High emotions sparked by Troy Chaplin add to intrigue for elimination final between Port Adelaide and Richmond WARREN TREDREA
The Adelaide Advertiser
September 04, 2014 RARELY has there been such an emotional build up to an elimination final.
There is still three days to Sunday’s knockout final between Port Adelaide and Richmond at Adelaide Oval but the football world has been abuzz with this game and all the intriguing subplots.
No sooner had Richmond upset the all-conquering Swans on Saturday night when the attention turned to the angst between the Power players and their ex-teammate Troy Chaplin, who is now at Tigerland.
Chaplin’s animated “aeroplane’’ and tugging of the Richmond guernsey celebrations late in the Tigers’ upset 20-point win against Port at Etihad Stadium in round 17 wasn’t well received at Alberton.
Captain Travis Boak didn’t hide his thoughts at his press conference the following day, saying: “I hope he (Chaplin) is enjoying his season’’.
At the time the Tigers were struggling at the foot of the table and the finals seemed a mile away.
They were closer to the wooden spoon than playing in September.
Some pundits have suggested Boak’s comments have come back to bite him and that he has given Richmond extra motivation on Sunday.
I disagree. I loved the fact that the proud Port skipper stood up for his club.
Perhaps Boak’s comments gave the Tigers the spur they needed to gatecrash the finals.
But the ill feeling towards Chaplin has been stewing within the walls at Alberton ever since he wrote a tactless departure email to his former teammates when he left to join Richmond as a free agent at the end of the 2012 season after the Power had missed the finals for the fifth consecutive year.
His message that the club and its players need to become more professional has never sat well with them.
But if there is one positive that has come out of it it’s that it has only added to the drama for a final which already is at fever pitch.
While I’m not convinced that either coach — Port’s Ken Hinkley and Richmond’s Damien Hardwick — will use these side issues as motivation it does highlight that playing for the jumper is still well and truly alive in this era of free agency and fat contracts.
However, when I played I loved using these types of situations as a source of motivation.
Make no mistake, there will be an emotion-charged atmosphere at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
And “Chappy’’ is certain to cop some flak from the Port fans.
Adding to the unique build-up has been the AFL’s ridiculous decision to force the home team (Port) to wear its away uniform in front of its home sell out crowd.
I’m still coming to grips that something so important can be so poorly handled by the competition’s governing body.
The “compromise’’ of allowing Port to wear its historic SANFL prison bars guernsey is just a lame effort by the league and a virtual admission that it stuffed up.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that in round 22 against Carlton, the Power was denied its wish of wearing the same historical jumper as a celebration and tribute to Port’s all-conquering 1914 team. Go figure.
What we have now is a race against time to order, make and deliver the new set of jumpers before the historic first Adelaide Oval AFL final.
But as sexy as the off-the-field build up has been, the game itself promises to be a beauty.
Richmond’s nine straight wins must be respected.
Teams don’t fight back from a 3-10 start to the season to win nine consecutive games through luck.
After copping plenty of public humiliation, this Tigers team has shown it has some serious ticker.
The players simply have refused to give up and let their season wilt away to nothing.
Their victims include finalists Port and Essendon and away wins against two clubs who were fighting for a finals spot, Adelaide and West Coast.
Richmond’s ninth and most decisive win was against flag favourite Sydney in Sydney.
Sure, the Swans left out several key players, including Coleman Medallist Lance Franklin, but the job still had to be won and the Tigers carried it out superbly.
Their win was built on the back of winning clearances 47-38, contested possessions 165-49 and ruck hit-outs 60-42.
The recipe for Port on Sunday is simple.
Matty Lobbe must get the upper hand on Ivan Maric in the ruck and to achieve this he must work him over.
Maric is a tough competitor but he doesn’t have Lobbe’s running capacity.
Port’s number one big man must run him up and down the ground and, when the opportunity presents itself, he must push forward and become an avenue to goal, tiring Maric in the process.
If Lobbe can dominate the aerial battle it will deny the Tigers’ prime movers of the ball and their most offensive weapon in the game — the midfield.
Stopping Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio, Brandon Ellis, Anthony Miles and Co. from getting easy ball is a must.
This didn’t happen when the teams last played, with Richmond giving Port a touch up in the middle of the ground, winning clearances 50-41 and contested possessions 159-126.
Both clubs have played with a plus-one defender this season and if I was coaching in this game I would try to deny the opposition such freedom this weekend.
Tiger stopper Alex Rance on Port’s chief goalkicker Jay Schulz looms as a mouth-watering match-up, along with Richmond ace Jack Riewoldt on Power full back Alipate Carlile.
But both teams’ scoring chances will be severely restricted if Chaplin and Matthew Broadbent are left to play free across half-ba ck, intercepting the play.
I think it’s time to play man on man all over the ground and back their offensive weapons in to win the game without a free player set up behind the ball.
The defensive squeeze must be applied, meaning which club deals with the pressure best will go a long way towards winning the game.
The build up to this clash has been full of off-field drama. The best players will see this as something out of their control and prepare accordingly, while others might get caught up in it.
Those who focus solely on the game and getting the best out of themselves will be the ones who prosper.
http://m.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/tredrea-high-emotions-sparked-by-troy-chaplin-add-to-intrigue-for-elimination-final-between-port-adelaide-and-richmond/story-fnia3uyn-1227046750836?nk=0300caccb1ac4548854cbdc2d6a6b4a4
