Counting Down To Richmond's First Win
aflinsider.net
April 16th 2007
The Tigers should have at least one win by now, they were in a big winning position in two of their games and also hit the lead late in their other game. They could be up in the top 8 but instead they are down the bottom. Their first win of the season should already have been recorded, but now it is a struggle for them in the next month or two.
The absence of Simmonds could be used as an excuse against the Swans, who had Everitt and Jolly, but Richmond were not expected to win that game anyway. But in round 1 Carlton didn't have a real ruckman, in terms of size, and Simmonds was back for the round 3 game against Collingwood.
Gaspar is playing great, Tambling and Deledio are starring, Schulz is providing another aerial avenue to goal. Johnson may have started the season off on the wrong foot, and in the wrong direction, but he is back at his best now. Polak has made their trade with Fremantle and Collingwood look good, he is attacking the ball in the air and pulling down marks or creating the crumbs for the little guys, but the Tigers do need to find a spot for Polak to play and to leave him there.
Richardson is always the big story there, and in the first three weeks there has been plenty of talk about him. Sometimes a tad inaccurate, but Richmond would be a lot worse off if he wasn't there.
The coaching has been questionable, throwing Joel Bowden into the full back spot, and depositing his brother in the VFL were not very beneficial to the Tigers. Telling everyone that nothing good was going to happen until 2011 was probably not the right message to the football world too.
Maybe the worst thing to happen to Richmond was when a relative of another team's captain transferred his allegiance to Richmond before the round 1 game. It has only been bad luck for the Tigers since that happened.
It could all turn around if Wallace can defeat his former team, if the Bulldogs win then the Tigers will be looking for their first win against some other high-quality opponents. The round 12 game against Melbourne could theoretically be between two teams who have yet to win. It might be a different Melbourne team then, compared to now, as they could have a full list to choose from.
Round - Opponent - Venue - % chance for Richmond to win
4 Western Bulldogs MCG 33%
5 West Coast MCG 10%
6 Geelong Telstra Dome 33%
7 Port Adelaide AAMI Stadium 25%
8 Adelaide AAMI Stadium 20%
9 Essendon MCG 40%
10 Brisbane Lions Telstra Dome 50%
11 Fremantle Subiaco 15%
12 Melbourne MCG 50%
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