Tigers coach Damien Hardwick wary of Gary Ablett's influence; dismisses Cairns hoodoo Bruce Matthews
Herald Sun
July 11, 2013 12:29PMWHAT to do about Gazza? It's Richmond coach Damien Hardwick's turn to wrestle with the problem of how to limit the damage of the AFL's most prolific ball magnet.
Hardwick and his assistants will probably be tossing up the options on Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett even as they board the plane bound for Cairns tomorrow.
The Tigers have studied how other clubs have tackled the Ablett phenomenon, particularly the work of Adelaide skipper Nathan Van Berlo this season.
"We do look at a few. Probably the guy who best did the job was Van Berlo. I think Gary still had close to 30 (touches) and kicked two goals, but his influence wasn't quite the same. So, he's a hard guy to stop," Hardwick said.
"There's a couple of players who can go through him, whether we go head to head or we look at Dan Jackson, one of those types of players.
"We'll put some work into Gary, no doubt. The thing is he still manages to get 30 touches. I don't think there's a player in the history of the game who has improved every season and his season thus far has been outstanding. He has changed the way he has played, he's more attacking now and his possessions are better."
Jackson seemed to have shaken off an ankle injury during a light training session at Punt Road Oval this afternoon, so too ruckman Ivan Maric, out with a groin strain for the past two weeks.
And young backman Brandon Ellis, subbed off with concussion last round, joined training today. But there was no sign of rebounding defender Bachar Houli, a late withdrawal with a hamstring ailment last Saturday.
Hardwick said this Richmond unit is past worrying about one key playmaker being tagged out of the game, like the job North Melbourne did on Brett Deledio.
"He plays in positions all day, last week half-back, half-forward, wing. The thing the good sides do is they don't worry about one player. We're past that now," the coach said.
"If Brett's having a bad day in the office, he can do other things, like go to another opposition player. He doesn't have to get 30 possessions for us to win."
Hardwick dismissed any hoodoo talk based on a 0-2 record against Gold Coast, losing to Karmichael Hunt's goal after the siren in Cairns last time.
"We're probably the only side that hasn't beaten the Gold Coast, but we don't look too much into that to be perfectly honest," he said.
"There a lot of sides vying for those bottom eight positions (on the ladder) in the run home. We're one of those and we've got to make sure we take the opportunities when they present.
"We addressed the North loss where we were really disappointed. The way we approached certain things, funnily enough, we lose by 10 goals and still had 30 shots on goal. So had we kicked relatively straight, by all means, North were the better side and played an outstanding brand of footy, but we addressed it Monday and Tuesday and went through a couple of things we can rectify.
"They (Suns) are a good side, they've got some really good strengths in regards to clearance numbers, contested ball numbers ... so we'll work our way through those things and get our strengths up and going. They play a style similar to what North Melbourne play, so it's another opportunity to get it right."
While the far North Queensland winter has been mild, with top temperatures in the mid-20s over the past week, the Tigers won't take any chances with their preparation.
"Humidity is probably the thing that makes the ball a little bit slippery, so we'll look at things in regard to gloves, sweatbands, those types of things. Players get used to those," Hardwick said.
"Our interstate record this year has been pretty good, we're two wins, one loss and that loss was to Freo by a point. We'll travel up late, training up there and get the game over and fly straight back."
http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-coach-damien-hardwick-wary-of-gary-abletts-influence-dismisses-cairns-hoodoo/story-fniv6drm-1226677714287
