Richmond must tackle its old problems against the Dogs today Shane Crawford
From: Sunday Herald Sun
April 14, 2013 THE Tigers' clash with the Western Bulldogs looms as one of its most important.
Richmond deserves to be clear-cut favourites, but a couple of key statistical deficiencies, coupled with some alarming lapses during its past two games, make this a danger contest.
Then there's the fact that too often in the past the Tigers have lost games they've been expected to win.
Admittedly, there is a different, more mature feel around Punt Rd at the moment.
The past no longer seems to weigh down coach Damien Hardwick and his team, but that doesn't mean there aren't issues to be addressed. And fast.
I break it down to three areas - tackling, clearances and the lapses that are taking place during games.
Tackling is the most worrying problem.
The game that sold me on the direction in which the Tigers were headed was back in Round 9 last year, when they overpowered Hawthorn in a 62-point win.
Richmond had 77 tackles that day, and it showed.
Unbelievably, in its two games this season, it has only laid 81 tackles - the lowest in the competition.
Only two teams had registered less than 100 tackles heading into Round 3 - lowly Melbourne and Richmond. And I'm sure Hardwick would be drumming this into his players right now.
The players will get a first-hand look at a tackling machine in Tom Liberatore. Heading into this round, he and Essendon's Heath Hocking led the tackle count with 20 apiece.
The Tigers, however, have no player in doubles figures.
Shane Tuck (one tackle), Shaun Grigg (two tackles) and Bachar Houli (no tackles) need to lift.
Tuck would be embarrassed, given he is such a fierce competitor. Last year he was ranked 14th in the competition. This year he has one tackle. He's better than that, and hopefully it will change today.
I'm impressed with some of the forward pressure the Tigers have shown - Jake King (seven), Jack Riewoldt (five), Luke McGuane (five) and Tyrone Vickery (four) - in terms of their tackles. But overall the team needs to lift, and Hardwick will demand that today.
Clearances is another area that Richmond must improve dramatically. It sits mid-table, and with a midfield that boasts Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio and Dustin Martin - that position needs to be higher.
St Kilda stayed in the game last week on the back of winning the clearances.
The margin might have only been three points, but it seemed much more.
Win the ball in the middle and take it from the contests, and the Tigers will always be hard to beat.
This week, another area I would have addressed if I were Hardwick would be to try and stop the lapses that keep happening in games.
It almost cost them the game in the second half against Carlton. And even at stages of last week's game against St Kilda, it looked as if the Tigers ran in and out of the game.
Richmond needs to put its foot on the pedal and keep it there - just as Essendon did to Melbourne last week.
The Bulldogs will be a tough opponent. They are a tough, hard-working side who will be looking for another scalp.
That's why today represents a real challenge for the Tigers to iron out some problems and to provide us with some more evidence they just might be the real deal.
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-must-tackle-its-old-problems-against-the-dogs-today/story-fndv8t7m-1226619876098
