Demons ready to fire against Tigers * Roger Vaughan
* From: Herald Sun
* August 06, 2010 RICHMOND'S clash with Melbourne on Sunday suddenly means a lot more than a late-season fixture between two easybeats.
The Tigers and Demons were the league's two bottom teams last year, but their impressive progress in the past few weeks has made them teams to watch.
After losing their opening nine matches under new coach Damien Hardwick, Richmond has won six of its past nine.
Melbourne has won three of its past four matches and is 10th, just six points outside the top eight.
Asked yesterday if Richmond-Melbourne might be the league's next great rivalry, Hardwick replied: "It would be nice if it was - Melbourne's going to be a very, very good side ... they're starting to progress really well.
"We've gone along similar lines, with drafting through youth and starting to play those players.
"They're one of the form teams of the competition at the moment, it will be a big challenge for us."
Hardwick said the Demons had changed their game style this season, with a great focus now on kicking over handball.
"Earlier in the year, they were very much a handball-happy side," he said.
"They were No. 1 for handballs; now they're 14th over the last four to five weeks."
Hardwick said he had heard the documentary made by Ben Cousins - who will know in three weeks whether the Tigers will let him play on next year - is "very confronting".
The film is based on Cousins' personal troubles and the drug addiction that ended his time at West Coast.
"But the thing about the documentary is if one person learns one thing from it, I reckon it will be a documentary well worth doing," Hardwick said.
"It's something that at some stage we'd like to show our playing group.
"You've got to heed its message - drugs within our society, it's a very confronting thing, I have young kids myself."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/demons-ready-to-fire-against-tigers/story-e6frf9jf-1225901814201
