What I learnt yesterday was that after four years in the job, Dimma still has absolutely no answer against teams who "park the bus" in our forward line (as Mighty Tigers calls it.) North and Freo do it to us every single time, and we MUST come up with a way to counter it. There are two elements to it: 1. them congesting our forward line, and 2. them creating the acres of space on the rebound that they deny us.
Like Dimma, and indeed the team, I have absolutely no answer to countering the first part of the equation. We have tried bombing into the mess, and that doesn't work. We have tried chipping around the periphery, and that doesn't work. We have tried coming in from the boundary line, which just leads to loads of shots from impossible angles, and a scoreline of 4.15 (which is what we had kicked when I left in disgust at 3/4 time.) Seriously, if anybody has any credible answers to this conundrum, I am all ears. More importantly, maybe you should e-mail them to our football department.
The second part of the equation is a lot easier to counter in theory. If our defenders and mids follow their opponents deep into our forward line when they are pushing numbers behind the ball, they MUST be prepared to follow them back out again. They have so far in these situations been too dumb and too effing lazy to do the gut-running required to stop being caught on the rebound time and time again. Which is basically what repeatedly happened in that abysmally frustrating second quarter.
Anyway, that's just my 2 cents worth. As I said, if anybody has any ideas I'm all ears. The club CANNOT keep letting this happen.
You talk about something that was abundantly clear on TV and that is the way North congested our forward line, while so often managing to isolate their tall forwards one or two out. What you cant see on TV is why or how this is happening. I have no doubt that hardwick was comprehensively outcoached on this basis alone. It didn't help that our mids would often pass to 2 on on contest and i cant for the life of work out why this should be happening. Surely they couldnt have consitently got enough men back to double team each of our three main forward targets?
The other thing I got out this game is how we slowly but surely buckled under their pressure. The first quarter was just ferocious with the tackling and pressurere on the ball carrier by both sides and i felt that we were slightly on top. The first quarter was reminiscent of a final in this aspect At one stage late in the quarter we had something like 75% of the time in our forward half but couldn't convert.
But then the pendulum started to swing. They started to find outs from these pressure situations. Initially they had to work hard to do so, but as the game wore on it became easier and easier and our pressure just dropped right off, opening the floodgates. All the while we just couldnt find outs ourselves, and again North had to work hard, but as the game went on we folded under this pressure easier and easier. Into the third quarter and we were getting outnumbered at the contest in the same way we did when belted by essendon.
I really cant think to when i last saw a game involving richmond with the hardness and intensity of the first 15-20 mins, so I am hoping it is a big learning experience for the players, but the way we gradually capitulated is a concern .
As much as people wont, you do have to give credit to north. They turned up to play and were relentless with their pressure and work rate all day. Even in the last on a couple of occasions that we started to get some run they quickly put a stop to it, even though the game was well and truly over.
Ohh one more thing. Stuff i hate harvey, the squealing little toe rag.
