ROUND 20 - RICHMOND vs WESTERN BULLDOGS - Telstra Dome ("Home")
PAST ENCOUNTERS:
Overall: 75-61-1
In the 00's: 6-2
At Docklands (Telstra Dome): 4-0
Last Time:
Round 3, 10.04.05. Away at the Docklands.
Richmond 3.4 5.9 7.14 12.16-88
W.Bulldogs 3.1 6.7 8.14 11.18-84
Multiple Goalkickers: Richmond - Richardson 4, Brown 3, Krakouer 2; Bulldogs - P.Bowden 2, Hahn 2, B.Johnson 2.
Attendance: 30,871
SUMMARY
Although both sides come into this game on nine wins each for the season their form and momentum could not be more poles apart. The Tigers albeit still competitive have through loss of form, injuries and weariness lost eight of their past 10 matches including the last four straight. While finals are still a mathematical possibly, season 2005 looks done and dusted. The Bulldogs on the other hand like the Dockers have put on a late season charge for September as mid-ladder sides just above them have slumped leaving the door into the top 8 ajarred. With four straight wins, the last a 43 point victory over League leaders West Coast, the Doggies are one of the in-form sides at the minute.
Richmond has made three forced changes with young rookie defender Thursfield (back), Krakouer (hamstring) and ruckman Knobel (hamstring) all missing through injury. As it's a Sunday match six names have then been added to the squad of 25. Stafford, Tivendale and Graham return from injury while Schulz, Jackson and Raines have been added from the VFL.
B: Newman, Gaspar, Hilton
F: Hahn, Grant, Robbins
HB: Hartigan, Hall, Bowden
HF: B.Johnson, Murphy, Giansiracusa
R: Simmonds, K.Johnson, Coughlan
R: Minson, Cross, Cooney
C: Deledio, Tuck, Tambling
C: Smith, West, Eagleton
HF: Hyde, Richardson, Campbell
HB: Gilbee, Hargrave, Morris
F: Pettifer, Pattison, Foley
B: McMahon, Harris, Griffen
Rich Int (from): Graham, Moore, Tivendale, Jackson, Schulz, Stafford, Raines
WB Int (from): Boyd, Skipper, Street, Birss, Power, Ray, Wight
With Chris Grant back in their line-up, the Doggies in the past few weeks have set-up with him as the sole tall forward surrounded by small to midsized forwards in the absence of Luke Darcy. Grant pushes up to the forward 50 leaving Robbins more often than not one out at full-forward. Their other smalls will also push up the ground to outnumber their opponents in midfield contests then use their run and link play to get the ball forward quickly. With the Bulldogs dominating through the corridor and across half-back in the last month, this rebounding tactic has proved extremely effective. So much so that they've notched up 20 goals in each of their past three games. This is a concern for us as our forward structure apart from Richo and the occasional cameo such as last week from Pettifer has only managed to reach the 100 point mark twice since Nathan Brown went down. So we can't afford especially in the clinical conditions at Telstra Dome to be involved in a shoot out.
Last week for a rare time under Wallace's reign we tried to tighten up the contest to nullify the run of the Dockers. This worked well for at least a half however poor disposal and goalkicking undid all the hard work. If we have any chance of pulling off an upset we most likely will need use the same tactic against the Dogs on Sunday but make the most of our forays forward. In round 3, we were able to shutdown two out of the three main Bulldogs ballwinners through Cogs and Tuck outplaying West and Cooney. This left only Hahn to win the contested ball and in the end we outlasted them with Richo the difference.
This time around as the second half of the season has progressed the Dogs 4-5 year players have begun to step up at this level. Although alot is mentioned of young gun Cooney and the impressive first year kid Griffen, it is the form of this 21-24 age group in Cross, McMahon, Hahn, Murphy and Giansiracusa, combined with keeping veterans West, Brad Johnson, Eagleton and Smith fit and out on the park, that have added greater depth and run to their midfield compared to earlier on in the year when we first played them. Unfortuantely as the home and way season nears it's climax, it is our midfield depth or rather lack of it where we are at our weakness as our talented cubs are at least 2-3 years behind those of the Dogs and far too much workload is placed on Cogs, Tuck, Johnson and Bowden. Deledio, Hyde and retiring veteran Cambo have been good but we need over the next few years to find consistent contributions from others. The Bulldogs based on form and confidence despite both sides being separated by percentage should sadly have too much firepower for us to combat at this early stage of our rebuilding phase.
Our only true strength over the Dogs is height in our forward line and in past encounters we have actually exploited it to our advantage especially at the Dome where we haven't as yet lost to the lads from the Western Suburbs. The Bulldogs have been a rare side in recent times we've had the wood over with us winning the past four meetings between the two clubs. If we were to break even at stoppages and in the clearances by shutting the game down then Richo's battle with underrated full-back Harris will become crucial. If Richo gets on top early then the only other option the Bulldogs have is moving Grant into defence as Richo will also be fat to strong for Hargraves. Richo needs to play at centre half-forward this week just inside the forward 50 perimeter to run Harris around and it's pleasing that Wallace has named the big fella there. With Simmonds playing mainly in the ruck with Knobel absent to stretch the Doggies' backline we either plonk a Stafford or young Pattison in the goalsquare or give the more agile Schulz a starting role at full-forward and let him repay the Club by showing he belongs at this level.
