Jury still out on Tigers (Herald-Sun)

[one-eyed]

JURY STILL OUT ON TIGERS
Mark Robinson
The Tackle - Herald-Sun
July 22, 2013

RICHMOND is almost certain to play finals, but hasn't yet convinced the competition it will be a force.

It's a strange comment after 16 rounds, yet it was only yesterday against Fremantle that have beaten team to be reckoned with.

Still, the Dockers were without three of their goal-to-goal line - Pavlich, McPharlin and Sandilands - and a handy little goalkicker in Ballantyne.

The Tigers won by 27 points and arguably they should have.

That would please coach Damien Hardwick the most.

Beating a team they should hasn't been an easy agenda for the Punt Rd crew in recent years and yesterday will give them confidence.

And the most pleasing aspect was the contribution from everyone on the team.

That's the difference between the Tigers this year and in years gone by. They are a better team. They don't rely on individuals to win games, instead it's a collective.

They will need all that and more over the next two weeks when the play Sydney and Hawthorn, two teams incidentally they munched last year on the G, yet still didn't play finals.

Of the 22 players who played yesterday, only three didn't reach double-figure possessions, and two of them, Arnot and Foley, swapped sub vests.

The other was Steven Morris, but his contribution is judged by pressure acts, and not how many times he racks up possessions.

Trent Cotchin played a blinder in the middle and Ivan Maric was important in the ruck, but the Tigers won because of their depth.

Jake King's magnificent goal in the third quarter, Daniel Jackson' renaissance, Shane Edwards' pressure, Shaun Grigg's seven tackles, Jack Riewoldt's four goals and four tackles, Petterd on a back flank, and the hardness of Brandon Ellis and Nick Vlastuin were some of the examples of why the Tigers emerged victorious yesterday.

Alex Rance and Alex Chaplin together have added substance to the back half, Dustin Martin is a consistent ball-winner (30 again yesterday) and the Tigers won without Brett Deledio having a huge impact with Ryan Crowley on his ginger all day.

Defensively, the Tigers are much improved.

Their tackling numbers have ballooned and although the Dockers lacked scoring power, having just 17 points on the scoreboard at halftime is testament to Richmond's recent-found attitude.

The second quarter was most impressive.

The Tigers kicked just one goal to Fremantle's three behinds, but it was about substance rather than highlight reels.

Richmond didn't yield to the Dockers' pressure and, in fact, applied the sort of pressure itself that would make the best opposition jittery.

The Tigers landed 68 tackles to Fremantle's 70, yet had almost 60 more possessions.

They beat off several Fremantle challenges, and then kicked away.

It was professional kill from a team on the rise.

But, as always with the Tigers, or any team believing they are finals goods, the biggest tests are yet to come.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/gold-coast-captain-gary-ablett-moving-out-of-his-fathers-shadow/story-fnelctok-1226682796976

[Lozza]

Hard man to please, would have been roasted by him had we lost, did what we needed to do in the circumstances. Its always next week's challenge and the inevitable misfire so he then has the ammunition to say "I told you so", wouldn't join the bandwagon unless we make the GF. I do notice however that most if not all journos do focus on how poor our opposition was or what personnel they were missing rather than saying how well we played. Its not always taken into consideration that a good team controls how well the opposition plays, its a consideration when speaking about the Cats and Hawks but in our case it seems that we were lucky because the opposition had an off day or were missing important players. We still have a way to go to get the respect from the media.

[smasha]

I reckon that Cairns game might be a godsend as it gave the players some extra match fitness.

Playing 120 mins in humid conditions may be the thing that gives our players a needed edge.

Gold Coast looked much fitter against Collingwood after playing in those conditions.

Robbo,you can only beat what is put in front of you.
Freo have played pretty much the same style of football whatever personnel they use and they have depth so a few out with their game style which is very defensive and clogging style which doesn't break down when a few big name  players are missing.

[Eat_em_Alive]

I can understand his point of view Lozza, although we have been good enough this year to be 11-5. That fact that we couldnt take it up to geelong, coll, bombres to the end is why there is still question marks amoung other things imo.
Need to pkay out all 4 quarters against the top sides and even if we lose to chalkenge ourselves and find a way to break through for a win. Isnt always going to happen but its what top sides to to win.

