RICHMOND’S NEW FRONTIERThe most important consequence of West Coast’s stirring comeback win over Richmond is that the Tigers will almost certainly have to attempt to win the premiership from the lower half of the top eight.
Richmond is far, far better than a 7-6 team. Their best will test or best anyone’s, but the loss to the Eagles - which still could have been won if Jason Castagna had lowered his eyes (one of dozen or so maybes for Richmond) in the final seconds - means the top four seems beyond their reach.
The Tigers would need to win each of their nine remaining games to be assured of a top four berth - even eight wins would be dicey, given their relatively poor percentage and the gap between them and the current top four.
So, the upshot is that they’ll probably be coming from an elimination final, hoping to be hosting that game in Melbourne (and avoid the Eagles in Perth). It’s a scenario that is far more challenging than any of their three flags, in which they finished third.
The match was memorable for the heroics of Josh Kennedy - still a nimble force in his 16th season - and for the astounding talents of Nic Naitanui and Dustin Martin. Shai Bolton, too, is emerging as Martin’s apprentice; there’s a sense of Lillee and Thompson about Martin-Bolton - if Dusty doesn’t get you, Shai might.
West Coast will play finals now.
Richmond can progress much further. In racing parlance, they’ll just have to do from three wide.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/four-points-bucks-reason-to-smile-tigers-face-tough-task-saints-not-up-to-it-20210614-p580xs.html
