Why the spotlight at Richmond should be on Brandon Ellis, not Trent Cotchin Jake Niall
Foxsports
May 6, 2016WHENEVER Richmond is picked apart in the media — in much the same way that this larger-than-life club has been dismembered by the opposition — certain usual suspects are rounded up.
We cite the holes in a Swiss cheese playing list that have turned into craters by the losses of key players in defence and particularly Brett Deledio. The decline of Ivan Maric — dropped for Friday night’s game — and Troy Chaplin, too, are highlighted, along with alleged deficits in leadership, game plan, running capacity and grunt.
For mystifying reasons, Trent Cotchin, who rivals Jack Riewoldt as the club’s best performed player of 2016, is frequently fingered, when in reality the skipper is more like the boy with his finger in the dyke. The same Cotchin played an entire game with a fractured cheekbone last weekend; if only Damien Hardwick had more “problems’’ like Cotchin.
If you’re looking for a poster boy for Richmond’s decline thus far — a bellwether of the recession — Brandon Ellis is more deserving of scrutiny than Cotchin, Alex Rance, Dustin Martin or any of Richmond’s overworked top half dozen.
The fault lies not in the stars at Tigerland.
Ellis has regressed in the first six rounds of 2015, and his reduced output has been symptomatic of the Richmond malaise. Ellis, the club’s best endurance runner, ought to have benefited from the new interchange restrictions — as Tom Scully has at Greater Western Sydney. Yet the opposite has occurred.
Ellis was shut down by North Melbourne’s Sam Gibson in the elimination final last year and has yet to rediscover the productivity of 2014 and 2015 since that fateful afternoon. It’s arguable that, as the game has shifted this year — and ball movement hastened — he and/or the Tigers haven’t made the necessary adjustments.
Ellis is an outside player, who can hurt the opposition by finding space — especially out on the wings, where he’s had a knack for providing the “outlet’’ for defenders.
In 2016, Ellis has spent more time behind the ball — 62 per cent of his disposals have been in Richmond’s defensive half, compared to 57 per cent in 2015. Clearly, the Tigers have encouraged him to get back to assist an undermanned defence that often has been without Dylan Grimes, Reece Conca, Nick Vlastuin and now Rance.
Alas, “going backwards’’ has also been the metaphor for Ellis this year. As an outside running machine, whose role doesn’t demand that he crash bodies like Michael Voss, he isn’t be expected to win huge clearance or contested ball numbers.
Ellis’ contested possession rate of 22.5 is down on last year’s already modest 26 per cent. Cotchin, unsurprisingly, is the clubhouse leader for contested footy at Tigerland with 49 per cent
More worrisome is the lack of impact of the disposals (average 25.7 per game) that Ellis has garnered. In 2014, he had 5.9 score involvements per game and 4.9 per game last year. This year’s less than beautiful figure is 3.7.
He isn’t penetrating the opposition’s defences, despite gaining a respectable 372 metres per game. But that additional time in the backline isn’t reflected in interceptions (2.7 pg).
One theory for Ellis losing ground is that Richmond’s quicker ball movement has hurt him. Last year, he was often used, in coach-speak, as “the outlet’’ on “the fat side’’ where he’d be left alone — a virtual “Ellis Island’’ when the Tigers switched play.
Richmond’s coaches should consider revising Ellis’s role, reprogramming him to spend less time in defence, forcing him to fight for possessions in more challenging places and to run to positions where his elite running and skill can inflict damage. He won’t improve if he isn’t challenged.
Right now, his possessions are like cover drives that trickle straight to fieldsmen.
The stagnation of Ellis and, to a lesser extent, Vlastuin, haven’t received the attention of Cotchin, Deledio or the recruiting department at Tigerland. Vlastuin’s hamstring injury — from which he’s just recovered — affords him a partial alibi.
Unlike Ellis, Vlastuin is a combative player. Rather than vainly seeking to plug a midfield hole with the less skilful Jacob Townsend, it would be fascinating to see how Vlastuin would fare in the centre square. Hardwick, at this stage, has little to lose from experimenting with Ellis and Vlastuin.
Whether Ellis isn’t extracting enough from himself or the coaches aren’t extracting from his talent, he isn’t making budget.
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