Richmond Need Fluency
If they are to get over a resurgent Melbourne today, Tadhg Kennelly believes the under-pressure Richmond Tigers are going to have to find the fluency that they have been lacking over the first month of the competition.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick's appeal to fans for patience and claim that the club might have to 'take a little half step back to go two steps forward' sends the wrong message to his players, believes Sportsfan's guru Tadhg Kennelly.
"His statement last week when he said that we might need to take a step back to go forward – when the players hear that, that allows you an 'out' … [and] to say 'Well, if we don't play well, the coach thinks we're going to go backwards anyway,'" Kennelly told SportsFan's Will McCloy.
"It wasn't a great statement from him."
"This is a club that should be pushing for the top four; they are struggling."
With the Tigers coming off a dismal performance last week against the Eagles and seriously underperforming in 2016, Kennelly was critical of the Tigers' ball movement over the first four rounds, and says the side needs to take the game on more.
"They're very mechanical and very structured," he explained.
"They're just very slow in the way they're playing their football and very safe."
"They just need to open up and take the shackles off and go for their life."
Kennelly also pointed out that, apart from Richmond's ball movement, the side seems lost down back. The Tigers have conceded 37 goals in their last two defeats.
"Defensively they've been very poor," said Kennelly.
"They're trying to figure out a way to play the zone defence … [but] they obviously haven't done it in the pre-season. They haven't been pressing up."
"West Coast went through them so easily last weekend. And teams are doing that – scoring very easily against them."
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