Talking Footy tonight put up a stat that we reduced Hawthorn's kicking efficiency from their average off 75% down to 57% on Friday night. We also halved their usual tally of total marks and uncontested marks.
How Richmond dismantled Hawthorn and exposed weaknessesBen Waterworth
Fox Sports
August 3, 2015 4:32pmONE week ago, the race for the 2015 AFL premiership cup seemed a foregone conclusion.
After dismantling Fremantle, Sydney and Carlton comprehensively, many were asking: Could anyone stop Hawthorn from winning a third consecutive flag?
That was until Friday — the night Richmond set the blueprint on how to beat the seemingly unbeatable Hawks.
Led by a stunning four-goal performance from star Brett Deledio, the Tigers upset the highly-fancied Hawks by 18 points in a win that saw them potentially break into the genuine contender category.
What caught the attention of the footy world was how the Tigers managed to expose chinks in the Hawks’ armour only a few weeks after some thought the Hawks should just be handed the flag on a platter.
Here’s our comprehensive breakdown of how Richmond dismantled Hawthorn — and what other teams, in particular West Coast, can learn from it.
MAINTAIN POSSESSIONOnce the Tigers had the footy in their hands, they hung onto the footy like their lives depended on it.
This was evident from by the six-minute mark of the first term, with the Tigers racking up 43 of the first 53 disposals of the game as they chipped the ball around to free players.
The Tigers finish the night with 98 uncontested marks to the Hawks’ uncharacteristically low count of 56.
It wasn’t pretty footy, but it was damn effective footy that allowed the Tigers to quickly counter-attack when the ball had finally been worked into some space.
SPREAD HAWKS’ ZONEAnother one of Hawthorn’s greatest assets this season has been its ability to lock the ball in its own forward half.
All 18 players are so disciplined and attentive to Clarkson’s game plan, zoning and pressing up to opposition players when they have the ball.
Subsequently, that zone and pressure causes the opposition to turn the ball over.
But not the Tigers on Friday night.
Damien Hardwick’s men played with incredible patience, almost stubbornly refusing to kick to contests over unmarked players.
Interestingly, Tigers players used the full width of the MCG to create options, which, as St Kilda great Danny Frawley noted on Triple M, eventually “spread” and “caught up” Hawthorn’s zone.
The Tigers also took a few risks as well with the footy. If a Tigers player had the footy and had four Hawthorn players running towards him, he would quickly and, most importantly, accurately dish the ball off to a teammate, who would then draw another three or four Hawks players before moving it on again.
It meant Hawthorn couldn’t man up some Tigers players quickly enough, exposing some Hawks defenders if the ball was moved forward quickly.
SWITCH ONThe Tigers couldn’t have produced what they did on Friday night if they weren’t on top of their game mentally.
And whether they had the ball or didn’t have it, Damien Hardwick’s men executed all instructions superbly.
West Coast champion and former Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna said Richmond’s game plan was “simple” but required immense concentration and discipline to execute.
McKenna’s ABC Grandstand colleague, Mark Maclure, agreed.
“Everyone involved in footy would’ve watched last night ... analysed it and had another look, then another two or three looks to see how at all evolved. And they would’ve said to themselves ‘there’s a chance we can set up and do the same thing’,” Maclure told ABC.
“Can you pull it off, though? That’s the different deal. But you can actually try, which is more he point.”
RELENTLESS PRESSUREAs hard as it is to believe, Hawks players are human.
Therefore if you put Hawks under enough pressure, they’ll react. And the Tigers certainly got a reaction on Friday night.
All of the below points derived from the Tigers’ immense and, most importantly, sustained pressure.
Richmond consistently pushed up hard when Hawthorn had the ball. Players manned the mark hard and corralled their opponents superbly, which didn’t allow the Hawks to generate any fluency with their ball movement, especially through the corridor
Maclure said Richmond’s pressure didn’t allow the Hawks to execute their high-speed, short kicking game plan.
“They worked the mark really well, they pushed them,” he said.
“They shoved them, they wouldn’t allow them through the middle of the ground, they couldn’t chip past, they forced them to kick high and long into the forward half because they just couldn’t move the ball quickly. And then all of a sudden the Hawks lost their confidence slightly.”
Interestingly, the Hawks won the tackle count 71-52. But that can be a misleading stat, as it showed the Hawks were chasing tail all night.
GO ONE-ON-ONEThat relentless pressure was made easier to execute due to Damien Hardwick’s tactics to man as many Hawthorn players up as possible.
The likes of Josh Gibson (ranked second for marks per game this season), Taylor Duryea and Brian Lake love to get loose when the Hawks have the footy so they can rack up as many marks and kicks as possible to set up attacking forays.
But those same defenders were unable to play with such freedom on Friday night, with the Tigers opting to play man-on-man.
