Media articles: Crows thrash Tigers / Hardwick hits out at Tigers

[one-eyed]

Walker runs hot as Crows thrash Tigers
By Jason Phelan
8:20 PM Fri 11 Mar, 2011


Richmond 2.0    5.1     8.6         8.6 (54)
Adelaide   7.4   10.7   11.13   18.14 (122)

GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 2, Post 2, Morton, Edwards, Nahas, Grigg
Adelaide: Walker 7, Knights 3, Reilly 2, McKernan, Vince, S Thompson, Mackay, Douglas, Moran

BEST
Richmond: Foley, Rance, Martin, Nahas, Grigg
Adelaide: Walker, Mackay, van Berlo, Doughty, Tambling, Davis, Vince, Reilly, Knights

INJURIES
Richmond: Nil
Adelaide: Nil

REPORTS
Richmond: Nil
Adelaide: Nil

CROWD: 2000 (est.) at Visy Park

----------------------------------------------------

ADELAIDE forward Taylor Walker has booted seven goals as the Crows handed Richmond a 68-point thrashing at Visy Park on Friday afternoon.

In the absence of regular centre half-forward Kurt Tippett, Walker dominated Adelaide's attacking 50 to be the key factor in the emphatic 18.14 (122) to 8.6 (54) win.

The Crows had winners across every line with David Mackay (23 possessions), Nathan van Berlo (22) and Bernie Vince influential through the middle. Phil Davis, Richard Tambling and Michael Doughty were also important down back.

But as much as Adelaide impressed, the Tigers disappointed with just a few notable performances.

Nathan Foley provided one of the few positives for coach Damien Hardwick with a 23-disposal performance, while new recruit Shaun Grigg gathered a game-high 29 touches. Alex Rance was also one of the Tigers to impress and improved as the game progressed.

However, those efforts were little consolation to Hardwick who was scathing in his assessment of the team that faces Carlton in the premiership season opener at the MCG in less than two weeks.

"It was really disappointing … for them [Adelaide] to kick seven goals [unanswered] in the last quarter was soul destroying in a way," Hardwick said.

"We had a big chat about it and we'll go away and address a few things, but we've got to get a hell of a lot better if we're going to compete to a reasonable level in round one.

"It was really disappointing the way we finished off."

Richmond failed to register a score in a lopsided final term in which the Crows booted 7.1.

Adding to Hardwick's displeasure was the fact that such a limp effort came on the back of an encouraging third quarter where the Tigers outscored Adelaide three goals to one.

Crows coach Neil Craig was highly animated during his three-quarter time address to his players and got the desired result.

"We responded really well in the last which was good for us," Craig said.

"Overall our four games have probably been the best preparation that we've had since I've been here. We've played some reasonable footy.

"In terms of [available player] numbers we're chalk and cheese compared to this time last year. This time last year we struggled to field 22 players."

Craig has drawn criticism in the past for a perceived unwillingness to give the talented, but raw, Walker extensive experience at AFL level, but his unwavering approach to knocking the rough edges off the key forward's game appears to be bearing fruit.

"He was good last week too and he's really taken on board some things that we're working on with him," he said.

"We think we've still got a lot of work to do with him for him to be the player that he wants to be, but the thing I've really been impressed with in the last two weeks has been his kicking accuracy.

"He's getting better and better."

Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of Adelaide's final practice hit-out for Craig was the injury toll, or lack thereof. At the same venue against Carlton last weekend, the Crows lost four players to injury, including Tippett, but the coach reported a clean slate this time around.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/109183/default.aspx

[one-eyed]

Hardwick hits out at Tigers
Peter Hanlon
March 12, 2011

RICHMOND endured a demoralising end to the pre-season competition with a 68-point loss to Adelaide at Visy Park yesterday that left coach Damien Hardwick angry and at a loss to explain what he said was the Tigers' most disappointing performance in a long time.

