Bicks weighs your AFL team’s chances with his 2017 previewMark Bickley,
The Advertiser
December 28, 2016FORMER Crows captain Mark Bickley has an in-depth look at the 18 AFL clubs and their strengths and weaknesses ahead of the 2017 season.
RICHMONDWhen Brent Deledio, at 29, leaves to chase a premiership, it is clear he’s not that confident of what’s going on at Punt Rd. The Tigers have added Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy, to support Dustin Martin and Trent Cotchin, so the midfield is solid, but the squad appears light on key position players, and look out if Alex Rance gets injured.
GemDaniel Rioli started his AFL career at 65kg, and while he was light, his speed and skill around goal was a positive for the Tigers. He played 18 games in his debut season and with a bigger body and more composure, will be one to watch out for next year.
Under the pumpDamian Hardwick enters his eighth season as Richmond Coach with a 48 per cent win/loss ratio and without a finals win. Not ideal when your board has instability and your fans are getting increasingly impatient. He needs to settle on an effective game style, as ball movement was ineffective at times last year.
ForecastLike Collingwood, Richmond needs early wins to keep the Melbourne media at bay, and with games against Carlton, Collingwood and Brisbane in its first month, it has every chance of doing so. The season gets harder after that and I predict the Tigers are in for another tough year, dropping a spot to 14th.
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Ladder prediction:1. Sydney
2. GWS
3. Western Bulldogs
4. Geelong
5. Adelaide
6. West Coast
7. St Kilda
8. Hawthorn
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9. Melbourne
10. Port Adelaide
11. Essendon
12. Fremantle
13. Collingwood
14. Richmond
15. Gold Coast
16. North Melbourne
17. Carlton
18. Brisbane
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