Tigers' lapse irks Hardwick Chloe Saltau
The Age
August 11, 2013 This wasn't the way Richmond had hoped to rubber-stamp its first finals appearance in 12 years, and coach Damien Hardwick knew the Tigers could not afford such lapses in September after they notched an uninspiring but significant win over the Brisbane Lions.
Thirteen wins - with games against Carlton, Greater Western Sydney and Essendon to come - is almost certainly enough to all but guarantee Richmond will play finals for the third time in 31 years.
But in stark contrast to last weekend's rousing victory over ladder leader Hawthorn, the Tigers were less than impressive, enduring a goalless third term and struggling to assert their dominance on the scoreboard.
Nor was the 23-point win the percentage-booster the Tigers had hoped for.
Hardwick was not prepared to bandy around talk of finals. ''No, we just work our way through the season. The season is still alive. We've got three rounds to go so we will worry about that when we get there,'' said the coach, who was relaxed by the end of the game despite getting cranky as a 45-point lead evaporated to 16 points with seven minutes left.
''I thought we controlled the game, the possession count, the contested ball, all those stats were heavily in our favour. We just didn't make the most of our opportunities when we went inside 50, which was difficult with the amount of numbers that were down there.
''The good thing about it is we're winning games. As funny as it is, I'm not overly happy [with the performance against Brisbane] and we've won by 23 points. Ask me how that was two years ago. I'm walking in with a big smile.''
Hardwick added that the Tigers could not afford to relax or rest players in the lead-up to the finals. ''That [finals talk] is for you guys to worry about. We just worry about getting our game better.
''We know we've got a lot of upside, emphasised by this guy [Reece Conca] who plays an outstanding first half, second half he can improve upon. We have got to make sure we iron those inconsistencies out because we can't afford to have lapses in a game like we did today.
''We still want to get up playing a consistent brand of footy and we weren't overly happy with some patches today.
''We're probably not at the stage of resting players, we've still got our best footy in front of us as far as we're concerned and [need] to make sure we get the results we're after.''
Captain Trent Cotchin was best on ground, overcoming Andrew Raines' tag to collect 30 possessions, while Coleman Medal contender Jack Riewoldt kicked his only goal in the dying minutes of the match to put the result beyond doubt, but missed four other shots at goal.
''He looked lively early, just couldn't get the scoreboard result he was after, score assist-wise I think he was OK. It wasn't one of his better games,'' Hardwick said of Riewoldt.
Former captain Chris Newman, who is closing in on his first final after 232 games, rolled his ankle but played out the match and the club said it was not serious.
The Lions, who had won four of their past five games, struggled without Jonathan Brown and Simon Black, but fought back after half-time.
''They owned it and we didn't,'' said coach Michael Voss. ''Despite all that, with five or six minutes to go we were in with a shot. The guys' fight after half-time was pretty good but we're not making the most of our starts and we have got to be better than that to improve.''
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