AFL great’s ‘staggering’ Richmond truth as ex-dynasty side now just ‘easy to play against’Catherine Healey
Fox Sports
April 25th, 2022 8:03 pmRichmond have become one of the competition easy beats in 2022, but could get their season back on track with an away win against a struggling West Coast on Friday.
Statistics show the Tigers are currently sitting second last for opponent scores inside 50, third last for defending ball movement and 14th for points against this season.
Only two teams have worse figures after six games – Essendon and North Melbourne.
But Fox Footy’s Nick Riewoldt believes the Tigers can still make finals despite the “staggering” statistics.
“You think back to last year when players were almost bristling at the fact that we were challenging like, ‘Are they still the same team?’ It was: ‘No, we are, wait, you wouldn’t want to play us finals, we’ll be there’. They’re just not the same team anymore,” he said On The Couch.
“You look at the personnel, the hunger – there are a lot of mitigating factors but the reality is they are not the same.
“I think it is retrievable – to play finals? Yes.
“They’re going to have to play some really good footy from here. It is a massive ask.”
On The Couch host Garry Lyon said given the Tigers success, opposition teams were now “ready for them”.
“We’ve talked about them for many, many years as the benchmark,” he said.
“The reality is, and this would be the hardest thing for Damien Hardwick to stomach, is that they are becoming an easy team to play against.
“That’s not to say they’re not having a crack – but only Essendon and North Melbourne are easier to play against in the competition than Richmond.
“It doesn’t matter how great you are – time catches up with you.”
The Tigers are missing the three best and fairests from their past three seasons in Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes and Kane Lambert.
Fox Footy’s Jonathan Brown believes a lot of Richmond’s success hinges on when Martin returns from personal leave.
“From all reports, he showed up in really good nick,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re sitting here saying Richmond can win a premiership this year.
“(But) if they can string a few wins together, you start to get confidence back – you can get hot.
“They’ve shown enough that they can still do it.
“They obviously need Martin back there to spark them.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-greats-staggering-richmond-truth-as-exdynasty-side-now-just-easy-to-play-against/news-story/c391946a05930137cfad813d1ea8c0d7
