Richo may have wings, but flies close to goal
Martin Boulton | April 16, 2008 | The Age
RARELY do AFL opposition coaches expect to see designated forwards of Matthew Richardson's experience and stature line up on a wing.
Rarer still would such a move produce a sparkling four-goal, 25-disposal performance that leaves other coaches wondering where "Richo" might line up when they play Richmond.
The 33-year-old Tiger could return to his usual spot in front of goal against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, but coach Terry Wallace side-stepped any positional issues yesterday.
"All Matthew wants now in this latter part of his career is to get some success, he's played in poor sides too often over his career," Wallace said.
"All he wants is success (and) he's prepared to play wherever it will help the side do well."
Wallace said Richardson's role on the wing and run out of defence during last Sunday's 64-point win over Fremantle was a chance to look to the future as much as a tactical ploy against the Dockers.
"A lot of the reason wasn't about Matthew, it was about offering opportunity to others within the structure of the club.
"People have questioned whether we had key-position players that would hold up for the future, I believe we have, but they haven't been able to gain opportunity with Matthew being the key focus in our forward structure.
"We played Matthew a little bit down back, we played him on a wing (and) he played a little bit forward. He had a variety of roles and took them on really well."
The move released Graham Polak from defence into an attacking role and he finished with 11 marks, including three contested, 11 disposals and two goals.
"It offered up an opportunity to Graham and offered up an opportunity to Jack Riewoldt. Cleve Hughes kicked five goals playing at VFL level and knows the door is open and there's more forward chances."
Wallace said the match committee would consider playing Richardson further up the ground again, but the "element of surprise" that was so effective against Fremantle had passed.
"It gives us a guide if we decide to play him on the wing again. Clearly, (Bulldogs coach) Rodney (Eade) will have a look at exactly that, work out what he's going to do and what he'll do if we throw (Richardson) forward."
In his 16th season, the Tigers' veteran sits third on the club's list of goal-scorers with 755 and has a chance this season to move past Kevin Bartlett (778) in second place.
Yesterday, Richardson was named in the 40-man Dream Team squad to take on Victoria on May 10.
■After finishing among Coburg's best players in the VFL at the weekend, Wallace said Joel Bowden's name would come up at the selection table this week.
The dual best and fairest winner was dropped last week after the coaching staff lost patience in the 29-year-old defender. "We've been looking at it over seven or eight weeks in the lead-up practice games (and) the NAB series and Joel had not been in good form," Wallace said.
"When we started the season, we moved him up into the middle of the ground and he was adequate, but no better than adequate in the middle … we just thought it was best for him to go back (to the reserves) and get a bit of confidence back in himself."
Bowden's 30 touches with Coburg were encouraging, but the match committee would only pick players "committed to playing at the levels we think they should".
Polak, who plays his 100th game on Sunday, said the players brought into the side were good against Fremantle. "As we saw at the weekend they put their bodies on the line …"
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