Author Topic: Tigers to keep September squeeze going: Grimes (afl site)  (Read 258 times)

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Tigers to keep September squeeze going: Grimes (afl site)
« on: September 15, 2017, 02:17:16 PM »
Tigers to keep September squeeze going

Callum Twomey
afl.com.au
15 September 2017


RICHMOND defender Dylan Grimes has backed his team to continue to strangle the scoring power of opposition sides as it sharpens its tilt towards a breakthrough premiership this year.

The Tigers will face the winner of Saturday's semi-final between Greater Western Sydney and West Coast in next week's preliminary final, and will enter the clash with confidence having beaten both sides this year.

Grimes said the Tigers have no preference on which side they will face, and that they back their style to hold up against anyone after pummeling Geelong in the qualifying final last week.

"It's going to be such a challenge either way, it's really hard to pick one or the other. For us everything has been so focused internally that we haven't really spoken about what the different scenarios might be. We're really looking to prepare the best we can regardless of the opposition," Grimes said on Friday.

The Tigers restricted Geelong to just five goals last week – the Cats' lowest goal tally of the season. They beat the Eagles in the only meeting between the sides this year back in round three, and also overcame the Giants at the MCG in round 18, holding GWS to just six goals.

"It's definitely a positive to be able to say we've beaten both of those sides throughout the year but at the same time, finals footy is a really different brand of footy," Grimes said.

"It's great to be playing on our home deck as well, there's no doubt that's an advantage given they're both interstate teams, but for us it's going to be a challenge either way.

"There's been a lot of hype around the place, but internally I think we've been pretty balanced and it's been great to have both the AFL and VFL clubs in a pretty good spot. At the moment everyone's pretty level-headed, but no doubt there's a level of excitement around the club," he said.

The Tigers will have a main training session on Saturday to replicate some match practice for their weekend off, with the club structuring the gap between games similarly to the bye between round 23 and the first week of the finals. 

"It's not an intra-club, but we will have a solid hit-out tomorrow, more so for routine than anything else. We've done that the whole year, and our process this whole week has been almost a mirror-image of that first week we had off leading into the finals," he said.

"Everything's remaining pretty unchanged, and I think the group's feeling pretty good because of that."

Richmond is soaring at VFL level as well, and on Saturday, its second-string side will play in a preliminary final against Box Hill Hawks at Port Melbourne. The full list of players competing for a spot in the senior team has created a positive environment at the club, and Grimes said the Tigers expect more players to push for senior selection. 

"We've got some really exciting players who are still in contention throughout the finals series, so it will be interesting to see how they go down at VFL level in a really challenging game against Box Hill Hawks," he said.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-09-15/september-stranglers-tigers-ready-for-prelim-squeeze