'We're better than last year' says confident HardwickTravis King
afl.com.au
April 24, 2014 5:38 PMRICHMOND is a better team than last year and knows how to beat Hawthorn, according to coach Damien Hardwick.
Hardwick was talking tough on Thursday ahead of Sunday's crunch clash at the MCG against the reigning premiers – who will be smarting from their first loss of the season against Geelong.
The Tigers have copped some criticism for their 2-3 record so far this season - with wins against Carlton and the Brisbane Lions - but could equal their 2013 start if they overcome the Hawks.
Richmond is struggling to find the same fluency as last year and has felt the absence of talismanic ruckman Ivan Maric (ankle), key defender Alex Rance (foot) and the run of Brett Deledio (ankle).
However, Hardwick talked up the Tigers' depth at Punt Road on Thursday.
"In a funny sort of way I think our side – although the win-loss record doesn't indicate this – we're a better side than last year, which is also important to us," Hardwick said.
"I think our talent's improved. We've found players, (Ben) Griffiths has had an outstanding year, David Astbury has – two players that didn't play last year.
"We've brought in (Sam) Lloyd, (Nathan) Gordon, (Matt) Arnot, all these guys have contributed really well.
"You take out three of our best six players in Maric, Deledio, Rance. All of a sudden our quality of our side becomes a lot better.
"So we've just got to hang tough where we are at the moment and make sure we try and nail these next two games before the bye, get those guys back and then we'll be onwards and upwards from there."
'Nailing' the next two games won't be easy, though, with unbeaten Geelong waiting in round seven.
But the Tigers have toppled the Hawks in their past two meetings.
Hardwick doesn't believe those wins will count for much on Sunday but the formula for beating the Hawks might.
"Geelong did a number of things that worked well on the day and we'll try to endeavour to do a couple of the same things that we have done the last time we played, so it's going to be an interesting contest," Hardwick said.
"I think they kept them down to 61 per cent (kicking efficiency) from the defensive 50 and that's probably been the reason our forward line has changed last week, bringing in some smaller guys to get that pressure up forward.
"Our pressure rating in that end of the ground is up there with the best in the AFL, as are our forward 50m turnovers, so it's an area of our game we pride ourselves on we've just got to make sure we bring it versus the Hawks this week."
Ty Vickery's inability to apply enough pressure was partly behind his omission last weekend and the 200cm key forward will again play VFL against Frankston on Anzac Day.
Hardwick thought having one less tall forward against the Lions gave the Tigers better balance.
"Yeah, I think so. I think we had 36 or 37 scoring shots, which is obviously important,' he said.
"Our pressure upside inside 50m was great, like I said though we probably didn't capitalise at various stages on the scoreboard, but overall I thought it worked OK."
Hardwick conceded Maric's return could change the balance again.
The former Crow is expected back after the round eight bye, while Hardwick couldn't confirm when Deledio and Rance would be fit.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-04-24/were-better-than-last-year
