CAN THE TIGERS EVEN DO ANY DAMAGE IF THEY MAKE IT?Richmond finally did the Richmond thing we’ve been waiting for.
Friday night’s upset win over Brisbane kept the premiers in the race for the eight, and losses by Fremantle, St Kilda and GWS helped them finish the round in ninth.
But with nine losses already, the Tigers must go at least 3-2 in their last five rounds - and possibly 4-1 - if they’re to feature in September.
And so their margin for error will be slashed dramatically if they can’t get the job done this coming week against Geelong; a job that was made much harder when Dustin Martin was ruled out for the season with a kidney injury.
Dusty was famously the difference in the second half of last year’s Grand Final; the Cats have never really had an answer for him (though few do). But remember, the Tigers lost to the Cats by 63 points just three months ago; can they really close that gap, especially without the triple Norm Smith medallist?
“They’ve got a tough run in ... and they can’t beat Geelong without Dusty, can they? Geelong are flying,” David King said on Fox Footy’s Saturday Countdown.
“Do you realistically think, even if they finish eighth, that they can win their flag?”
Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton replied: “He’s their wildcard in those tight games.
“They can (make the eight), but it’s highly unlikely they can do much damage if they get in.”
The only qualifier Brereton wanted to put on that statement was the improvement they showed in the win over Brisbane.
“They know their game better than everyone else. I know they haven’t been able to adhere to it and play it as much, but personnel is so important, and (Toby) Nankervis coming back; I was staggered at what he meant to that team,” he said.
“We’ve always seen them come out of the front side of stoppage, but it was just blue collar, shoulder to the grindstone and just push it forward under any cost. And they did, convincingly I thought, win the centre bounce clearances after halftime which was huge.
“The reality is, if you’re going to be the best team, if you’re going to win the premiership, you’ve got to play (at least) 25 games.
“Most of these teams have played 16, so we’re 60 per cent of the way through the season; a lot can happen in the last 40 per cent of your season.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-news-2021-round-18-analysis-talking-points-reaction-top-stories-medical-substitute-most-common-sub-flag-contenders/news-story/349b1e1b209add2de170fbab7544ce65
