From bullies to the bullied: Why Richmond is treading a fine ‘arrogance’ lineBen Waterworth
October 5, 2020 10:32pm
Source: FOX SPORTSTriple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown believes Richmond is treading a fine hubristic line that could derail its premiership dynasty hopes, but has backed Damien Hardwick’s men to promptly address their ill-discipline.
It comes as AFL 360 co-host Mark Robinson claims the reigning premiers went from bullies to the bullied on Friday night as Brisbane stunned the Tigers and sent them into unfamiliar semi-final territory.
Tigers trio Dustin Martin, Shai Bolton and Marlion Pickett all gave away 50m penalties during Friday’s qualifying final loss to Brisbane, with some of the penalties leading directly to Lions goals.
Champion Data numbers, revealed on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, indicate the Tigers are ranked 18th for 50m penalties against this season, as well as 16th for goals against from free kicks.
Speaking on Monday night, Brown said the Tigers had to address its ill-discipline issue this week because it’d become a “trend”.
“It’s not good enough. It’s why you lose finals,” Brown told On The Couch.
“When you’ve been the top dog for a few years, you’ve got to be careful (you don’t) get this arrogance about you in the wrong way. I was involved in a team that when sides started to challenge us back in the early 2000s, we got our back up a bit.
“I think Richmond can recover from (this), because they aren’t an ageing team like Brisbane were. They’re still well and truly in their prime this team, but they’ve got to fix their discipline.”
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Melbourne champion Garry Lyon pointed out that winning had masked the Tigers’ on-field behaviour concerns, so when they lose the issue is amplified.
St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt added: “They’ve had these moments, not just on the field but off the field, this year. But because you win, you get referred to as having a ‘great culture’, so you are winning because of your culture despite the off-field stuff.
“This is the first time in that period where all the that stuff we’ve spoken about with Richmond this year, you can really start to question the humility and some of those things.”
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Robinson said the Tigers appeared somewhat surprised and offended by Brisbane’s willingness to take them on during Friday night’s clash.
“All great teams gather an arrogance,” the Herald Sun chief football writer told Fox Footy. “It’s part of who they are and it’s part of their mental disintegration of lesser teams.
“But all great teams hate it when someone comes up and goes: ‘We’re not putting up with your crap anymore and we’ll give it back to you.’ What happens then, the champs get affronted.”
Robinson said Brisbane’s handling of Richmond reminded him of when Cats legend Matthew Scarlett punched Dockers pest Hayden Ballantyne in the face during a game in 2012 – an act Robinson labelled “selfish”.
“On the weekend with the (Richmond) 50m penalties, I just thought ‘you’ve been the bullies, now someone is standing up to the bullies’,” he said.
“They get cranky when people confront them and throw back at them what they’ve been throwing at the competition for three years.”
Triple All-Australian Nick Dal Santo told Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight that the Tigers needed to acknowledge the issue, but added it wasn’t a major hindrance to their flag aspirations – unless they continued to do it.
The ex-Saint also urged his former club to look at exposing the Tigers’ ill-discipline by trying to “niggle” them within the rules.
“The difficult thing is, yes you can talk about it in a team meeting, but it’s in the heat of the moment that really counts,” Dal Santo told AFL Tonight. “When you’re out there you’ve got the adrenaline pumping, you know that there’s a lot on the line – how do you keep your composure?
“If I was the Saints I’d still try and do that. I’d find ways to niggle them. If that is their Achilles heel and you might get a couple of easy goals out of it, absolutely go with it – within the rules, of course.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-finals-2020-richmond-free-kicks-against-50m-penalties-arrogance-loss-to-brisbane-lions-bullies-to-bullied/news-story/51398fb07cce586f32dda3d1eaa3ee65
