Richmond caught in a rock and a hard place with game plan and tactics
The Tiger trend that simply isn’t workingFoxsports/Herald-Sun
9 June 2016THEY say a leopard cannot change its spots, but can a Tiger alter its stripes?
As far as Richmond is concerned, the answer is yes — but with an almighty catch.
For the second straight year, Damien Hardwick’s men have transformed the way they play mid-season, reverting back to a proven method after trying — and failing — a more free-flowing game style.
Richmond won just two of its first six games in 2015. But it was the Tigers’ Round 6 loss to North Melbourne, in which they won contested ball (+10), clearances (+12) and inside 50s (+9), that sparked Hardwick to find a way to stop the bleeding.
At the time, the Tigers were ranked 16th in the league for kick-to-handball ratio, favouring an adventurous play-on method that left them exposed defensively. They were surrendering 58 points per game via turnovers — the third-most of any side.
Put simply, Richmond wasn’t skilled enough to play the high-tempo brand it endeavoured to execute.
The solution? To slow everything down and chip the Sherrin sideways. In general, do the complete opposite of how they were playing across the first six rounds of the season.
Their scoring, thus, dropped. But they begun to win games.
From Round 7 to their infamous elimination final defeat, the Tigers played on from just 26 per cent of marks — ranked 18th in the AFL.
Those troublesome turnovers were fixed as well, conceding just 35 points per game from Round 7 onwards. It made them the AFL’s stingiest side during that time period.
And it’s quite remarkable how history has repeated itself this season.
How Richmond has changed its stripes.In fact, Bill Murray would be proud of this year’s Richmond team, because it has been as close to a Groundhog Day sequel as you’re ever likely to see.
After copping a 69-point hiding at the hands of West Coast in Round 4, Hardwick conceded: “The game changes and we have to change.
“We tried to probably go with the change and it didn’t work out. We’ll look at a few things and see how it works out from here on in.”
And change they have — just as they did 12 months earlier.
From Rounds 1-7, the Tigers were extravagant, almost careless, in their run and play-on method. They conceded 40.7 points per game from defensive-half turnovers — the second-worst of any side in the AFL.
At 1-6, times were getting desperate for Hardwick ahead of his club’s clash against top-four aspirants in Sydney.
Lo and behold, the Tigers reverted back to the method that worked for them in 2015. They took 100 marks and kicked the ball 59 per cent of the time as they registered a thrilling one-point victory over the Swans.
From a style viewpoint, the Tigers haven’t looked back since. From Rounds 8-10, they were ranked fifth for marks and 18th for play-on.
But in Round 11, North Melbourne didn’t allow them the time and space to execute their ‘Tigers crawl.’ Although the method — at its best — limits opposition scoring, it clearly has drawbacks offensively.
“We’re just about our process and the fact that it’s able to combat different game styles and things like that,” defender Alenx Rance said on Thursday.
“We probably kick along down the line a bit too much at the moment, which really plays into a lot of other teams’ defences hands, so they can rebound pretty quickly.”
Where Adelaide and GWS have prospered via their rapid ball movement this season, the opposite also rings true.
In today’s game, the slower you transition, the easier it is for coaches to orchestrate defensive setups and grids that are difficult to slice through.
And even at its best, would this method succeed in September? Judging by the club’s past three finals outings, the answer is an unequivocal no.
“They’re not playing finals,” Fox Footy expert Dermott Brereton reasoned last Friday evening.
“So do they still play a style of game that will knock over teams in the bottom five or six positions, or do they learn to play a style of football that might get them through in future years to play finals and do well?”
Dual North Melbourne premiership player David King shared Brereton’s sentiments, suggesting the Tigers are better off learning to play new-age football, rather than reverting to old-school methods that can only take them so far.
“Where to for the Richmond brand?” King asked.
“We know that Hardwick slowed it down because that is the talent levels they’ve got at the moment, but what are they learning?
“Are they learning anything that will take them forward into premiership contention? Or are they just playing a false brand that will win against some of the poorer teams?
“The list is nowhere near what it needs to be to give Damien a chance to coach a different style of football. They are stuck in that no man’s land we keep talking about.”
For any rusted-on Richmond fan, limbo is an unfortunate place to be.
Equally, it’s not necessarily Hardwick’s fault.
There is an argument to suggest that his tactical nous is a large reason why the club made the top eight for three straight seasons, for the cattle he had at his disposal has proven to be mid-range at best.
Whatever the case, the cold reality is the style that works for others simply doesn’t translate to Richmond victories, while the other brand has significant limitations when the whips are cracking.
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