Deep Dive: Whoever coaches Richmond in 2024 needs to fix one vital element of the club’s game planFor all Richmond’s improvement under Andrew McQualter, there is still a considerable flaw in the Tigers’ game. And fixing it should be at the very top of the 2024 coach’s to-do list.
Jay Clark
HeraldSun
July 31, 2023 It might be the most important strategy question in Richmond’s coach search.
For a good chunk of Richmond’s loss to Melbourne on Sunday the Tigers looked threatening in attack and Noah Balta’s scrambled last-term goal put their noses in front.
But in the wake of the 32-point defeat, interim coach Andrew McQualter admitted that for all the improvements at Punt Rd over the past two months, there was still a considerable flaw in the Tigers’ game.
They can’t stop the opposition from going inside-50m.
On Sunday, Richmond lost the inside 50m count to Melbourne by 28 when they conceded 73 entries to 45.
The Tigers also lost the inside 50m battle against Hawthorn 55-51 and were belted by Brisbane Lions in this area 68-38.
And even in the wins over St Kilda (61-58) and GWS Giants (70-47) Richmond were down and in the loss to Port Adelaide the Tigers copped a hammering in the territory game 67-45.
The Tigers look good when they are surging forward with that kamikaze handball, but the reality is there are periods when the footy is living in the opposition’s forward half.
And this Friday night against Western Bulldogs, it will be one of the top items on the whiteboard as the Tigers try and stop Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore and Adam Treloar from once again dominating the game and the possession flow from inside the centre square.
Ruckman Toby Nankervis returns from suspension after smashing into Jake Lloyd against Sydney Swans to help provide a strong hand in the ruck.
But for all the talk earlier in the year about Richmond’s decisions to bring in Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper for some top draft picks, the reality is they would be in a deeper hole without them considering the ex-Giants duo are the club’s two top clearance winners per game.
Even in the premiership glory days, Richmond was never a super clearance team. They did their damage on the rebound - intercept marking and flinging forward to speedy goal kickers - and even this season that DNA remains.
Richmond is the top rebound team in the league.
But McQualter knows if the Tigers are going to make September, and then do any damage at all, they need to plug the inside-50m holes.
Against Melbourne, it might have felt like Groundhog Day as Max Gawn dominated the second half and Harry Petty enjoyed a day out kicking six goals to rip victory off the Tigers at the MCG.
“Clearly they got dominant in the clearance part of the game, and from there we just struggled to get the ball out of our D50, it just became a bit too overwhelming,” McQualter said.
“The reality is they had 75 entries, and that’s way too many to concede.
“We have had an issue with that for a fair while now. We are working on that really hard to try and reduce the amount of entries, and there’s lot of things that go into it.
“But it is always going to be difficult to win games of football against the best teams, when you are conceding that many.”
What is the root cause?
“It is a mixture (of things),” he said.
“Certainly centre bounce has a big play in that and centre back stoppages have a big play in that.
“The territory game and the transition game as well, so we are working on it really hard.”
The question will surely be asked of all of Richmond’s coaching candidates, how would they fix this problem with the cattle the club has?
Dylan Grimes, 32, is coming to an end as the defensive linchpin, Nick Vlastuin is 29, and Noah Balta was thrown forward in the last quarter.
Dion Prestia, 30, didn’t have a huge impact in this one, Tom Lynch, 30, has missed the bulk of the season and Dustin Martin, 32, was clearly the club’s best player throughout a scintillating first half.
Josh Gibcus will come back into the mix as a super-promising key back, but there will be lots of planning underway on replenishing the list.
One of the toughest questions regarding Richmond surrounds the under 22’s. Who will the club happily hitch its caravan to from its own first-to-fourth year bracket?
Richmond’s forward half pressure game was on early on Sunday with the Tigers scoring 32 points from forward half turnovers before the main change.
The average for an entire game is 27 points.
But Gawn ran riot in the second half after some pointed words from Simon Goodwin at half time.
Inside Melbourne rooms there were two loud cheers post game.
One was for six-goal star Petty. The other one was for Gawn, the inspirational captain, who finished with 11 clearances for the game. He won the Demons’ players’ award.
It begs the question, does McQualter play Ivan Soldo and Nankervis together in the ruck for the first time this season on Friday night against Tim English’s Bulldogs?
“They have played in a premiership together, so we know they can play together,” McQualter said.
“I thought Soldo’s first half (against Melbourne) was outstanding.
“But he obviously got a bit tired as the game went on.”
To book a finals berth, the Tigers probably need to win three of the last four games.
There is the Bulldogs, St Kilda, North Melbourne and Port Adelaide.
Not an easy stretch, and it could all come down to the last game of the round, in what could be Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt’s last outing. Two premiership heroes.
Clearly veteran superstar Martin hasn’t given up, after a sensational six weeks for the Tigers.
McQualter said his first half on Sunday was “pretty special”.
“He has been great for a fairly big part of this year to be honest,” he said.
“He’s having a great year.”
https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/afl-richmond-v-melbourne-demons-close-in-on-toptwo-spot-with-win-over-tigers/news-story/91de59709d20244c868dcaeb491c409f
