KB names his team to beat in 2018By Justin Talent
SEN
10 Feb 2018Richmond champion Kevin Bartlett believes his former side are well-equipped to defend their drought-breaking 2017 premiership this year.
The 403-game Tiger believes that Richmond will not suffer from a premiership hangover that plagued shock 2016 premiers the Western Bulldogs last season, who were only the second team in the past decade to miss the finals the year after winning a flag.
“Richmond have four or five cracking players. They have Dustin Martin, arguably the best player in the competition, (Trent) Cotchin is a cracking player, (Alex) Rance down back and Jack Riewoldt,” Bartlett said on SEN’s KB and The Doc.
“They have a very young side and they won all the finals by big margins. It was a bit different than the year before. The Bulldogs fell over the line in a couple of finals, it was hard-fought.
“People overlook the fact that Richmond only lost a handful of games throughout the year, finished off top by about half a game and they got to the finals and pulverised everyone.
“They’re the team to beat in 2018.”
Terry Wallace was more measured in his assessment of the reigning premiers’ 2018 hopes, believing they will make a better attempt of their premiership defence than the 2017 Dogs.
“They will be OK…they will set a reasonable tone,” the former Tigers coach said.
“Whether that has them at the top of the tree, that’s still questionable (with) a tougher draw and the whole factor of winning the premiership.
“They will set a tone that wasn’t set by the Bulldogs last year. I think that they will balance themselves off and they will still be coming pretty hard.”
Richmond kick off their premiership defence against Carlton in their traditional season opening clash on Thursday March 22.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/02/09/kb-names-his-team-to-beat-in-2018/
