Media articles - Tigers give Maggies wet weather lesson

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Tigers give Maggies wet weather lesson
02 July 2006   
Herald-Sun
AAP

RICHMOND gave Collingwood a lesson in playing wet weather football en route to a magnificent 47-point win in today's round 13 AFL game at the MCG.

The Tigers adapted superbly to the constant rain of the first half and at the main break held a remarkable 55-point lead, having kept the Magpies to one goal for the half.

The game was more even after the break when the conditions improved, but the Tigers ran out easy winners 13.14 (92) to 6.9 (45), before a good crowd of 63,016, to take their win-loss ratio to 7-6 and stay in the hunt for the finals.

But a serious leg injury to the much-improved Chris Newman soured the day for Richmond, as the midfielder was carried off after he attempted to kick the ball off the ground but only made contact with the leg of Collingwood's Leon Davis.

Newman's injury looked similar to the one his teammate Nathan Brown suffered last year, when he badly broke his leg, which ended his season.

Richmond had winners everywhere, as Andrew Krakouer - a late call-up - played one of his great games and booted three goals, Patrick Bowden, Shane Tuck and Chris Hyde were excellent in the middle of the ground, Troy Simmonds again played well in the ruck and Joel Bowden thrashed Magpies forward Chris Tarrant.

Richmond's Jay Schulz booted three goals in his first game since round two.

The Tigers booted 4.5 to 0.2 in the first quarter when the conditions were at their wettest, and were continually rewarded for putting their bodies on the line.

That, and the fact Collingwood could rarely move the ball quickly, made it look as if the Magpies had never played in the wet before.

The game was well over before halftime when one of Collingwood's best kickers, James Clement, had his long shot at goal smothered, and Richmond expertly rebounded for Tuck to run into an open goal.

Collingwood's only goal of the first half - through Alan Didak - came through a rare Richmond blunder, but he and Anthony Rocca finished with three goals each.

The Magpies came into this match the highest-scoring team in the competition, averaging 116 points a game.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19658526%255E20322,00.html

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Tigers maul Pies in wet
Sportal
sportal.com.au
 
Richmond has recorded its seventh win for the season with a spirited 47-point victory over Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

But the 13.14 (92) to 6.9 (45) victory was soured for the brave Tigers with defender Chris Newman suffering a horrifically broken leg, similar to the one sustained by Nathan Brown last season.

Newman collided with Magpie Leon Davis in the second term and his leg deviated at an unnatural angle. He left the arena on the stretcher cart and was taken to hospital shortly after.

The injury was a blight on what was otherwise an encouraging afternoon for Richmond, which destroyed the Magpies across every line.
 
The Bowden brothers were in sensational touch for the Tigers – Patrick ending with 30 possessions and Joel with 25 - while youngster Andrew Raines was electrifying through the middle.

Richard Tambling added some excitement to the equation while Brown took another significant step in his comeback, ending with 20 possessions.

Defender James Clement was best for Collingwood, while Ben Johnson was also serviceable, but without the big forwards firing, the Magpies were not in the contest.

Elevated rookie Harry O'Brien ended the game with his name in the book for an incident involving Richmond's Kayne Pettifer, while the game was punctuated by fracas as Magpie frustrations boiled over.

The Tigers got the early jump in damp conditions and basically never allowed the Magpies back in the game after kicking nine goals to one in the first half.

The rain cleared at half-time and the Pies came out looking brighter, but could not overturn the 54-point lead the Tigers had taken into the long-break.

The Magpies outscored the Tigers in the final term but it was not enough to avoid slumping to their fourth loss for the season.

