Tigers on the up
10:01:42 AM Thu 27 April, 2006
Angus Morgan
Exclusive to afl.com.au
Having helped to secure Richmond's first win for the season against Brisbane at the Gabba last Saturday, star forward Matthew Richardson believes the Tigers will go into Friday night's clash with Carlton on a high.
But neither Richo nor anyone at Punt Road is assuming that a second win will follow as a matter of course.
Richardson, who was best-afield against the Lions with four goals, feels he's just starting to run into some form and he's looking to ramp it up against the Blues.
"I haven’t had a great start to the year, I've sort of been working hard without getting on the scoreboard too much," Richardson told afl.com.au.
"The last few weeks I've been getting a little bit better, but Saturday was definitely my best game.
"You're always not far away from having a good game and that's how I felt going into the game against the Lions."
Richardson's Tigers have had some interesting clashes with the Blues in recent seasons.
When Carlton was at its lowest ebb and really struggling for wins in 2002-04, the Blues won three-from-three against the Tigers through that period.
And last year, after being blown away by 85 points in round seven by some of the finest attacking football played by any team at any time in 2005, the Blues turned the tables in round 18 to record one of their five wins for the season by 35 points.
In that match Richardson was accidentally KO'd early in the contest, and he's keen to make a four-quarter contribution this time around.
"It was a tale of two games last year, wasn't it? The first game we came out and got the jump and played some of our best football for the year. The next time Carlton came out and they gave us a bit of a touch up that day," Richardson said.
"This week Carlton look like they've got some good players coming back in (Jarrad) Waite and (Brendan) Fevola, so they will be feeling confident for sure."
While everyone at Tigerland would love to have a fit and in-form Nathan Brown causing havoc up forward, Richardson said Brown's decision to stand down from football for a spell will give his fellow forwards a chance to take stock and to reassess their own contributions to the cause.
"No-one's sure what's going to happen with Nathan - he's a week-to-week proposition. But if he's not there then we need everyone chipping in, including me, as one of four or five contributors up forward," Richardson said.
"That's what we need. We got that last week against Brisbane and we got the four points. Kayne Pettifer had a very good season last year goal-wise and we probably need him to step up again."
Richardson believes Greg Stafford, who was more than handy in his first appearance for the season against the Lions with 11 disposals, six marks and three crucial goals, will go some way towards covering for Brown.
"When we're playing well, you will generally find that he's playing well," Richardson said.
"We didn’t have him in the side the first three games, he had an injury going into the start of the season, and we really missed him. He can present as a target or give it off to someone and, as a big man, he probably helps me and he doesn't waste an opportunity.
"We need 'Staff' up and running and last week showed his value to the side."
With matches to come against Essendon at the MCG in round six, then Sydney at Telstra Dome, some Tiger supporters have been talking up the prospect that the club could build some genuine winning momentum with four-in-a-row.
But Richardson is not prepared to look beyond Friday night.
"Every game is winnable in this competition but, saying that, we can't look any further ahead than Carlton this week," he said.
"We just need to make sure we continue our form from last week. Coming from our position we can’t afford to be getting ahead of ourselves and looking to the week after that, we've just got to make sure we keep our form up and beat Carlton.
"It will be a tough game."
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