Hardwick did not dismiss the possibility of the defeat eroding the confidence his players had built during the summer campaign, and flagged a likely intra-club practice match next week in a bid to find some cohesion before the season-opener against Carlton in 12 days.

''I think from our guys point of view, we're better than what we played today. That's as disappointing as we've played for a long time,'' Hardwick said after the Tigers fought back from a sluggish start to be within four goals at the last change, only to be smashed 7.1 to no score in the final quarter.

Advertisement: Story continues below ''For them to kick seven in the last quarter was soul-destroying.

''We had a big chat about it, we'll go away and address a few things, but we've gotta get a hell of a lot better if we're going to compete at a reasonable level in round one.''

He conceded that work was needed on the Tigers' starts, possibly even a change to the warm-up routine, and lamented the inability to move the ball out of defence with any fluency against a Crows outfit that hounded and hustled, in keeping with coach Neil Craig's mantra.

''We didn't have a lot of handball receives, just went backwards, sideways and all that sort of stuff, which is not how we want to play,'' Hardwick said, seeing a rare ray of hope in the fact that captain Chris Newman and Brett Deledio will increase the backline's efficiency with more game time under their belts.

''But the worrying thing at this stage is we've run out of games to see how we can tinker with it.''

With Trent Cotchin and Will Thursfield the only first-team personnel missing, the Tigers trailed by eight goals 10 minutes before half-time and had little more than Nathan Foley's head-down effort to be pleased with. At length they tilted the scales at the stoppages, which Ivan Maric had dominated, and found a system to close the gap to 23 points at the last change before disappearing without trace.

The sour taste in the mouths of Richmond fans was not helped by Richard Tambling's clean and committed performance across half-back for Adelaide, although the star was in-demand forward Taylor Walker, who saw off three opponents in booting seven goals.

Hardwick had forecast during the week that Jack Riewoldt would venture further away from the goal square this season as the Tigers seek to decrease their reliance on the 2010 Coleman Medallist. In the first half yesterday he marked as far north as half-back, but it was a measure born of necessity in the search for kicks. He finished with two goals, and at least didn't stop working.

Adelaide led the inside 50 count 35-17 at half-time, a dominance mirrored in the contrasting ease with which the Crows moved the ball. In the end it was 68-35 as Richard Douglas, Brent Reilly, Nathan van Berlo and Chris Knights constantly swept the ball forward to Walker's advantage.

David Astbury was outmarked twice by Walker in the first 10 minutes and eventually found himself up forward trying to lessen Riewoldt's load. Walker, meanwhile, saw off Rance too, and finished with Luke McGuane for company. His performance will do nothing to quieten talk that the name Walker is indelibly inked on the Greater Western Sydney shopping list.

Craig, meanwhile, recalled playing Carlton at the same venue in this week last year and struggling to field 22 fit players. ''Overall, the four games we've had have been probably the best preparation we've had since I've been here,'' Craig said.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/hardwick-hits-out-at-tigers-20110311-1brec.html

[Dubstep Dookie]

The sour taste in the mouths of Richmond fans was not helped by Richard Tambling's clean and committed performance across half-back for Adelaide, although the star was in-demand forward Taylor Walker, who saw off three opponents in booting seven goals.


http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/hardwick-hits-out-at-tigers-20110311-1brec.html

Clean? I dont think so. I saw a few kicks which missed the target by a mile, one in the second quarter resulted in a Richmond goal.

[big tone]

What gives me the massive poos is last year we had 1 maybe 2 clear winners in there positions on the ground for the year, and now DH wants to play Jack away from that possi! Stop trying to reinvent the stuffing wheel and play players were they play best UNTIL there is somebody else ready to take over that position. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.
IMO the guy is most damaging close to goal, he is our best mark of the footy and kicks the ball well too.
Perfect for FF i would think!!!!!
We are an emerging midfield with Cotch, Axel, Dusty, Conca and even Lids when he is allowed to play in there (and don't get me started on that), give them a chance of winning the centre clearances and kicking it to somebody who can actually play the game!
Even more to the point, give Jack some stuffing room to move! The game against Hawthorn, Jack didn't play but our forward line was so congested it was a joke. It was like we were flooding our own forward line!
Just makes me angry thinking about this stuff...... sorry!

