More rounded Richmond makes for more serious September tilt Rohan Connolly
The Age
June 7, 2015 - 5:19PM So much seems to happen over a weekend of AFL football these days, that by Monday morning what happened on a Friday night can seem an eternity ago.
Such was the case for Richmond these past couple of days, with the potentially career-ending injury to Chris Judd and Essendon's continued woes, the Tigers' victory over the previously undefeated Fremantle in Perth was almost an afterthought by Sunday evening.
That probably suits Richmond coach Damien Hardwick, not for the first time in charge of a team whose sluggish start to a season means it still has plenty of work to do to keep abreast of a long line of potential contenders for September.
But if you were compiling an AFL ladder based purely on form right now, Richmond would be pushing hard for top spot. Four wins in a row pretty much speaks for itself, but it's who the Tigers have beaten and how they've beaten them that stands out, and which made Friday night's victory from a competition standpoint the most significant story from round 10.
Last year, as Richmond struggled to a miserable 3-10, the knocks were all about treacle-slow ball movement and an overly defensive mindset. When the Tigers came good in their nine-game winning streak, it was on the back of more adventure and dare.
The rally this season appears, thankfully, to have come much earlier. But it's one which has also reflected a greater maturity and less of an all-or-nothing approach.
In the first of those four victories, against Collingwood, the Tigers went goal-for-goal with the Pies and came out on top. In tough conditions against Port Adelaide, Damien Hardwick's side were simply tougher. Essendon a fortnight ago was a dour, grinding affair but Richmond got the job done whilst well below their best.
And on Friday night, they put both abilities to good use, blowing Fremantle away early with a blistering eight-goal opening, then finding the steel to hold off the Dockers when the home side made its inevitable charge.
Richmond's blistering eight-goal opening term certainly stands among the best handful of quarters played by any side so far this season. Freo had won seven of nine first terms this year prior to Friday night, in several of those completely putting opponents to the sword. This time, it was they who were on the receiving end.
The Tigers' 8.1 was the most scored against the Dockers in a first term under Ross Lyon's watch. And in 204 games as an AFL coach of Fremantle and St Kilda, only the second time a team of his has conceded that much.
Just as significant was Richmond's conversion. Hardwick spoke regularly pre-season about his team's failure to make enough of its scoring opportunities. To that end, you couldn't overlook the fact the Tigers managed 15.7 from just 36 inside 50 entries. They ranked fifth for percentage of scores from entries prior to round 10. That will improve again.
Hardwick took some time to embrace the idea of playing three talls up forward in Jack Riewoldt, Ty Vickery and Ben Griffiths, but he might be more inclined to stick with it now. The trio not only shared seven goals against Fremantle, but their contests managed to create more chances for their smaller forward line counterparts.
The stars continue to stand up for the Tigers. Dustin Martin was superb again, Alex Rance terrific in defence, and skipper Trent Cotchin led from the front.
And the sometimes-maligned support acts are doing their bit, with Shane Edwards, Shaun Grigg and Bachar Houli all-important, and ruckman Ivan Maric still a reliable Richmond barometer, at least competitive against Aaron Sandilands in the hit-outs, and more influential around the ground.
They're individual spikes in form which make the Tigers a much tougher proposition and far better-placed for a competitive tilt at the pointy end of the season than last year's frantic dash which in hindsight left them out of fuel come that final against Port Adelaide.
Richmond go to their mid-season break with as many wins as it took them 16 games to amass last season. There's three more sizeable tests coming up in succession after the bye, too – West Coast, Sydney and GWS.
But win at least two of them and a couple more negotiable assignments await, along with an increasing likelihood that the Tigers will reach the finals a third season in a row for the first time since 1975.
Hardwick, despite the several bouts of jitters from supporters and media alike over the journey, has maintained the long-term view of where his team was headed for a considerable time now. The result is a more rounded Richmond, and results like Friday night's.
The Tigers' part in September has been fleeting for the last couple of years, the gap between them and the top of the ladder never really bridged. There's still a long way to go this year too.
But were they to duplicate the efforts of the past month in the back part of this season, perhaps this time they might actually be in a position to do some damage once they got there.
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