Intensity of effort when you don't have the ball maintained over a sustained period. Each game, each week.
Tackling that sticks, spoils, smothers, shepards, blocks, harassing the opposition even tagging if it's called for.
Just an attitude that says to the opposition "I may not be better than you but you are going to hate every minute of the next 120 minutes"
Northey had Richmond playing that way in '94 & '95.
Fremantle were amazing exponates of pressure footy in 2013 which culminated in a truly unbelievable game of pressure football against the Swans in the Preliminary Final of 2013.
Last night, the Roos delivered it against the Bulldogs who got enough of the ball but fumbled their way through the game which was largely due to the Roos pressure and intensity of effort.
A few posters in this forum have mentioned Dimma and his reliance of stats.
It's a good point.
What is most galling is that Leigh Matthews doesn't need any stats to nail the perception of Richmond right now:-
"They are like an egg, tap them and they crack"
We need to reverse that view and become the hunters again.
I hope Richmond (and the coaching panel) as a team aren't too proud to get back to the basics of football and bring a higher intensity of effort tonight when they don't have the ball.There is no single stat for making the opposition feel pressured every time they get the ball but we all get a feel for it when watching.
It was non existent against Melbourne and as a consequence we made them look better that they are.
And Dimma had the stats to say "They were a class above us" - we were as much responsible for that as they were because of the lack of intensity of effort when they had possession.
I'd like to see that change dramatically tonight and for the rest of the season.