[Infamy]

What gives me the massive poos is last year we had 1 maybe 2 clear winners in there positions on the ground for the year, and now DH wants to play Jack away from that possi! Stop trying to reinvent the f@#king wheel and play players were they play best UNTIL there is somebody else ready to take over that position. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.
IMO the guy is most damaging close to goal, he is our best mark of the footy and kicks the ball well too.
Perfect for FF i would think!!!!!
We are an emerging midfield with Cotch, Axel, Dusty, Conca and even Lids when he is allowed to play in there (and don't get me started on that), give them a chance of winning the centre clearances and kicking it to somebody who can actually play the game!
Even more to the point, give Jack some f@#king room to move! The game against Hawthorn, Jack didn't play but our forward line was so congested it was a joke. It was like we were flooding our own forward line!
Just makes me angry thinking about this stuff...... sorry!

He is just trying to make the side less one dimensional
Didn't all those years of the game plan just being "Kick it to Richo" make you just as frustrated?

[big tone]

What gives me the massive poos is last year we had 1 maybe 2 clear winners in there positions on the ground for the year, and now DH wants to play Jack away from that possi! Stop trying to reinvent the f@#king wheel and play players were they play best UNTIL there is somebody else ready to take over that position. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.
IMO the guy is most damaging close to goal, he is our best mark of the footy and kicks the ball well too.
Perfect for FF i would think!!!!!
We are an emerging midfield with Cotch, Axel, Dusty, Conca and even Lids when he is allowed to play in there (and don't get me started on that), give them a chance of winning the centre clearances and kicking it to somebody who can actually play the game!
Even more to the point, give Jack some f@#king room to move! The game against Hawthorn, Jack didn't play but our forward line was so congested it was a joke. It was like we were flooding our own forward line!
Just makes me angry thinking about this stuff...... sorry!

He is just trying to make the side less one dimensional
Didn't all those years of the game plan just being "Kick it to Richo" make you just as frustrated?

No. We have a bonified FF in Jack that can actually kick straight and put scoreboard pressure on for our mids hard work. We are even more one dimensional when we have nothing to kick to inside 50. We chip sides due to that. As i said, until we have somebody that can play that stay at home tall the can actually take a pluck we need Jack back there. Just my oppinion of couse. 

[Infamy]

Well clearly you see something I don't because last year I remember a lot of bombs into the forward line with no purpose other than hope Jack could make something happen. That is not a proper forward line structure and if moving Jack out of the FF spot forces our mids to look up and spot up the best option then that can only be a good thing. It's not like the move is permanent.

[one-eyed]

Well Dimma isn't a happy camper as he's got the boys down to train this morning .....

Mitch Farmer twitted today - "Saturday morning training sessions u be the judge."



And Foxsports is saying Hardwick may forecast a last-minute practice match next week in a bid to get his side back on track. Not sure if that's allowed within the players' EBA though.

"It was disappointing. I think we fought back to three or four goals at three-quarter time and for them to then kick seven in the last quarter was soul-destroying," Hardwick said.

"We had a big chat about it and we'll go away (and) address a few things, but we've got to get a hell of a lot better if we're going to compete to a reasonable level in round one."

Richmond faces Carlton in the season-opener at the MCG on March 24, with Hardwick admitting yesterday's effort could leave mental scars.

"We thought we'd been in some reasonable form up until this week," he said.

"From our guys' point of view, we're better than what we played today," he said.

"That's as disappointing as we have played for a long time."

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/hardwick-fuming/story-e6frf3e3-1226020205186

[Hard Roar Tiger]

I like the no bullshizen feedback to the players through the media - I'm sure it was watered down too.