Dour Hall seen in new light
31 July 2005
Sunday Herald Sun
Howard Kotton
Ray Hall has been asked to fill some big boots, reports Howard Kotton.RAY Hall knew he had the ability to be a creative player, but it took the arrival of Terry Wallace at Tigerland this year to bring this quality out.
Hall had been regarded as a dour defender for most of his 81-game AFL career, but this season he has provided a springboard to many attacks.
He attributes his new-found self-belief to Wallace.
"He's given me confidence to play my natural game, to leave my man and attack, get the ball and run with it," said Hall, who was picked up at No.79 in the 1998 national draft.
"I've always known how to be creative, but when one player becomes more creative it spreads throughout the team.
"I think we believe in ourselves a bit more. I think we've got a bit more resolve. When things aren't going our way, we can fight our way out of it. It's come from the coach and training and from situations we've been in."
The absence of key defenders Darren Gaspar (hamstring) and Andrew Kellaway (broken jaw) in the past few weeks has put extra pressure on the 196cm backman.
With full-back Gaspar unavailable to take the best key forward in the opposition, Hall, 24, has been forced to step up.
His workload has increased and he has enjoyed the challenge of testing himself against the best.
"They're big losses," Hall said of his injured teammates.
Hall, who hails from Woy Woy in NSW, came close to leaving Punt Rd at the end of 2003 to return north to play for the Swans. He is happy he decided to stay and expects to re-sign and continue his career at Richmond when his contract expires at the end of this season.
"I think the way the club is going, the improvement we've shown this year, it's only going to keep going next year," said Hall, one of only four Tigers to play all 22 games last year.
Not so this year. He was dropped after Richmond's Round 1 capitulation to Geelong, was reported next game in the VFL and later suspended for one match.
He returned to the senior side against Fremantle at the MCG in Round 4, played five games in a row and was then suspended for two matches after the Round 8 win over Collingwood. Hall returned against West Coast in Round 11 and has missed only one match since.
"I think I could probably be a bit more consistent, that's probably the one thing this year that could be better," he admitted.
But Hall is not unduly concerned about being suspended twice this year.
"I don't think it's part of the way I play," he said. "It's two things that didn't go my way and I definitely learned from it."
THE Tigers were gallant in the rain against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium last week, but failed to get over the line and are under pressure to remain in the race for a finals berth.
Fortunately for the Tigers, their run home does not appear as daunting as fellow aspirants Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Fremantle. The Tigers' next four matches are against sides below them on the ladder: Carlton, Fremantle, Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn, before finishing off the home-and-away season against Geelong at Skilled Stadium.
The Tigers' poor percentage (94.1) does not help their chances, but they believe three more wins will be enough to get them into the finals for the first time since 2001.
Hall played three finals in the Tigers' 2001 campaign and hopes to add to that tally in September.
"It would be great to get back there (the MCG) and play in finals in front of a Richmond crowd," he said.
Today's match against the bottom-placed Blues is at Telstra Dome, where the Tigers play three of their next four games. They also play the Dockers at Subiaco.
"We've played most of our games at the MCG this year, but we can play good footy there (at Telstra Dome)," Hall said. "We beat Port Adelaide there and it does suit the way we play.
"When we play well, we're running . . . we're looking forward to getting that back into our game. In the last three weeks we've played on grounds that are pretty wet, so we're looking forward to getting back to our best form.
"If you had a look at the start of the season and said that we'd be in this position, you'd be happy with that. Early on we had some good wins when maybe we weren't expected to."
In Round 7 Richmond smashed Carlton at the MCG, but the Tigers will not underestimate their arch rivals -- despite the Blues' abysmal form in the past three months.
"You can never write off any team in this competition," Hall said.
"The last time we played them, everything went right for us and we can't go into the game expecting that to happen again.
"We really need to be on our game. They've got a lot of good players in their team."
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