ROUND 6 - RICHMOND vs PORT ADELAIDE - Docklands (Home)
SUMMARY:
After receiving a heavy 68 point reality check from premiership contenders St Kilda, Richmond returns to the Dome this Sunday to face reigning premiers Port Adelaide. This match will be a test to see whether the Tigers can reorganize and regroup as a team after such a disappointing loss especially given that in-form midfielder Chris Hyde will miss 2-3 weeks with a hairline fracture of the skull after a sickening albeit accidental head clash last weekend. Terry Wallace and the selection committee has added youth into the 25-man squad with Tambing, Meyer and Pattison all in line for their AFL debut. Also included on the interchange bench although IMO more likely to return the following week against Carlton is captain Kane Johnson. One more week isn't going to make a difference in a couple of years time.
Our opponents the Power have only been a shadow of the all-conquering side of 2004 with only a narrow home win over fellow struggling grand finalists Brisbane and a home draw against against Carlton to show for their first 5 rounds of footy in 2005. One reason for Port being 1-1-3 at this stage is they've been jumped in the first quarter (opposition sides coming out full-bore against the reigning premiers) and they have lost every last quarter this year with a unbelievably low precentage of 51 to boot. Another more obvious explanation for the drop off is departures over the off-season, injuries and suspensions have seemingly brought Port back to the pack. This week Chad Cornes, Roger James, Shaun Burgoyne and Dean Brogan will all still be absent however the Power regain for the first time in the home and way season the services of Norm Smith medallist Byron Pickett returning from a six week suspension plus Steven Salopek and Troy Chaplin.
PAST ENCOUNTERS:
Overall: 2-8
In the 00's: 0-6
At Docklands: 0-1
Last Time:
Round 9, 22.05.04. Away at Football Park.
Richmond 0.2 1.3 4.4 7.8-50
Port Adel 4.6 9.10 12.12 19.14-128
Multiple Goalkickers: Richmond - Bowden 2; Port Adelaide - Tredrea 3, White 3, Salopek 3, Brogan 2, S.Burgoyne 2.
Attendance: 25761
KEY STATS AND MATCH-UPS
DEFENCE: In a similar situation to the Fremantle game, one of the poorer defensive outfits faces off against one of the poorer attacking sides of 2005. The Tigers have conceded 106 points per game (14th in the league) but against high quality opposition this rises by another 5-6 goals. The irony of this stat is our backmen apart from Newman on Milne did a reasonable job containing their direct opponent in one-on-one contests last week against the Saints. They were just swamped by the footy continually being pumped inside our defensive 50 via the Saints classy midfielders.
Port on the other hand are struggling to kick a winning score averaging only 78 points (second worst attack in the AFL this year) which is a total turnaround from the high scoring side of the past 4 years. They also only enter their forward 50 46 times per game which is the third lowest in the comp. Their main avenue towards goal continues to be All-Australian CHF Warren Tredrea who is in great form and has contributed twice as much to the scoreboard as the next Port player. Unlike previous years they are falling down finding alternatives goalscoring options up forward. Other talls Thurstans, Lade and the inaccurate White are just averaging 1 goal per game while 3-4 goal cameo rolls from midsized forwards which have been a feature of Port's forward line in recent times have all but dried up. Wanganeen despite reasonable stats has had little influence while Shaun Burgoyne and Byron Pickett have been out of the side. Both sides problems (in the Tigers case against top sides) can be traced back to a beaten midfield. In Port Adelaide's case the loss of their midfield dominance has forced them to attack from wide on the flanks this year hence making them one-dimensional going inside 50 and easy pickings for opposition defenders. Plus their passing hasn't been to the same high standard we've come to expect.
In terms of match-ups although you normally play your best backman on the best forward I think we'll go for Hall at CHB on Tredrea given Hall's efforts on Pavlich and Hamill the past two weeks with Gas to get Thurstans. Port may push Lade forward to stretch us for height so we may have to reorganise with AK, Graham or Bowden taking on the 3rd tall defender roll. Last week we really missed Hartigan as a second option on a small nippy forward such as Milne. Hopefully Newman doesn't have 2 bad games in a row otherwise the last thing we need is to put Gavin Wanganeen back into form which he has a habit of doing against us. As an aside we need to respect young Brett Ebert near Port's goals by making him accountable.
MIDFIELD: In previous meetings between these two sides, Port has just killed us out of middle with their ability to win the footy in tight and then through crisp skills clear the ball with ease through supporting numbers running at pace. However the loss of their main ballwinners in Josh Carr to Freo and Roger James to injury has severely hurt Port's ability to win contested footy (14th in the AFL). They were hoping Francou would be an automatic replacment but he is still trying to cope with playing midfield after 2 knee recos. Their midfield has looked sluggish (although they were better against the Cats) as the likes of second tier players in Cassisi, Mahoney, Cochrane (played well last week) etc being more defensive minded midfielders have had to take on more responsibility. They've had to reply far too much on Peter Burgoyne, Kane Cornes, Kingsley off a HBF and in-from Stewart Dew off a wing. Pickett and to a lesser extent Salopek should improve their midfeld depth and speed to a degree this week.
