Tigers rue missed opportunity Jake Niall
The Age
July 26, 2015 Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has refused to single out a terrible blunder by defender Bachar Houli as responsible for his team's four-point loss to Fremantle, who booted a goal with 31 seconds left to steal the game.
There was only 82 seconds left when Houli inexplicably chose to kick in long and up the corridor, where it was marked by Garrick Ibbotson, who chipped to David Mundy. The midfielder then booted the match-winning goal - handing the Dockers four points that their coach Ross Lyon acknowledged the Tigers deserved.
While Houli's blunder was the talking point, Hardwick pointed to Richmond's inaccuracy from sets shots - kicking 10.18 and also hitting the post five times - as the reason for the loss. Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt both missed telling set shots in the last term.
"Listen, you look at it one of two ways - you can look at the last mistake. Bachar knows," said Hardwick. "From here on in, you can look at the 10 goals 18, you hit the post six times. End of the day we had our chances to win the game, we didn't take it. It's easy to focus on the last mistake of the day.
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"Our game was littered with mistakes, as harsh as it was. You don't take your opportunities - we had more than ample opportunities to win the game. We didn't ... We had gettable shots ... it's not as though they were incredibly hard shots, we just didn't make the most of our opportunities. That's not anyone's good pressure, that's our poor play."
Hardwick said Houli was taking his mistake "as you can imagine", adding, "he's a proud man, he's disappointed. He'll battle on, he'll be OK."
The Richmond coach said the defeat - which could prove costly to a team that would trail Sydney only on percentage if the Swans lost to West Coast on Sunday - would either make or break the Tigers.
"It can work one of two ways - it can either break us, or it can make us. I know this group, they're a resilient, they'll cop their fair whack, we lost a game we should have won, but that's the great thing about AFL footy, and there's no bigger opportunity than next Friday night.
"We play a side [Hawthorn] that is playing as good a footy as I've seen. So, you want a way to redeem yourself, that's the way to go about it. You can sit there and bitch and moan and complain, the fact of the matter is that game's gone now. We move on."
Hardwick said the Tigers looked forward to the "exciting challenge" of Hawthorn on Friday night. "We're going to have our work cut out for us, there's no doubt, but I'm prepared to back our guys in. They'll play a hard brand of footy once again and look forward to the contest. Going to be great one."
He said Hawthorn's kicking efficiency against Carlton of almost 80 per cent was "pretty much unheard of in the modern game. I don't want to scare myself too much."
The Tigers lost Shaun Hampson to an apparent rolled ankle, the ruckman subbed out at half-time. "He was good up until half-time, it's difficult to know how much it hurt us," Hardwick said.
The Tigers had Tyrone Vickery back from suspension, with Shane Edwards's situation unclear, while Reece Conca and Corey Ellis had played in the VFL and provided them with further selection options.
Lyon, whose team remains top of the ladder, praised their effort, but criticised their "method" and called their ball use "footy suicide". He said the Tigers had deserved the points. "It was a pretty tough night really - I compliment my players on their effort but not their method.
"The reason we were under pressure was some horrendous ball use. I thought our method was really poor. We just turned it over consistently, sent it back, and just gave them really easy opportunities. There were times when it was a little bit of their pressure but to be truthful our ball use was just bottom end."
Mundy, who was among Fremantle's best, said he had not been too concerned when taking the match-winning shot. "We practice it so much."
The Tigers, who remain fifth, have a reasonably tough run into the finals. After Hawthorn, they play Adelaide away, Gold Coast, Collingwood, Essendon and North Melbourne.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/tigers-rue-missed-opportunity-20150725-gikjer.html
