OVERREACTIONS, POSITIVES & NEGATIVES FOR ROUND 20Andrew Slevison
SEN
1 August 2023
The Key Takeaway: Good enough, but not for long enoughRichmond played well on Sunday.
Their best was pretty good, but it just wasn’t for long enough.
They allowed Melbourne to continually drive the ball inside 50 in the second half and eventually the dam wall burst.
The inside-50 count in the second half read 41-17 in favour of the Demons, including 21-6 in the final quarter. Those numbers proved costly for the Tigers in the end.
Andrew McQualter’s side was great in the first half, and decent for part of the third term, but it all finally came to a head and resulted in a 32-point loss.
The Positive: Ability to match it with a top-four teamDespite the defeat, the Tigers did match it with a team at the pointy end of the ladder.
The result probably shows where they are at - around five goals worse than the top four - but the performance for much of the game suggests they can still play a role in the finals, provided they make it.
Richmond’s best footy is pretty solid and it led to a 20-point lead early in the third term.
McQualter will take plenty away from the defeat but there is not much time to think about things with a season-defining fixture against the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
If they can sneak into the eight they could possibly do some damage. If they lose that, then it’s going to be awfully difficult and the ability to match it with a team inside the four will be null and void.
The Negative: Defence outplayed, midfield beatenThe Tigers’ defence has been their bedrock in recent years, but on Sunday it was badly shown up.
Harrison Petty, Jake Melksham and Jacob Van Rooyen formed somewhat of a makeshift forward line in the absence of injured duo Bayley Fritsch and Tom McDonald, and with Ben Brown and Brodie Grundy out of the side.
Petty had kicked 4.1 for the year prior to his career-best bag of six straight, Melksham had kicked 11 for the season and no more than two in a game in 2023, while Van Rooyen hadn’t kicked multiple goals in a game since Round 6.
That trio combined for 14.0 in a remarkable showing of forward line execution, dominating the Richmond defence of Noah Balta, Nathan Broad, Tylar Young and co.
As mentioned earlier, the inside 50s kept coming made possible by Melbourne’s dominance around the contest in kicking 76 of their 120 points from clearances.
The Tigers lost clearances 49-40 in the end with the Dees doing most of their damage late in the game once they had broken the backs of their opponents.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/07/31/overreactions-positives-negatives-and-undroppables-for-all-18-afl-teams-in-20/