RICHMOND: 4.5, 9.9, 11.12, 13.14 (92)
COLLINGWOOD: 0.2, 1.2, 3.4, 6.9 (45)

GOALS – Richmond: Krakouer 3, Schulz 3, Brown 2, Tuck 2, Tambling, Pettifer, Polo
Collingwood: Rocca 3, Didak 3

BEST – Richmond: P. Bowden, J. Bowden, Raines, Tambling, Kellaway, Brown, Tuck, Krakouer
Collingwood: Clement, Johnson, Buckley, Burns, R. Shaw

INJURIES – Richmond: Newman (leg)
Collingwood: TBA

CHANGES – Richmond: Hall out, replaced in selected side by Krakouer
Collingwood: Morrison, Thomas out, replaced in selected side by Wakelin, Swan

REPORTS - O'Brien (Collingwood) reported in the first quarter by umpire Kennedy

UMPIRES - Kennedy, McLaren, Meredith
CROWD - 63,016 at the MCG
 
http://sportal.com.au/football.asp?i=news&id=84861

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Team Stats

Kicks      255 - 221   
Marks     116 - 109   
Handballs  91 - 123   
Tackles     69 - 50   
Hitouts      28 - 30   
Frees       17 - 11

Individual Stats

Player             K  H  D  M  HO  T  FF  FA  G  B   
P.Bowden      24  6  30 12  0  2  1  0  0  0   
J.Bowden      18  7  25   5  0  1  1  1  0  0   
S.Tuck          14 10  24  5  1  4  2  0  2  0   
A.Kellaway     19  4  23 12  1  6  2  0  0  0   
K.Pettifer       19  4  23  6  0  3  0  2  1  1   
N.Brown        17  3  20  7  0  0  2  0  2  4   
N.Foley         11  9  20  3  0  1  1  1  0  0   
K.Johnson    12  6  18  4  0  7  0  0  0  0   
A.Raines      16  2  18  9  0  3  2  0  0  0   
B.Deledio     14  3  17  9  1  4  0  1  0  1   
D.Polo         14  3  17  10 0  6  0  1  1  0   
G.Tivendale  13  4  17  4  0  7  2  0  0  0   
C.Hyde        11  5  16  6  0  1  1  1  0  0   
A.Krakouer   10  5  15  2  0  3  1  1  3  2   
R.Tambling   10  5  15  6  0  2  1  1  1  2   
T.Simmonds 11  3  14  5 19  2  0  1  0  1   
D.Gaspar       7  2  9   2  0  2  1  0  0  0   
M.White         5  4  9   2  0  2  0  0  0  0   
D.Meyer         3  3  6  1  0  4  0  0  0  1   
A.Pattison      2  3  5   3  6  4  0  0  0  0   
J.Schulz        4  0  4   3  0  4  0  1  3  0   
C.Newman     1  0  1   0  0  1  0  0  0  0

Top 5's

Ranking Points

Tuck                140
Brown              125
P.Bowden        123
Buckley            119
R.Shaw            118

Contested Possies

Tuck               14
Buckley          12
R.Shaw           11
Krakouer         10
Pettifer            10

Uncontested Possies

P.Bowden        23
B.Johnson       22
Kellaway          17
O'Bree             16
J.Bowden         15

Effective Kicks

P.Bowden        19
B.Johnson       18
Pettifer            16
J.Bowden        15
R.Shaw            15

Inside 50

Pettifer          9
Brown           8
Tuck             8
K.Johnson    5
B.Johnson    4

Rebound 50

J.Bowden     7
Burns           6
Clement        6
Lockyer        6
P.Bowden     5

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Tigers soar into the eight
4:54:23 PM Sun 2 July, 2006
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to afl.com.au

Richmond has moved into the top-eight after producing a brilliant first-half effort to defeat Collingwood 13.14 (92) to 6.9 (45) at the MCG on Sunday.

However, joy at the defeat of the old enemy was tempered for Richmond fans with the loss of Chris Newman with what will surely be a season-ending leg fracture.

The Tiger defender took a swing at a loose ball six minutes into the second term, but connected with Leon Davis' leg and was left lying in agony in scenes horribly reminiscent of Nathan Brown's injury last season.

The manner of the defeat will be of particular concern to Mick Malthouse with his charges often brushed off the ball or beaten to it by an opponent who simply wanted it more in the first half.

 
Patrick Bowden continues to confound Bulldogs' supporters who never saw him play as well as he has since crossing to Punt Road and Sunday was another fine example as he gathered 30 touches and marked the ball 12 times in a dominant display from half-back.

Andrew Kellaway was another who shone in the Tiger backline with 23 touches and 12 marks, while Shane Tuck was important around the stoppages with 23 disposals and two goals.

