Wayward Tigers hoping to find the 'zone'Jon Pierik
The Age
11 April 2016Richmond will head to Perth on Thursday desperate to improve their kicking from the "launch zone", as Brett Deledio's absence continues to haunt them.
After three straight elimination final defeats, many pundits expected the Tigers to make a leap this season, and even challenge for the top four. But a 1-2 start to the season, with the Eagles at Domain Stadium to come on Friday night, means they could quickly find themselves in a major hole.
While they are ranked No.1 for kicking, this statistic can hide the fact the Tigers have often struggled to hit a leading target inside 50.
Midfielder Brandon Ellis said the Tigers could not afford to continue to butcher the ball, as they did in a dispiriting loss to the Crows on Saturday.
"When it gets to that launch zone, 50 metres to 80 metres out, we are just turning it over. It was probably six or seven times the boys missed targets and then Adelaide scooped on it and kicked easy goals out the back," Ellis told The Sunday Footy Show.
Coach Damien Hardwick acknowledged after the loss the Tigers were the top kicking side but it was the "unforced errors that are killing us, the blatant ones where we are just missing targets and they are going straight to the opposition".
Former Richmond forward Nathan Brown has suggested the Tigers are even "bottom six" in the league when it comes to hitting a target at crucial stages.
"I think Damien Hardwick is hiding behind the fact that they are the No.1 kicking side percentage wise but they do chip it around a little bit, like any other club does. But the real test of an elite player, of an elite skill and of an elite team, is to make the kicks when they count, to make it count on the day under pressure," he said.
"When you have Jack Riewoldt leading at you and you need to make a 30m kick diagonally across the ground because he is going to have an easy set shot at goal, and you miss that kick, it falls short and goes straight to an Adelaide Crows player, I think percentage wise, that should be worth five good kicks.
"They don't have a skill level up to the elite standard. They are in the bottom eight, probably in the bottom six, in skill level in the AFL.
"They are nowhere near Hawthorn or Geelong, West Coast - the teams up the top - the Bulldogs. Richmond are a bottom-eight side in skill level."
One man the Tigers are desperately missing is vice-captain Deledio. The Tigers have won only three of the past 15 matches Deledio has missed, and he almost certainly won't play against the Eagles. Deledio is still on the mend from a quad strain.
The Tigers are also missing Chris Yarran, who had been brought to Punt Rd in the trade period to help provide dash and slick ball use from half-back. Yarran required surgery on his left foot last month and isn't expected to return for several weeks.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-season-2016-wayward-tigers-hoping-to-find-the-zone-20160410-go2v3b.html
