Our new Gameplan

[one-eyed]

Footy Forensics: Your club's trend II

by Matt Cowgill
06/01/17

RICHMOND - GO TO GOAL, GO DIRECTLY TO GOAL

Most teams rack up a lot more uncontested than contested possessions. Most sides average somewhere between 1.6 and 1.8 uncontested possessions for every contested possession they accrue. The 2017 Richmond Tigers are not most teams.

The Tigers are only recording 1.35 uncontested possession for every contested possession, easily the lowest ratio in the league and the lowest ratio for several years. This is a dramatic U-turn from last year, when the Tigers were middle of the pack on this measure. They're no longer chipping the ball around in space - Richmond only records 0.3 uncontested mark for every kick they make, again the league's lowest.

Richmond are playing a dramatically different brand of football than the one they trotted out in 2016. It's more direct, with the Tigers seeking to move from the contest to goal without chipping around into space first. They've arguably been a better team than their record suggests, with narrow losses denting their win total - it will be interesting to see if their new style continues to work for them.




http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/19501873/footy-forensics-your-afl-club-key-game-trend-part-ii