The best laid plans bring satisfaction to Tigerland
1:31:31 PM Tue 23 May, 2006
Chris Riches
richmondfc.com.au
The raised hands and wide grins as the final siren sounded gave it all away.
All the planning, effort, patience and sheer nerve of Richmond’s astounding three-point win over the high-flying Adelaide Crows were encapsulated in a simple show of triumph and joy.
Not only had the Tigers bounced back from a 20-goal loss to the Swans just a week earlier, they had done it against a team they hadn’t beaten since 1999 and at a venue – Telstra Dome – that is far from their happiest hunting ground.
But most importantly, they had done it in the most satisfying way possible – by developing a brave and gutsy plan, practising it for days and then sticking to it throughout the entire match.
The win wasn’t set up through outstanding acts of individual brilliance, nor was it a thrashing of epic proportions. Instead, the win bore out how important the concept of “team football” is – players and coaching staff included.
Few who have watched Richmond in recent years could possibly have predicted that it could successfully implement such a high-risk style of play, one which relied on patience, top-notch decision-making and almost flawless disposal.
Sure, there were hints of this type of tactical innovation in Richmond’s brave one-point loss to Geelong at a windswept Kardinia Park in the final round of the 2005 season.
That game saw the Tigers hold on to the ball, chip short and pass accurately by hand and foot as they tried to play keepings-off and milk the clock when kicking against the wind – minimising the time their opponents had possession with the wind at their backs – before launching long and direct attacks with the wind in a bid to kick quick goals.
But to be able to completely shut down a game by playing keepings-off for at least a quarter – possibly more – while undermanned and facing an opponent drilled to the hilt in tactics and keepings-off football itself was another thing altogether.
Yet, this is what the Tigers would do. Coach Terry Wallace laid the tactics out plainly in front of his players early in the week, explaining to them what was required.
No-one would have been under any illusions as to the work, the practice, the decision-making and the sheer gut-busting running that would be involved in making the plan succeed.
Richmond would have known that any slip-ups were likely to prove costly against a lethal Adelaide counter-attack and multi-pronged forward line. The Tigers also would have been aware that the Crows had already played this style of football themselves in their much-discussed win over Collingwood earlier in the season.
And, each Tiger player would have realised that what was being asked of them was the absolute opposite of what their coach had spent months trying to drill into them – to run, to carry the ball and to back themselves.
Yet the players said they were up for it, that they could do it – and they did. They believed in their coach, in each other and in their ability to carry the plan through – and they did.
From siren to siren, the Tigers stuck to their instructions. And, in doing so, they discovered they did have the skills and the decision-making ability to achieve success; that they were capable of putting in place a plan and then translating it from theory to practice under intense game-day pressure.
That’s why the win was so satisfying, so inspiring and so rewarding.
But what has been overlooked in the analysis of the match was that this game plan, this exercise in frustrating the Crows, could have so easily been just an exercise in futility if Richmond was not able to win the ball.
The Tigers couldn’t play keepings-off if they didn’t have possession. So, that meant Richmond’s on-ball brigade – often lighter and less experienced than their opponents – simply had to put their bodies on the line and their heads over the ball against one of the most formidable midfield rotations in the competition.
Led superbly by ruckman Troy Simmonds, with support from Trent Knobel, the Tiger ball-getters just kept beating their bigger, stronger and intimidating Crows opponents around the packs.
The sight of lightly-framed youngsters such as Nathan Foley, Richard Tambling, Andrew Krakouer and Chris Hyde throwing themselves into hard-ball contests was inspiring. Not only would they win more than their fair share of contested ball in the clinches, but they would chase and tackle with a ferocity belying their size.
Who can forget Foley’s bone-jarring tackle on Crow Graeme Johncock late in the game, or Danny Meyer, in his first game for the season, chasing and, with a desperate lunge, tripping Adelaide star Andrew McLeod as he tried to scoot through the centre late in the game.
Through their efforts, these Tiger players, as well as young teammates like Mark Coughlan, Shane Tuck, Brett Deledio and Dean Polo, sent a clear message to the Crows: “If you want the ball, you’ll have to win it from us – and even then, we’ll chase you, hunt you, hit you, and get it back”.
And, so, with every contest they won, every Crows player jolted, jarred or run down, the Tigers’ belief grew. With that belief came passion and the desire to keep doing things for the team – to ignore burning lungs and tired legs in order to run that extra few metres and accept a teammate’s pass, and then to concentrate through the fatigue to find a target and deliver the ball to them.
Time and again, Tiger players would inspire their teammates – the bravery of Andrew Kellaway, the long-bomb goal from Simmonds early in the game, and the spectacular running goal from Brett Deledio deep in the last term.
The work-rate of Kayne Pettifer and his willingness to keep presenting, young Adam Pattison’s late-game goal and rattling tackle on Brett Burton, the inspiring shutdowns of Mark Ricciuto by Andrew Raines, of Brett Burton by Dean Polo, and of Simon Goodwin by Greg Tivendale, the pinpoint passing, patience and persistence of Joel and Patrick Bowden, as well as Chris Newman.
That’s why the hands were raised and the smiles wide when the final siren sounded. That’s why the “Yellow and Black” was sung with such gusto by those in the stands as the players left the field.
So, now, with a 4-4 record, Richmond faces a return to Kardinia Park – the scene of last year’s narrow loss – and a Geelong side desperately looking to find some form at home.
The Tigers haven’t beaten the Cats since 2000 and have lost their last eight games at Kardinia Park – having last won there in 1990.
But given they’ve just ended one run of outs against a bogey side like Adelaide, Richmond will feel it’s time they put to rest a similar losing streak against Geelong as well.
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