SUMMARY:The Tigers return home to the M.C.G. not only after a poor loss to another potential top 4 side in Melbourne but from a loss that claimed our's and one of the game's most talented footballers of today in Nathan Brown to a broken tibia and fibula which rules him out at best for rest of the season. Hopefully all things going well, Browny will make a successful and full recovery by the start of 2006. This Saturday arvo Richmond face league leaders the West Coast Eagles who have taken on all before them in the first ten rounds including a 117 point demolition of reigning premiers Port Adelaide in Perth last weekend. Their only glitch ironically enough came two weeks ago against then bottom placed Collingwood in the Eagles only match at the M.C.G. so far this year. Hence the question marks over both teams this week - Can the Tigers win without Nathan Brown? Can the Eagles win in Melbourne on the arena that decides the premiership.
Both sides have been forced to make a number of changes for this week's match. For Richmond Rory Hilton makes his first appearance in a Tiger guernsey since doing his ACL against Essendon in round 15, 2004. Greg Stafford returns after ankle injury, Razor Hall returns after serving his two week suspension while Daniel Jackson is promoted from Coburg. Out go Brown, Foley (hamstring) and Schulz and Meyer both omitted. For the Eagles Michael Gardiner and Ashley Sampi miss due to injury while Stenglein has been rubbed out for a week. In for them come Phil Matera, Adam Selwood and debutant promoted rookie Aaron Edwards.
PAST ENCOUNTERS:Overall: 11-15
In the 00's: 4-2
At the M.C.G.: 6-4 (Richmond has won the last four)
Last Time: Round 10, 29.05.04. Away at Subiaco Oval, Perth.
Richmond 3.3 5.6 7.6 9.9-63
West Coast 4.2 5.6 12.10 14.16-100
Multiple Goalkickers: Richmond - Richardson 2, Ottens 2; West Coast - Matera 6, Chambers 3.
Attendance: 38,517
KEY STATS AND MATCH-UPS:DEFENCE: Although the Eagles have the best offence in the league, their highest goalkicker this year surprisingly only has 16 goals after ten rounds. However they have eight players with 10 or more goals in 2005 with forwards Hansen (16), Lynch (15), Embley (14) and Matera (10) amongst them. This is what has seen them score more goals this year under Worsfold who in the past have been a more defensive minded coach. Of course the main drive behind this has been their all conquering midfield so it's pretty pointless talking about their forward line pecifically as they don't have the best key forward pairings in the AFL (Hansen is a very good up and comer though). If we muzzle the supply as the Pies did two weeks ago then the Eagles scoring dries up; if we don't then they have the ability to pile on the goals through a spread of goalkickers which is virtually impossible to contain. The latter occurred last week against the Demons as we were far to loose.
As for match-ups Gas will take Lynch, Hall on Hansen, Kellaway on the in-form Embley and Newman will have the hard task on Matera who kicked 6 against us last year. The Eagles have also named Seaby in a pocket to stretch us for height. Kellaway or Graham you would think would move on to him with Bowden then lining up on Embley. Overall with Hall back we have the height this week to match-up on the Eagles forwards. Matera is the danger as over the past month we've conceded far too many goals to small forwards.
MIDFIELD: As mentioned above the strength of the Eagles is in the midfield due to the number of quality ballwinners they can rotate through the midfield. With Cousins (avg 27 disposals), Fletcher (24), Braun (22), Embley (21), Judd (20), Kerr (19) and Nicoski (17) they have one of the best midfield brigades in the AFL ranked 3rd in disposals and first in clearances. The main duo that have caused opposition coaches headaches have been Cousins and Chad Fletcher. Both are in the top 10 ballgetters in the competition and top 10 in finding space to attract uncontested footy. They also have both kicked around 10 goals in 2005 as they push forward to get on the end of a chain of possessions. Cousins is their main avenue through which they go inside their forward 50 (ranked 4th in the League) while Fletcher does the rebounding out of defensive 50 work with almost an amazingly 50 more defensive clearances (126 in total = 12.6 per game) than any other player in the AFL. This has occurred as opposition tactics have centred around curbing reigning Brownlow medallist Chris Judd who's influence has been reduced this year due to tags yet is still ranked 3rd in the League at winning the contested footy. To Add to this Dean Cox has taken over from Michael Gardiner as their number one ruckman (2nd in hitouts in the league) as he not only does the ruckwork but has improved to the extent that he can himself get his hands on the footy acting as another "midfielder" for the Eagles to go through. He too has kicked 10 goals for the season to be yet another goalscoring avenue for West Coast.