Conversely Richmond has done well in clearances and winning contested footy (second in the league in the latter). Even last week we got our hands on the footy first a number of times. However our inability to execute our skills with less space under the sort of pressure required to be a top side proved once again to be disasterous as the Saints in awesome form made us pay for ever fumble, indecision and turnover with interest. Add to that we were heavily outnumbered at the fall of the ball which is required to win loose footy as well as to support teammates under pressure. This is shown in our loose ball winning stats in which we are last in the comp. You can see we are a side in transition with a mixture of bad old and good new habits.
In terms of match-ups, Peter Burgoyne and Kane Cornes (playing a more offensive role this year) continue to be the Power's main possession winners in the midfield this year. Pickett of course will be dangerous. Two of these three we need to shutdown. This will be made difficult given the loss of Hyde especially if Johnson doesn't pass his fitness test. This will put more demand on Cogs, Tuck, Browny and co and we can't expect nor rely on a Tambling or Meyer to fill the breach in their debut match. Chaffey could only match up on Kane Cornes (even that's risky) as he'll be left for dust on a Burgoyne say. Sunday will be a day when we need Krakouer to stand up and be counted. I would expect if Johnson doesn't show that Browny will spend more time in the midfield to help with the load with possibly Cambo spending more time resting more up forward rather than on the bench.
With Brogan out injured Port will have to rely on Primus (like Francou returning from a knee reco) and Lade (so-so form this year) in the ruck. We will need to stretch them via the rotation of our 3 big boys Knobel, Stafford and so far disappointing Simmonds. The latter is another who needs to finally stand up on Sunday and make his presence felt both around the ground and in front of goal.
FORWARDS: A clash between two middle of road sides at this end of the ground. Richmond averages 94 points per game (9th highest) and 8th in inside 50s with 53 per match while Port's defence is ranked 11th conceding 99 points on average. Last week it was a all too familiar story for the Tigers as we were again found wanting under pressure against a top side in four main areas - 1) shocking disposal from the midfield to the forwards, 2) an over reliance on Richo and Browny to kick our goals, 3) failure to take early chances which could have put scoreboard pressure on our opponents and 4) a lack of pressure from the forwards on the opposition when they are clearing the ball. We're not going to win too many games playing footy like this.
Port's backline has held up fairly well defensively despite missing Chad Cornes and a non-dominant midfield. Adam Kingsley in career best form (would be leading their B&F) is knocking up possessions at will off a HBF and through the midfield. Wilson, Walsh and Montgomery also play the rebounding role well. Even Bishop does when he runs off his man. The spare man in defence played into St Kilda's hands as a free Maguire and Aussie Jones killed us on the rebound. We wouldn't want to do the same with Kingsley and say a Bishop either. We'd be better off going man-on-man. The one weakness that stood out last week against Geelong was that Wakelin nor Bishop could cope with the big body of Ottens one out. Whether on Sunday we can exploit this with Richo, Stafford or Simmonds depends on us getting the ball inside 50 with decent delivery directly and quickly. Last week we sure didn't.
In terms of match-ups, the more mobile Bishop usually lines up on Richo leaving Wakelin to either Stafford and Simmonds. A third tall would force Thurstans back into defence which is a win-win for us (provided we hold our marks Mr Simmonds) as he's removed as an option in their forward line yet when I've seen him play is a fish out of water in defence. I'd expect Browny to have Wilson on him when up forward. Our smaller forwards need to keep Port's rebounding defenders honest. Best way to do that is to make sure our boys are in the game kicking some goals by being in the right position to mark or crumb. Where were our numbers at the fall of the ball last week?!
Overall: Apprehensive about which way this result could go. If the Port of 2005 shows up then we have a good chance of knocking them off as Cogs and Tuck should give us first use of ball around the stoppages. However if Port gets off to good start and regains some confidence as a team more along the lines of their premiership year then like what happened with St Kilda we may struggle to keep up with their classy players. Given our pathetic record against Port which more often than not meant another thrashing, Sunday is our best chance in a number of years to finally score a win over them.
THIS WEEK'S TEAMS:
RICHMOND
B: Chaffey, Gaspar, Newman
HB: Bowden, Kellaway, Deledio
C: Meyer, Tuck, Tivendale
HF: Brown, Richardson, Tambling
F: Krakouer, Simmonds, Stafford
R: Knobel, Coughlan, Campbell
Int (from): Raines, Hall, Jackson, Pettifer, Johnson, Graham, Pattison
IN: Johnson, Meyer, Pattison, Tambling
OUT: Hyde (inj)
PORT ADELAIDE
B: Walsh, Wakelin, Wilson
HB: Kingsley, Bishop, Montgomery
C: Cassisi, Burgoyne, Dew
HF: Mahoney, Tredrea, Ebert
F: Wanganeen, Primus, Thurstans
R: Lade, K.Cornes, Francou
Int (from): Chaplin, Cochrane, Pettigrew, Pickett, Salopek, Surjan, White
