Secret to Richmond’s success this season are small forwards alongside Jack Riewoldt, Daniel Rioli, Dan Butler, Castagna, Shai BoltonJon Ralph,
Herald Sun
5 June 2017JACK and the Five-Footers.
It sounds like a dodgy pub cover band but it has emerged as the secret to Richmond’s barnstorming success.
Say what you want about Richmond’s finals performances in recent years but they have never been particularly hard to play against.
Now Hardwick is conducting an orchestra that has two sections in perfect harmony: elite pressuring forwards and brilliant intercept marking defenders.
One compliments the other, as Jack Riewoldt and five forwards under the old six-foot mark (183cm) go to work.
He is joined by Shai Bolton (175cm), Daniel Rioli (179cm), Dan Butler (182cm) Jason Castagna (181cm) and Sam Lloyd (180cm).
Bolton ranks fourth in the competition for forward half pressure, Rioli eighth and Castagana 12th.
Butler and Riewoldt are both above average for forward half pressure, with Champion Data saying it is unheard of to have five players who apply so much pressure.
It is a highly unusual forward line that mixes necessity — injuries to key talls like Ben Griffiths — as well as innovation through a cutting-edge tactic.
But those five smaller forwards not only tick over the scoreboard, they relentlessly harass rivals into turnovers.
The Tigers have created 30 forward half-turnovers a game — number one in the competition — and have laid the fifth-most forward half tackles.
Against North Melbourne they played high-octane play-on-at-all-costs football that blew the Roos away.
But the Tigers are actually a low-scoring team (12th for offence) that is elite at stifling opposition ball movement (they are ranked second in defence).
Many of North Melbourne’s disposal issues were self-inflicted.
But in the third quarter Ben Cunnington, Sam Gibson, Lachie Hansen, Mason Wood, Taylor Garner, Ryan Clark and Todd Goldstein all went at zero per cent kicking efficiency.
When rivals do get past Richmond’s high press they hit Alex Rance, David Astbury and Dylan Grimes.
Rance is ranked No.1 for intercept marks in the competition and Astbury, exceptional again on Saturday, ranks sixth.
The new-look system means even when the Tigers do put together a shocker as they did against Fremantle they are still in touching distance when they get their game going.
Kangaroos forward Jarrad Waite said on Sunday the Tigers forwards brought the heat all game.
“The way they like to pressure in the forward line, we tried to get it from a pressured to unpressured situation,’’ he said.
“But they were very good in a lot of their pressured stuff and just didn’t give us any time and space.
“We had 50 tackles and they had 75 and they had the ball for most of the night.”
Those five small players kicked only four of Richmond’s 14 goals and had only 55 possessions between them.
Yet Richmond won easily as those turnovers created chances for Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt and Kane Lambert (all two goals).
The pressuring is infectious, with even the start getting in on the act.
Trent Cotchin, enjoying his best year since his Brownlow year of 2012, had a dozen and Martin notched six tackles despite bringing his own footy.
As Paul Roos has stated, it is football that could eventually win finals for Richmond.
Now that would be worth striking up the band for.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/richmonds-small-forwards-are-proving-the-difference-and-could-deliver-elusive-finals-victories/news-story/46de7b22b5d983d5c7de8f1302114cfc
