POSITIVES & NEGATIVES FOR ROUND 21Andrew Slevison
SEN
7 August 2023The Key Takeaway: Waved the white flagDid Richmond just surrender its season?
If the season was actually on the line, somebody forget to tell the players.
The Tigers were battered by the Bulldogs from the outset. When Caleb Daniel, at 171cm, took a contested mark for the first goal of the game, you just knew it was not going to be their night.
The entire first quarter certainly didn’t feel like finals were on the line. And the club certainly didn’t act like there was everything to play for by managing Dustin Martin and Trent Cotchin at the same time, then pulling co-captain Dylan Grimes out late.
Perhaps the club isn’t keen on pushing for finals, which is fine because they probably wouldn’t do any damage, but at least show a bit more care because that was a pathetic performance.
The Positive: Kids getting experienceGetting games into kids is a plus.
Tylar Young, Sam Banks, Matt Coulthard and Jacob Bauer are all getting some valuable minutes.
The Tigers need to be able to fall back on some youth in the coming years so having some younger players pushing through is a bonus.
The Negative: Lack of respect shownAs mentioned earlier, it was just a poor effort from the Tigers. Yes, the five-day break didn’t help, but what they dished up wasn’t good enough.
They showed zero respect to Marcus Bontempelli and Adam Treloar while Tom Liberatore bullied the Richmond midfield.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan did as he pleased in the first quarter when kicking four goals from seven disposals. He touched the ball just three times in the second and third terms combined after the Tigers did put some work into him.
But the damage had been done and the game was quickly taken away from the Tigers.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/08/07/overreactions-positives-negatives-and-undroppables-for-all-18-afl-teams-in-21/