Ben Johnson was the top possession winner for Collingwood with 29 and James Clement battled hard in defence for the Pies on a day when the Pies just had too many passengers.

The first half was played in persistent rain and the Tigers' desperation and willingness to move the ball forward at all costs was perfectly suited to the greasy conditions.

Jay Schulz scored Richmond's first after an off-the-ball incident brought him to point-blank range and saw Harry O'Brien go into the umpire's book in a fiery opening quarter.

Richard Tambling made no mistake after Brown showed excellent poise under pressure to find him dead in front and the provider turned finisher when Brown goaled from 50 five minutes later to set alarm bells ringing in the Collingwood coaches box.

A heated exchange that may see a few players lighter in the pocket later in the week was quickly followed by the first of Andrew Krakouer's three goals with the late inclusion making the most of the opportunity afforded to him by the late withdrawal of Ray Hall.

The Pies could muster just two points in the first quarter and began the second 27 points in arrears.

Alan Didak made the most of a horrible mix-up deep in the Tigers' backline, but his goal in the first minute was to be Collingwood's only score for the quarter as Richmond effectively ended the contest with the next five.

Brown's second came shortly before play was stopped for Newman to be taken from the field and if the five-minute delay unsettled the Tigers it didn't show because they continued to dominate.

Tuck scored two very similar goals with the hard-working midfielder doing well to force his opponent under the ball and run into an open goal.

The scoreboard made for gruesome reading for Pie fans at half-time with their side able to muster just 1.2 for the entire half - Collingwood starting the second half 55 points behind the inspired Tigers.

The rain stopped during the break and Richmond's prolific scoring surprisingly slowed up in the drier conditions. Anthony Rocca kept Collingwood's slim hopes alive with a goal in the first minute, but Shulz's second goal after a strong lead and mark followed by another from Krakouer quickly put an end to that.

Rocca continued to battle it out and snagged his second late, but at the last change Richmond had the game shot to pieces with a 56-point lead.

The Pies won the final term three-goals-to-two, but the sting had well and truly gone out of the game by then.

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=277745

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Magpies ebb while Tigers go with flow
Stephen Rielly
The Age
July 3, 2006

SETTING Adelaide's NASA-inspired domination at AAMI Stadium aside, it is a rare thing in today's football for the flow of a contest to run, like a torrent, in one direction.

The best teams may not lose control of the play as often or for as long as the lesser sides, but relinquish it they do. It is the inevitable ebb and flow of a game played with an oval ball between lists of legislated size and quality.

Not yesterday, though, a rare day of wet-weather football at the MCG, where a Richmond tide ran out against Collingwood all afternoon. There was no ebb, only Tiger flow, control so complete that the yellow and blacks were savouring the occasion well before half-time, at which point the Magpies had been held to a solitary goal.

At times, the domination was outrageous. Andrew Krakouer's time-on goal in the first quarter, for example. Without any apparent mind for the drizzle that was as constant in the first half as Richmond's domination, Brett Deledio shimmied and stepped inside an opponent to snap with his left foot what would have been a superb goal. The greasy ball did not co-operate, of course, but the miskick fell almost directly to Krakouer, who proceeded to show his teammate how an across-the-body-goal should be kicked.

Krakouer kicked his second 20 minutes later by making the most of another misadventure. Collingwood's Scott Burns hunted the football down, only to knock it beyond his own grasp and into the path of Krakouer, who gathered it up and goaled to put the Tigers 47 points clear. The Magpies were being betrayed even by their own effort.

Then, just before the main break, there was the moment when everyone in the stadium knew that the day would belong to Richmond and probably already did so.

James Clement, as sure-footed as any player in the competition, had run forward from deep defence to be on the end of a chain of possessions that was as close to a cohesive, creative passage of play as the Magpies would muster all match. At the moment of delivery, though, he slipped and drove his kick not to the Collingwood goal square but into a Richmond opponent.

The ricochet fell the way of the Tigers, who swept the ball forward for Shane Tuck, the best player on the field at the time, to kick his second goal of the quarter.

Tuck's enjoyment of the physical contests that are inevitable in a wet-weather game had by then become obvious and, in their way, symbolic.