As for the rest of your post (I do notice however...) totally agree with everything you said, couldnt be truer imo 
Media wouldnt show any resoect till cotchin is blancing the bloody premiership cup on his head 

[Francois Jackson]

i think the jury is out on Robbo as a reporter and journalist.

Fence sitter, feeds of other people stories.

Wants to say more about the bombers debacle but hasnt got the balls like our caro.

Keep punching those ciggies Jabba

[daniel33]

At the end of the day we all know were still a fair away from the top 4 sides and Dimma would know that.Dont forget you have to learn to crawl before you walk and if we finish 8,7, or 6th we have made major progress.We have a young list and we still learning and gaining experience.


Robbo has little fooball know how and lttle currency in my book.He failed to mention Freo are sitting were they a in the 8 without having Pav or Sandilands most of the year.

[WilliamPowell]

Really do wonder what Robbo and his media mates expect sometimes

Agree with Lozza he and others would have torn shreds off us if had of lost no matter what the margin

Bottom line is we can only beat who runs out on the ground to play against us.

The last time we played them there was no Pavlich or no Sandilands for memory and we lost by a point

We needed to win, all the media said it. We got the win and still they go on

Dont think many realistic Tiger fans are thinking we are on the verge of top 4 this season, we just want finals

 

 

[wayne]

Of course we're not a force yet, this will come if we can keep the majority of this group together and add some more quality through the draft/trading.

[tiga]

WP, Jurno's like Robbo are petrified that with our improvement this year they will no longer be able to rely on their lazy boilerplate copy which has gotten them over the line for the past decade.

[Tigger]

JURY STILL OUT ON TIGERS
Mark Robinson
The Tackle - Herald-Sun
July 22, 2013

RICHMOND is almost certain to play finals, but hasn't yet convinced the competition it will be a force.

I suppose Robbo asked "the competition" whether they were convinced we were a "force".

Did Robbo poll the 9 coaches who walked away from games with the Tigers in 2013 with an "L" in the Win/Loss column to see if they thought we were a force?

11 wins and a % of 118 after 16 rounds...Robbo wake up and smell the roses dude, the Tigers are on the rise...we are finals bound this year and a real contender next year...

Does Collingwood or Port Adelaide think we are going to be easybeats in the first week of the finals?  I doubt that.

[Yeahright]

Weren't there articles not long ago raving how Freo don't need Sandi and Pav to win?

[dwaino]

Read this today. Says the jury is still out but says how much we've improved and how good our team efforts are. Were we meant to go from cellar dwellers to flag contention over night? 

[TigerTimeII]

imagine how good we would be if we were on the juice like his bombers

[Go Richo 12]

imagine how good we would be if we were on the juice like his bombers

The jury is out on the bombers also. Should have the verdict some time in August.

[the claw]

I can understand his point of view Lozza, although we have been good enough this year to be 11-5. That fact that we couldnt take it up to geelong, coll, bombres to the end is why there is still question marks amoung other things imo.
Need to pkay out all 4 quarters against the top sides and even if we lose to chalkenge ourselves and find a way to break through for a win. Isnt always going to happen but its what top sides to to win.

As for the rest of your post (I do notice however...) totally agree with everything you said, couldnt be truer imo 
Media wouldnt show any resoect till cotchin is blancing the bloody premiership cup on his head 

good post and on the money.

even in beating freo the questions are asked would we have beaten them at full strength ffs they had almost their entire spine out f action. i always maintain and have for yrs if we want respect beat the good sides at full strength  we have literally beaten bottom of the ladder to  middling teams and in freo a good side but injury depleted.

the players they had out would for us equate to

pavlich - riewoldt
bradley - vickery  and i thinbk bradly a better performer by a fair margin.
sandilands - maric
griffiths - stephenson
mcpharlin - chaplain.
in some ways i agree with robbo we beat a very good in freo but with their outs we should have.like us they are light on for talls on their list and can ill afford injury to any of them.
finally this is another game i havent watched bar parts of the first quarter and most of the second. of those bits i have watched  i thought both sides skills and  decision making terrible.