Saturday it was Rioli who impacted the scoreboard, kicking four goals in a match that only enhanced the reputation of his famous football family.
Castagna said he wasn’t surprised to see his mate have a breakout game, having witnessed his supreme skill at training all year.
“He was pretty special today. He kicked four goals and his pressure was still amazing as well. His pressure was awesome,” Castagna said.
“We know he has so much skill and he can do some pretty amazing things.
“He got on the end of a few today, which he could have easily done in other weeks, but he loves passing off. He was great.”
The last and only time Richmond met Adelaide this year was way back in Round 6, when Don Pyke’s men were victorious by 76 points.
It was one of only two poor losses for the club for the season, the other coming at the hands of St Kilda in Round 16.
Castagna only had eight touches that day, while Butler and Rioli combined for three majors.
Despite the huge margin that Sunday evening, Castagna said Richmond held no fear of meeting the Crows for the big dance.
“Most teams we’ve lost to we’ve come back the second time and had a good outing so we’ll be looking to do that against Adelaide,” Castagna said.
“They were pretty impressive (against Geelong), but at the moment we’re playing a good brand of footy and we’re feeling up for anything. It should be a good game.”
Aiding Richmond’s cause is the location of the match: at home on the familiar MCG turf, a distant cry from the parochial Adelaide Oval cauldron.
“I can’t wait to hear that roar again,” Castagna said.
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