Chastened by their insipid performance against Hawthorn in Tasmania last round, the Tigers trained secretly during the week, held a team meeting at Punt Road before the match and turned out having resolved that at the very least, a physical commitment was required. If any one player spoke for this commitment, Tuck did. His goal was Richmond's fifth of the term and ninth of the half that was more than Collingwood, the highest-scoring team in the land to the midway point of the season, was able to produce for the match. In fact, only two Collingwood players kicked goals, Alan Didak and Anthony Rocca, each of whom kicked three.

This impotency reflected poorly upon Collingwood, which seemed to have borrowed more than a little of the attitude Richmond took to Launceston a fortnight ago, but also spoke of a mighty performance from Richmond's back six. Patrick Bowden, who was often strategically shaken loose by the wash of match-ups elsewhere, Andrew Kellaway, Joel Bowden and Andrew Raines held an indestructible order over Collingwood's forward line, importantly as creative, attacking defenders rather than mere negators.

They did so even after Chris Newman, who had been assigned to Didak, broke his leg in the second term. Newman's departure required a reorganisation that was scarcely noticed, although the Magpies never really experimented with the three-tall, three-small composition of their attack, anyway.

In fact, there was little change from start to finish in any regard. Richmond's ascendancy was complete, amounting to the club's most authoritative win of the season.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/07/02/1151778813713.html

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Michael Gleeson
The Age
July 3, 2006

Richmond was outstanding in beating Collingwood across every position yesterday. Before 63,016 people in drizzly, cold conditions the Tigers were far more desperate, adapting their game better to the conditions.

"I thought we were able to adjust our game to wet-weather style football quicker," Wallace said.

"And I thought the way our guys were able to hold their structure defensively, in particular, I didn't think they looked likely to get through.

"Up the other end we were able to manufacture ways to get goal-scoring opportunities — eight or nine goal-scoring chances in that first quarter."

Richmond held a closed training session at Trinity College in Bulleen last Friday that was focused exclusively on wet weather play. Yesterday the players met at Punt Road for an extraordinary meeting ahead of the match.

Wallace also imposed two heavy match-type training sessions during the break after the humiliating loss in Tasmania.

"You can't set about the result but you can set about how you are going to go about it and what you are going to do."

Wallace said the fact Richmond's best wins come after their worst losses was partly due to the youth of the team. He said his team was slightly ahead of last season in terms of wins and losses, but was doing so with youth instead of older players such as Wayne Campbell, Mark Graham, Mark Chaffey, Greg Stafford and Trent Knobel. Wallace called Shane Tuck "a rogue bull" and likened him to Michael Voss and Nathan Buckley in size and shape and ability to impose himself physically, if not in ability.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/07/02/1151778813689.html

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Angry Tigers win back respect
03 July 2006   Herald-Sun
Mark Stevens

RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace last night revealed his plan for redemption was capped off by an ``extraordinary meeting'' at Punt Rd.
 
Desperate to win back respect after a horror loss to Hawthorn a fortnight ago, Wallace yesterday herded his players away from the MCG to finalise the battle plan to attack Collingwood.

``We had a meeting over at Punt Rd just to really lock and load on to the Magpies,'' Wallace said.

``Normally we'd be in here (MCG) for our first team meeting, we didn't have a team meeting at all.''

The intent was obvious from the outset as Richmond out-bustled and out-hustled a flat Collingwood outfit to post a 47-point victory.

Richmond clearly set itself for a mini-final after Wallace accused his players of being big heads after the Hawthorn capitulation in Launceston.

``The mindset wasn't where it should've been a fortnight ago,'' Wallace said. ``What was on the line was our pride. It was bloody well dinted the last time we came out and we didn't accept that too easily.

``It was a difficult fortnight, but the only way you can answer it is by getting out there and getting your best foot forward.''

Wallace praised his players for being hungry and angry against the highly-fancied Magpies and said the tone had been set on the training track.

The coaching staff had looked at the six-day weather forecast and, with the likelihood of rain, began planning for a wet-weather mission.

``Four days out, it became very obvious Sunday was going to be the wettest day,'' Wallace said.

