Richmond don’t excite me enough: ConnollyBy Justin Talent
SEN
March 19, 2017Rohan Connolly has predicted that Richmond will finish inside the bottom four in season 2017, believing the Tigers don’t have enough exciting players in their ranks compared to their competition.
The Age's senior football reporter says that despite the positive recruitments of Josh Caddy, Dion Prestia and Toby Nankervis and the noticeable improvement the Tigers have displayed in their pre-season matches, he still has questions surrounding the flashiness of Richmond’s players outside of their core group of stars.
While Connolly did not rule Richmond out of playing finals football this year, he has placed them 15th, regarding nearly every other side in the competition as showing more promise than the Tigers.
“They don’t excite me enough. I don’t know if there is enough excitement in that line-up,” he said on SEN SportSENtral.
“People will say ‘oh what about Dusty Martin?’ and I guess Daniel Rioli is a potential breakout player, but I don’t think they have enough of that though.
“Put Caddy and Prestia in that midfield and it releases Martin up to play a bit of a shock trooper role up forward and do a bit of damage in other positions, but is there enough of it?
“Their pre-season has been pretty reasonable, but I just think, relative to the other contenders, there is just not enough spark about them.”
AFL Media writer Pete Ryan placed Richmond one position lower in his pre-season ladder prediction, believing that their average back and forward lines will pose them problems despite the Tigers' off-season acquisitions.
“They have obviously recruited very well, with Caddy, Prestia and Nankervis coming in to the mob…but their backline is pretty ordinary and their forward line relies heavily on Jack Riewoldt,” he said.
“If it starts to get wobbly early in the season, it is going to be a little bit of carnage over there and a really difficult place to keep on track.”
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/03/19/richmond-don-t-excite-me-enough-connolly/
