This pretty well says it all;
Why Richmond lost to North Melbourne, week one of finals analysed, What You Missed On TV Last Night
an hour ago
Max LaughtonFOX SPORTS
Sunday afternoon’s loss to North Melbourne was their third straight in an elimination final and means the Tigers haven’t won a final since 2001.
Fox Footy analyst David King believes Richmond has had a flaw ever since then, and that strategy has been the cause for their horror decade and a half.
“Harassment levels of the Kangaroos forced them into decisions they wouldn’t want to make,” King told the team On The Couch.
“It comes back to planning against Richmond and this has been a flaw for the Tigers for 15 years.
“They’ve started to defend this year by retaining possession and it just doesn’t work in finals.”
King and the Couch crew discussed how Richmond’s strategy has evolved under Damien Hardwick to a point where they love to switch sides of the ground frequently.
In response, North Melbourne pushed up and manned up on the Tigers, not allowing them to chip sideways and gather uncontested marks at wider points of the ground.
Roos pushed up and manned up. Usually they like to chip sideways and get uncontested marks wide.
“The defensive structure of the Kangaroos took away the way the Tigers wanted to play,” explained Jason Dunstall.
Triple premiership Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown compared it to how Port Adelaide performed against the Lions in the early 2000s.
Brown said the Power couldn’t get over the hump and win that elusive flag until they changed their style to a way that suits finals footy.
“Leigh Matthews used to say to us trust in our game style, it’ll work in finals. If you keep chipping it, around the pressure builds,” Brown explained.
Gerard Healy thought the contested ball numbers for Richmond’s stars told the story.
Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards, Dustin Martin and Brett Deledio all had six or fewer contested possessions in the elimination final, well below their season averages. Only Anthony Miles stood up in this measure with 15.
Brandon Ellis also found it hard to escape a hard tag from Sam Gibson, finishing with just 10 disposals.
The Couch team also looked at Dustin Martin’s impact, as he gathered possessions early but couldn’t make an impact with them.
‘Dusty’ had 21 disposals in the game but just five of them were in Richmond’s forward half, and none of them were inside their forward 50.
Other topics covered on the Monday night TV agenda:
TOP of the agenda was the first week of the finals, kicking off with Richmond’s loss to North Melbourne.
AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley began by putting it simply, saying “the Tigers lost because they weren’t good enough.”
His co-host Mark Robinson was most frustrated with how similar the result was to Richmond’s loss to Port Adelaide in an elimination final in 2014.
“You can’t move on with Richmond,” Robinson said.
“The most annoying thing about this game is they had 12 months after the heavy defeat last year and they played a year of solid football.
“They waited 12 months to get back to the exact same stage and they played soft football. They weren’t mentally ready.
“The players and coach have to take a level of that criticism and as a group they were found wanting again.”
He and Whateley agreed that the Tigers’ list simply isn’t good enough and requires additions in the off-season.
They pointed to Ivan Maric’s performance as simply not strong enough, with a ruckman high on the shopping list.
“Their base shouldn’t be washed away but what they have is insufficient,” argued Whateley.
Robinson agreed, saying “Maric has been fantastic but he can’t do it anymore.”
“They need to be bold and go after Adam Treloar and rip him from Collingwood. They’re in for Harley Bennell. Steve Johnson is available.
“They have to get more talent into their forward half and add to the midfield.”
It was agreed that the Tigers will likely be in a similar position in 12 months’ time and will need to finally measure up in 2016 or repercussions will be felt throughout the club.
“The burden has never been heavier on Richmond than it is now,” Whateley said.
WINNERS on Sunday North Melbourne were given plenty of credit however, producing intense pressure that’s critical in the finals.
“They didn’t give Richmond room to move the ball, that’s why there were so many hacked and hurried kicks in defence,” argued Robinson.
“Everything that Brad Scott did worked. The key match-ups all went North Melbourne’s way.”
He gave specific credit to leaders Andrew Swallow, Michael Firrito, Todd Goldstein, Jack Ziebell and Ben Cunnington.
Whateley approved of how the Roos’ free agency moves impacted on the victory, in particular with Shaun Higgins and Jarrad Waite.
“The broader endorsement for Scott is he had Higgins and Waite enhance the firepower,” he said.
“The overall question on North Mebourne is is it a better team? The answer it seems is yes.”
LINDSAY Thomas was fined for a silly incident where he appeared to kick Dylan Grimes soon after coming on as the sub.
The co-hosts were in agreement that the move was simple stupidity from the Roo.
“Let’s be honest, he’s an idiot. It’s an idiotic thing to do,” Robinson said.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/why-richmond-lost-to-north-melbourne-week-one-of-finals-analysed-what-you-missed-on-tv-last-night/story-fnp04d70-1227527392109