The Tigers held a rare closed training session in Bulleen on Friday, with the focus on preparing for a wet-weather style.

``I thought we were able to adjust our game to wet weather football quicker than the opposition,'' Wallace said. ``I think we had eight or nine goalscoring chances in the first quarter. When you looked down the other end, as far as I was concerned they didn't look likely to get through.''

Wallace praised his team for once again bouncing back from a bad defeat.

``This is now the third time this year, let alone last year, where we've put in an effort we didn't think was up to scratch and the three times we've come out the next week and been hungry and angry and really done something about it.''

Wallace said it was understandable for critics to ask why the Tigers couldn't bring a similar game to the table a fortnight ago, but the inconsistency was a by-product of having a young team.

``You're going to get a few ups and downs along the way. You can't put wise heads on young shoulders,'' he said. ``Providing they've got the attitude that says, `We care about the footy club, the supporters and our own pride in performance' you've got a chance. I thought the guys showed all that today.''

Wallace is thrilled his team is matching last year's efforts to this stage with a far younger outfit.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19661766%255E19771,00.html

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Tiger's talent shines in gloom
03 July 2006   Herald-Sun
Comment by Mike Sheahan

ONE team came in search of redemption, the other came simply to meet a commitment.
 
From the moment Richmond coach Terry Wallace publicly humiliated his players after they had humiliated themselves in Launceston on June 18, the Tigers have been hell-bent on restoring honour.

Wallace had accused his players of ``getting ahead of themselves'' after the shock 41-point loss to Hawthorn, and he continued to make them pay for their sins.

Ruckman Troy Simmonds said after the game: ``The boys couldn't wait to get out there.''

One of Wallace's key assistants, David King, reinforced the message on 3AW on Saturday. King said he couldn't promise a win over Collingwood the next day, but he could guarantee a far more honourable effort.

Wallace, a three-time premiership player at Hawthorn, and King, a dual premiership player at North Melbourne, come from cultures where lapses like the one in Launceston demand a statement in response.

They know the cynics love to say nothing much changes at Richmond after every unexpected lapse.

Wallace's teams, originally at Footscray and now at Richmond, are building a reputation of almost always rebounding after a bad loss.

The Tigers, remember, lost to Sydney by 118 points at Telstra Dome in Round 7 and beat Adelaide at the same venue seven days later.

They were excellent from the opening minutes yesterday in conditions made to order for a team with honour and pride at stake.

Opinion is divided on whether wet grounds and a slippery ball help or hinder the better players.

I share Ron Barassi's view that the tougher the conditions, the better the good players perform.

If Barassi is under attack on this one any time soon, he might rest his case on Richmond's Nathan Brown.

No player in the competition, none, is more skilled than Brown with the ball loose in his area.

He had 11 possessions to halftime, when the contest was all over, and had kicked 2.3. His awareness, clean ball-handling, ability to keep his feet, and delivery off either foot, is unsurpassed.

Early in the third quarter, he ran towards the bouncing ball with the competition's pre-eminent defender James Clement on his hammer, won possession, turned and delivered neatly to a teammate off his right side.

He was the superior player in the contest in the first half, his job done with Richmond going to the interval 9.9 to 1.2.

Clement reduced Brown's efficiency, prompting many to wonder why he, not Tarkyn Lockyer, hadn't started on the Richmond star, but Brown ripped into Clement with a match-turning last quarter last year so the gamble was understandable.

So, the Tigers are in the eight into the second half of the season, sitting 7-6 but with a testing five weeks ahead.

They must travel to Adelaide to play Port, then front Melbourne, Sydney, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs.

The one certainty is that whatever they achieve this year, they will improve on it next year.

Brett Deledio, Andrew Raines, Dean Polo, Richard Tambling, Jay Schulz and Nathan Foley all look like becoming fixtures in this team for many years.

Raines was the best of them yesterday in just his 20th game. The No.4 guernsey, the extraordinary similarities with his famous father, Geoff, coupled with his poise, made you wonder whether it actually might have been Raines Sr churning through the rain.

Andrew Krakouer also produced two or three reminders of his famous father, Jim, with masterly work in front of goal.