Guy McKenna told ABC Grandstand: “They blocked up the lateral kicks so they couldn’t switch it, couldn’t hit the 45 in close and, when they did release the kick, Richmond was there to block it up.”
Prior to the game, the Hawks had been averaging 399 disposals and 94 uncontested marks per game. Against the Tigers, the Hawks were well down on both categories, finishing with 365 disposals 56 uncontested marks.
Melbourne great Garry Lyon said Richmond’s tactics meant an array of Hawks defenders had ordinary games.
“‘Gibbo’ had a shocking night, he didn’t defend well and he hacked the footy. (James) ‘Chip’ Frawley was rusty because he hadn’t played footy in a long time but we know he’s not a great kick and decision-maker. So then you rely on (Grant) Birchall, Duryea and (Ben) Stratton to be creative, but they couldn’t because they were one-on-one,” Lyon told Triple M.
You’ve got to make them accountable. You’ve got to get in their face so they can’t kick the eyes out of the ball.”
FORCE THE HANDBALLUsually, Hawthorn’s biggest weapon is its kicking.
But Richmond’s pressure meant the Hawks couldn’t slice up the opposition via foot and, therefore, had to resort to handballing.
During Rounds 15 to 17, the Hawks had been averaging 64 more kicks than handballs. But against the Tigers, the Hawks had 188 handballs to 177 kicks.
“We know Hawthorn is experienced, they’re a strong side. But their ace up their sleeve is their ability to move the ball from back half to front half and kick a goal by foot. Richmond denied them that,” McKenna said.
CREATE KICKING ERRORSBut even when the Hawks did kick the ball — which wasn’t very often — their execution was atrocious.
Normally, the Hawks get great overlap from their defensive 50 and are able to execute short, easy kicks to free players. But because Richmond didn’t allow that, their field kicking was atrocious.
Hawthorn’s average kicking efficiency in 2015 was 69 per cent prior to the Tigers game. But on Friday night Alastair Clarkson’s men went at 58 per cent by foot. Remarkably, it was the fifth-worst kicking efficiency percentage for a team ever recorded by Champion Data.
They also racked up 55 effective short kicks. But they’d been averaging 100 per game during the previous 17 rounds.
HUNT CONTESTED BALLThat’s easier said than done, especially against contested ball animals like Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge.
But the Tigers managed to smash the Hawks when the ball was in dispute, winning the final contested possession count 147-126.
Gun midfielder Anthony Miles led the way for the Tigers in this category, finishing with 18 contested possessions to go with his 30 disposals, seven clearances, eight inside 50s and 24 pressure acts.
The thought of battling the likes of Mitchell, Lewis and Hodge never fazed the lion-hearted Miles, who took on the might of the Hawks in the middle and didn’t back down.
STOP GUT RUNNERSSome pundits have labelled Isaac Smith and Brad Hill the best wingmen combination in the game.
But the Hawks’ two gut runners were completely shut down by the Tigers on Friday and had little to no impact on the game.
Hill had been gaining an average of 455m per match prior to Friday night. Well into the third term, he had gained only 50m for the Hawks.
The 22-year-old finished the night with a season-low 13 disposals, 146 metres gained and a kicking efficiency of 40 per cent by foot.
Smith’s 26 disposals might’ve looked impressive on the stats sheet, but his four clangers and kicking efficiency of 47 per cent meant he had little impact on the game.
Both Hill and Smith struggled to break free from the Richmond choker chain. When they did get the footy, their disposal was shaky due to Richmond’s immense pressure.
RESTRICT SCORINGWith the Hawks’ backline stifled, their contested ball winners out-worked and their gut runners virtually eliminated, it was nigh on impossible for the Hawks to effectively move the ball forward and score.
It was an incredible performance by the Tigers in this sense, as they kept the Hawks goal-less in the first and third terms at the MCG.
The Hawks had been averaging 43 forward half marks per game for the first 17 rounds of the season. Against the Tigers, they finished with just 18.
It all resulted in the Hawks producing their lowest score since Round 4, 2012. Interestingly, that was against West Coast at Subiaco Oval.
GET IN THEIR FACEIt mightn’t have seemed significant at the time, but Tigers skipper Trent Cotchin sent a statement before the first bounce on Friday night.
As Hawthorn’s gun on-ball division — Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Jarryd Roughead — moved into position, Cotchin was bumping, nudging and prodding them, trying to get under their skin.
Whether it worked or not doesn’t matter. Cotchin not only sent a message to the Hawks that he was mentally switched on, but he also signalled his intent to his teammates.
Interestingly, Cotchin got on top of Hodge early in the game, with the Hawthorn skipper eventually moving to half-back to try and get his hands on the footy.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/afl/how-richmond-dismantled-hawthorn-and-exposed-weaknesses/story-fnp04gxa-1227468244384
