Richo turns up heat on battling Crows * Zac Milbank
* From: The Advertiser
* May 06, 2010FORMER Richmond ace Matthew Richardson has turned up the heat on Adelaide, declaring there's more pressure on the Crows to win Sunday's battle for the wooden spoon against the Tigers at AAMI Stadium.
Noting Adelaide's disastrous - and unexpected - 0-6 win-loss record after many pundits tipped the Crows to finish in the top four, Richardson can sense the drought-breaking expectation is building in South Australia.
"I think because it's their (Adelaide's) home crowd and they are 0-6 there is a bit more pressure on them," said Richardson, now commentating with Channel Seven.
"The Tigers are travelling interstate and coming off a bad loss (to Geelong) so Adelaide will be favourites. That puts more pressure on them."
Given the Crows' massive supporter base is eager for an opening victory, Richardson - who knows exactly how passionate Richmond fans are - has forecast an adverse reaction should the Tigers cause an upset.
"I'm assuming that wouldn't go down well in Adelaide," he said.
"From what you see in Melbourne, there's a fair bit of pressure starting to build over there, so I'm sure they want to get a win this week, as Richmond do.
"Obviously the Crows had high expectations going into the season - most people had them in the finals. I certainly had them in my top six, so they're clearly not going as well as we thought they would this year."
Adelaide utility Scott Stevens said the playing group had not mentioned the possibility of sitting 16th on Sunday night should the Crows succumb to the struggling Tigers.
"That's the first time anyone's brought it up, you mentioning it right there," Stevens said in response to a journalist's question.
"We're just focused on getting out there and playing like we did for three quarters against Port because we enjoyed the way it felt when we played like that and that's what we'll focus on."
Richardson - who retired last year after booting 800 goals in 282 AFL games - is a firm believer Richmond can chalk up its opening win despite losing to Geelong by 108 points on Sunday.
"I think they can," Richardson said.
"Last week was disappointing so I think they will be pretty keen to not put in another performance like that.
"The week before that against Fremantle they were very competitive in the first half. If they can string four quarters together, which they haven't quite been able to do this year, they can put in a really good showing."
Adelaide has been listed by bookmaker Tattsbet as $1.19 frontunner to win the twilight clash, with Richmond the $4.60 outsider.
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