He's hardly a youngster any more at 23 and with 86 games to his name, but he revelled in the conditions and looked to enjoy his work more than he has been.

It was a much different story for Collingwood, which produced probably its worst performance of the season.

It was as if the Magpies had never previously experienced a wet ground and slippery ball, and, unlike Richmond, they weren't prepared to do what has to be done on wet days.

Collingwood players weighed up the situation far too often, and paid the consequences.

They were too tall, too, with Shane Wakelin, Travis Cloke and Scott Pendlebury all spending large chunks of time on the bench.

The Maggies obviously are better this year, but the depth of the improvement remains uncertain.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19661294%255E19742,00.html

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Pies rolled early
03 July 2006   Herald-Sun
Mark Robinson

TWO weeks seeking redemption was rewarded in two hours yesterday.

The Tigers, who left Tasmania a fortnight ago with their inflated egos burst by Hawthorn, responded with a comprehensive eight-goal win against Collingwood at the MCG yesterday.

This contest was over early. If hardness at the football, hunting in packs, putting bodies on the line in heavy conditions are a sign, this contest was over midway through the first quarter.

The Tigers booted four and five goals in the first two quarters on the back of a winning midfield, led by Shane Tuck, and a swarm of small forwards led by Nathan Brown, Andrew Krakouer and Richard Tambling.

In contrast, the Magpies booted just one goal to halftime. It was about as insipid as we can expect to see from Collingwood this year. You'd hope so, anyhow.

The Magpies were found wanting in just about everything that is needed when the ball is wet and below the knees.

As Richmond was starkly different to its previous outing, so, too, was Collingwood after its impressive win in Sydney.

Yesterday the Pies were lethargic, reactive and unwilling. The Tigers were the opposite.

``We were really pleased with the approach,'' coach Terry Wallace said. ``We've been hurting for a fortnight, and we wanted to prove a point.''

Twice, Wallace put the players to the sword on the training track.

The second, on Friday, came off a day of clinics where he feared too much backslapping from overawed youngsters might, again, give some a false sense of reality.

``It's always about a mindset. The mindset wasn't where it should've been a fortnight ago,'' Wallace said.

``You can't set about a result, but you can set about how you're going to go about it and what you're going to do ... that was the main emphasis we had.''

Tuck, Chris Hyde off the bench, Brett Deledio and Kane Johnson were key players in the middle early, while Andrew Raines, the Fabulous Bowden Boys and Andrew Kellaway were tight and creative at the back.

Kellaway was made for yesterday. Brave, a touch slow, always a competitor, Kellaway took 12 marks and had 23 touches playing across half-back.

With Patrick B and Joel B waxing _ they had 55 possessions, including 13 handballs and 17 marks, between them _ and Darren Gaspar, with a little help from the rain, keeping Anthony Rocca out of harm's way, the Tigers were virtually impenetrable.

At quarter-time, inside 50s were 16-7 the Tigers' way and at halftime 34-20 to the Tigers. At the end it was 56-41.

``The way our guys held their structure defensively _ I didn't think they were likely to get through and up the other end _ we were able to manufacture ways to get goalscoring opportunities,'' Wallace said.

``I thought we had eight or nine goalscoring chances in the first quarter.''

Richmond had contributors almost everywhere.

Jay Schulz booted three goals on Simon Prestigiacomo, and was a target, but he will surely make way for Matthew Richardson next week.

Dean Polo, Greg Tivendale (eight clearances), Nathan Foley, Kayne Pettifer played forward, back and middle and all found it more than 17 times.

The form of Krakouer (three goals) and Tambling was also pleasing. Tambling, with the ever-improving Brown, made Collingwood's defensive 50m a dangerous place to make a living. ``Tambling is starting to feel he belongs at the level,'' Wallace said.

Krakouer was a beauty and, a monty to play yesterday, according to Wallace.

``Andrew still hasn't got the consistency in his game, but in those conditions he is magnificent,'' he said.

``If you put a ball in a small area, I'd have Andrew fighting for it over anyone in this competition. His inside work is absolutely sensational.''

His finishing was pretty impressive as well.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19661740%255E19742,00.html