One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on August 09, 2018, 07:40:02 PM
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Eye of the Tiger: rivals rising to the challenge
THE corridor is king again and the recent trend appears to be with an eye to beating with Richmond as rival coaches shift to a high-risk, high-reward gameplan to combat the Tigers’ pressure.
[Paywall:] https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/has-richmond-helped-save-football-rivals-turn-to-sexy-football-in-bid-to-beat-the-tigers/news-story/0fb571c5f1ba96a81f027acf608bd5af
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I'ts almost as if our pressure forces them to kick to the corridor and to take risks...which causes more turnovers...
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Here's the full article:
Has Richmond helped save football? Rivals turn to sexy football in bid to beat the Tigers
SAM LANDSBERGER,
Herald Sun
August 10, 2018
THE corridor is king again.
And it appears to be with an eye to the Tigers. Engage in high risk, high reward football and maybe Richmond can be beaten.
So far, coach Damien Hardwick’s team has passed the test. But fresh challenges are emerging.
Since teams reset at the bye, 13 clubs have boosted their centre focus.
It has helped return the sexy to football. At Round 14, only four teams averaged 90 points.
In the past six weeks that has ballooned to nine teams. Maybe that is why TV ratings are up and radical new rules are on the backburner.
Perhaps Richmond has helped save football.
Melbourne’s corridor use - measured when exiting defensive 50m - has spiked the most.
But it is Chris Scott’s Geelong which provides the most fascinating case study.
The Cats went 7-3 leading up to the bye as they bordered on boring, leaking just 57 points per game with the AFL’s No.1 backline.
In Round 13 they kicked nine goals and fell to Richmond by 18 points. At that point they had used the corridor 18 per cent of the time.
Then, at the bye, there was a shift. Scott seemingly decided the path to glory was down the guts.
CORRIDOR KINGS: Corridor use from defensive 50m during Rounds 15-20
CLUB AVE CHANGE
Melbourne 29% +11.4
Geelong 24.9% +6.7
W.Bulldogs 24.5% +10.2
North Melb 23.8% +7.5
Brisbane 23.8% +3.9
St Kilda 23.7% +8.1
Essendon 23.2% +1.3
Fremantle 21.3% +5.6
Sydney 20.5% +0.2
Adelaide 18.9% +3.8
GWS 18.9% -1.2
Richmond 17.8% +2.3
Hawthorn 17.2% -0.3
Port Adelaide 17.2% -1.2
Carlton 17.1% +0.9
West Coast 15.5% +4.0
Gold Coast 13.0% -0.7
Collingwood 11.5% -2.3
- Thirteen clubs have increased their corridor usage
Source: CHAMPION DATA
In Round 15, Geelong’s corridor use soared to 29 per cent, and they were cut open in a shock loss to Western Bulldogs.
They then went into defensive mode for one week, using it 10 per cent against Sydney, but since then life has been through the middle.
In the past month the Cats have gone corridor 26 per cent of the time and on Friday night it was 27 per cent against the Tigers.
Richmond wasn’t ready.
“They played the corridor a lot more than we expected them to,” Jack Riewoldt said.
“They might’ve called our bluff a little bit, with going out to Deakin and not training at their home ground, and still playing very direct football.”
Deakin Uni is a similar size to the MCG and the Tigers presumably thought training on the expansive ground was in preparation for a wide gamestyle.
But take a look at the last quarter. After Zach Tuohy and Dan Menzel goals cut Richmond’s lead to 10 points, Jackson Thurlow held the ball on the wing.
Thurlow looked inboard to Jordan Cunico.
Hit that kick and the Cunico is out. Shank it and watch out.
The kick missed, and the Tigers turned the ball over for a Josh Caddy shot at goal.
High risk, high reward.
Geelong committed 49 turnovers in its defensive half, the fourth most Champion Data has ever recorded.
Richmond piled on 51 points from those mistakes.
SCORING SPIKE: Average points per game for since start of Round 15
CLUB POINTS
Melbourne 111.5*
Hawthorn 102.3
Brisbane 101.2
Essendon 98.8
Richmond 95.7*
Geelong 95.2
GWS 94.3
North Melb 92.2
West Coast 91.5*
Collingwood 87.0*
* Only four clubs averaged more than 90 points per game from Rounds 1-14
Source: CHAMPION DATA
But the Cats’ ball movement also generated 50 points from their defensive half, the most the Tigers have conceded this year.
That effectively broke even, and the scoreboard similarly showed a three-point margin.
Imagine if the Cats were just a slither more composed?
Geelong scored from 48 per cent of its inside 50s, the second highest percentage Richmond has conceded in 2018.
For Richmond, it was a stark contrast.
Collingwood used the corridor just 4 per cent of the time the week before with Nathan Buckley happy to play his way.
But Richmond is forcing others to raise the stakes. If it doesn’t come off, you could get flogged.
But it appears you have to take these Tigers on.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/has-richmond-helped-save-football-rivals-turn-to-sexy-football-in-bid-to-beat-the-tigers/news-story/0fb571c5f1ba96a81f027acf608bd5af?nk=bb2d8f02677ff4c5eb403795c774d448-1533814270
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Bloody hell. What a load of crap
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May/June: Herald-Sun says Richmond are responsible for the poor state of the game.
August: Herald-Sun says Richmond are responsible for the positive turnaround in the state of the game.
::)
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“Imagine if the cats were just a little more composed?”
No mention of the 70+ inside 50s that we had and how we didn’t capitalise on them. Why is it that when a team gets close to beating us they analyse all the stats to bring up all the what if’s and ignore our own wastefulness. We dominated this game and let them back in with 2 poor 10 minute bursts, if anything the margin should have been much greater.
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“Imagine if the cats were just a little more composed?”
No mention of the 70+ inside 50s that we had and how we didn’t capitalise on them. Why is it that when a team gets close to beating us they analyse all the stats to bring up all the what if’s and ignore our own wastefulness. We dominated this game and let them back in with 2 poor 10 minute bursts, if anything the margin should have been much greater.
Agree. Furthermore no mention of injuries either.
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Hey, let them think it is the corridor use that allowed the Cats to get close. Don't tell them it was our weakest team of the year and we ran out of legs after a six day break after a torrid game against the pies. I really, really hope we play them in September. We will tear them a new one. It would be delicious!
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Hey, let them think it is the corridor use that allowed the Cats to get close. Don't tell them it was our weakest team of the year and we ran out of legs after a six day break after a torrid game against the pies. I really, really hope we play them in September. We will tear them a new one. It would be delicious!
Yep!!