The interesting stat though this week is the Eagles are facing the second best side at winning clearances and another top 5 side with respect to getting their hands on the footy in our very own Tigers. Although we still don't necessarily have the adequate depth compared to the Eagles, Cogs (avg 23 disposals per match), Tuck (22), Johnson (22), Bowden (22) and Hyde (16) still make a useful midfield combination. Campbell with 19, Tivendale (18) and Kellaway (17) has also been getting their hands on the footy although age in Cambo's case and sporadic disposal in Tivs case have dimished their influence. Hyde hasn't yet found the form he had prior to his head fracture where he was averaging 20 possessions per game. In terms of winning the footy Tuck is equal 3rd in the AFL with Judd in winning the contested footy, Cogs is in the top 10 in handballs while Joel is 6th in rebounds out of defensive 50. In the ruck we regain this week our three ruckman rotation with Knobel, Simmonds and Stafford which gives us an advantage in depth against the Eagles as Cox does most of their ruckwork with Seaby and Lynch as fill ins when Cox is resting. We need to make the most of this while also manning up on Cox unlike last week when White did as he pleased running off Knobel.
FORWARDS: A clash between the 5th best offence and 2nd best defence. Richmond's forward line has been more fruitful this year than the Eagles however with Browny gone for the season we need to be careful on not becoming Richo-centric. As Wallace has been mentioning through the week we will need to rotate blokes through Browny's old position to keep generating goals. Stafford's (10 goals) return will be a big plus as he will enable Richo (28) and Simmonds (
to lead up the ground while he plonks his big frame in and around the goalsquare. This should help prevent Richo from getting double and triple teamed like last week.We also need our crumbing forwards in Pettifer (14) and more particularly Krakouer (13) to be more consistent not just this week but for the rest of the season.
In terms of match-ups expect Richo to have Glass, Simmonds - Staker and Stafford - Hunter. Krakouer needs to use his pace against the aging Banfield. It'll be interesting to see how Hilton goes up forward in a pocket given he is playing for his career.
OVERALL: Obviously the winner will be decided in the midfield. Last week we smashed the Demons in the clearances but got cut to ribbons once the ball got out into open space. We need to be more accountable this week or the latter will occur again this Saturday. I know Wallace promised a free open high scoring game but we need to play one-on-one accountable footy if we are to match the Eagles in the midfield and win the game. We have the bigger bodies up forward and a midfield that can win the ball from stoppages. So it's a case of getting footy up to our forwards often enough for them to kick a winning score. On paper they are the stronger team but the emotion surrounding Browny and the game being played at the M.C.G. are unmeasurable factors in this match.
THIS WEEK'S TEAMS: RICHMONDB: Newman, Gaspar, Kellaway
HB: Deledio, Hall, Bowden
C: Tivendale, Johnson, Hyde
HF: Pettifer, Simmonds, Chaffey
F: Krakouer, Richardson, Stafford
R: Knobel, Coughlan, Tuck
Int: Graham, Campbell, Hilton, Jackson
In: Stafford, Hall, Hilton, Jackson
Out: Brown (broken leg), Foley (hamstring), Schulz, Meyer
WEST COASTB: Banfield, Glass, Hunter
HB: Chick, Staker, Nicoski
C: Butler, Cousins, Braun
HF: Kerr, Hansen, Embley
F: Matera, Lynch, Seaby
R: Cox, Fletcher, Judd
Int: Jones, LeCras, Selwood, Edwards
