One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on April 22, 2009, 05:39:50 AM
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Mark Stevens | April 21, 2009 09:36pm
GONE in 50 seconds.Rewind to Thursday night, March 26, and the opening assault of Richmond's season.
The Tigers dominate possession against Carlton and 39 seconds in, Matthew Richardson marks on the lead.
It sparks the loudest roar of the year.
About 10 seconds later, Richardson's shot from 40m drifts to the right and slams into the post. Ouch. It is a Richo and a Richmond kind of moment.
Carlton responds a minute later with a goal and is away.
It is as if Richmond has never recovered.
No one is blaming Richardson, who would be streets ahead if the best-and-fairest was counted tonight, but do not underestimate the momentum that would have swung Richmond's way had the ball ducked to the left of the post.
And the Tigers need all the mental strength and confidence they can get.
Richmond president Gary March questioned their mental toughness this week and Richardson, good enough to front the media again in a time of crisis yesterday, agreed.
"I think if you sat back and looked at the four games, there has been periods in the last three weeks where we've been right in the game," Richardson said.
"I think it would be a fair assessment that there must be some mental obstacles there for some of the players."
Richardson said the team had been playing good quarters or halves, but had to deliver for a full game.
"As soon as something goes wrong or a team kicks two or three goals, we seem to go back into our shells," Richardson said. "We start playing safe footy, missing obvious targets and it snowballs from there."
Richardson said there was also a "skill component" to Richmond's woes, conceding the Tigers were missing too many targets.
Richardson backed coach Terry Wallace and declared the players had banded together. He said he had not heard of any "contingency plan".
"As far as I know, Terry's coaching the team for the rest of the year," Richardson said.
"The focus around here is we've all got to stick together."
Richardson said hard work at training would pay off.
"We do have belief amongst the playing group," Richardson said. "We've got some good players. I believe in them and I'm sure they believe in all their teammates as well."
Belief can be lost quickly. And it can take much longer to get it back.
If only Richo's kick had drifted slightly to the left.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25367577-19771,00.html