NOT MELLOW AND BLACKMark Robinson - The Tackle
Herald-Sun
May 28, 2012THE resurgent Tigers have plenty of people worried.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson was worried pre-match on Saturday, when he said the Tigers were coming, and he hoped it wouldn't be that day. It was.
The rest of us are wallowing in Richmond's success. How can we not. But come September, if they make it, all wallowing will cease.
Right now, we'll enjoy them until they really get serious. The Tiger Army has awakened. They have 30 years of frustration inside and no one will want to be near Punt Rd when it is all unleashed.
Coach Damien Hardwick has led the revival. Brendon Gale, the CEO, has had his head down and bum up, and Gary March, the pres, has helped keep the Tigers under the radar.
Add to that, the administration has helped wallop the debt, the coach has brought September-style football to the team, list management has identified holes and filled them, and drafting, which previously was a laughing stock, has gone tick, tick, tick.
The man of the moment is Ivan Maric.
Big Ivan and his band of little merry men in the midfield - Cotchin, Deledio, Martin, Foley, Tuck and Grigg - have transported the Tigers to finals aspirants.
The defence is new-ish and improved and the forward line can be hit and miss, but it is the midfield that can't be questioned.
Try these numbers:
The Tigers have won 18 more centre clearances than their opposition this season, and are ranked third in the league. Last year, the team won 80 less centre clearances than their opposition and was ranked dead last.
The Tigers have won 24 more hitouts to advantage than their opposition this season, and is ranked fourth. Last year, the team had 81 less hitouts to advantage than their opposition and was ranked second last
The Tigers have won 43 more hardball gets than their opposition, ranked fifth. Last year, the team had two less hardball gets than their opposition and was ranked 11th.
Big Ivan has taken five contested marks and is ranked third amongst genuine ruckmen behind Cox and Sandilands.
In effect, he is another midfielder, a la Cox. He has attended 84.5 per cent of Richmond's center bounces, the second highest percentage of any player in the comp behind Adelaide's Scott Thompson (87.2 per cent).
He is second to Cox in possessions won by a ruckman and second to Cox in uncontested possessions.
The midfield supplies balance of contested and uncontested possession.
The Tigers have 11 players ranked in the top 100 players for uncontested possessions.
They are Grigg (1), Deledio (5), Bachar Houli off a bank flank (15), Martin (32), Cotchin (35), defender Alex Rance (57) and Tuck, Foley and the skipper Chris Newman (T67) the next best.
If Maric is the goliath big man, Tuck is the evergreen midfielder.
He is 10th for contested possessions and heads Foley, Cotchin and Deledio ranked in the top 50.
They are the numbers which support the eyes. The Tigers play fierce, quick, continuous football and if the forward group had functioned better than it has, it's not inconceivable the Tigers could be sitting in the top four.
Richmond's problem is playing to expectations.
It's a different kind of pressure, and something the young group will learn over the next couple of months.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/expert-opinion/dale-thomas-the-tank-engine/story-fn5937w8-1226368656428
