Tigers top of the consistency table Rohan Connolly
The Age
August 6, 2015 If you want the most effective measuring stick of success in the modern AFL environment, think of one word. Consistency.
It's that capacity to keep fronting up quarter after quarter, game after game and, yes, year after year, which separates the best clubs of recent years from their challengers.
It's why three clubs – Hawthorn, Geelong and Sydney – have shared eight of the past nine premierships. And it's why Fremantle under the coaching of Ross Lyon sit a game-and-a-half clear in top spot on the ladder, ready to seriously contend for a flag for a fourth year in a row.
Have a look at team performances over the regular home and away season for the past year-and-a-bit, however, and you might be a little surprised.
Since round 15 of last season, no side has won more regular-season games than Fremantle's 22. Second? No, it's not the Hawks and it's not the Swans, nor Geelong. With 20 wins, it's Richmond, the team that prior to that weekend of football sat 16th on the ladder with just three wins from 13 games.
The Tigers have had their lows during that period, namely an elimination final thrashing at the hands of Port Adelaide, and a sluggish start to this season when they were 2-4 after six games.
Those moments, though, might have helped mask the extent of Richmond's improvement since coach Damien Hardwick's job appeared to be on the line as the Tigers seemed closer to a wooden spoon than a flag.
The new, consistent Richmond came into being when the Tigers comfortably defeated St Kilda by 44 points at Etihad Stadium at the end of the June last year.
That victory kick-started an amazing run of nine straight victories. This year, the turning point came in round seven, a thrilling five-point win over Collingwood.
From that afternoon, the Tigers have won nine of their past 11 games, and lost one of the others by four points in the final minute to Fremantle a fortnight ago.
Twenty wins from 26 home and away starts is a fair effort by anyone's standards, and the list of vanquished along the way is pretty impressive, too. It reads Hawthorn, Fremantle and Sydney, and Port Adelaide twice each.
How have the Tigers gone from one of the AFL's most famously scatty sides to one of the most reliable? Consistency of individuals as part of a line-up with greater depth and flexibility than a year ago. The star trio of skipper Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio and Dustin Martin have been among the AFL's most reliable performers, the latter pair in particular used with more effect, Deledio up forward and Martin more in midfield.
Another still underestimated barometer over the same period has been onballer Anthony Miles. His first game for Richmond last season came just three weeks before the Tigers launched their winning run, and his presence has allowed Deledio to spend more time closer to goal, where, as Hawthorn discovered last week, he can do serious damage.
Shaun Grigg has gone from outside mid with often questionable disposal to another inside hard nut who can assume run-with roles. Richmond have also found more consistency and options out of defence. While Alex Rance and Troy Chaplin hold down the key positions, there's far more flexibility with those around them, Dylan Grimes, Jake Batchelor and now Nick Vlastuin all capable of playing either as ground-level rebound defenders or as opponents for marking-type forwards.
And at the other end, while conversion can still be a problem, there's little doubt the Tigers' forward set-up is functioning more smoothly, and, yes, more consistently, their ranking for scores from inside 50 entries having climbed from 12th to fifth.
It's a more well-rounded profile, befitting a team that, by the end of the weekend, with a couple of other cards falling their way, could potentially be a top-four side.
You don't achieve those sorts of ladder positions without pretty reliable form. And over the last 12 months, that has certainly been Richmond's. Another step in the on-going development of a team that has improvedeyear by year, and is now in a position to cash in.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/tigers-top-of-the-consistency-table-20150805-gisgbp.html#ixzz3hwTX5Y3a
