Flag defence: Tigers flattered by copy-cats but urged to play on instinctJon Pierik
The Age
26 March 2018 — 6:30pmRichmond champion Alex Rance says it's flattering rival teams have attempted to emulate the Tigers' high-pressure style but has urged his teammates to maintain their creativity and play on instinct in a year when they have become the hunted.
The Tigers opened their premiership defence with a 26-point win over Carlton and have turned their attention towards Thursday night's grand-final rematch against the Crows in Adelaide.
While the clash could be seen as a chance for the Tigers to reinforce why they were last year's best team, Rance said the Crows had changed in personnel from the side crunched on that last Saturday of September, and could even be without injured skipper Taylor Walker.
The rematch will be held before a hostile local crowd, one that Rance said his team would be equipped to handle.
"It always has a cauldron feel over there, whether it's Port or Adelaide. They do get pretty venomous when they are supporting their own sides. It will definitely challenge us from a psychological point of view but I think we have well equipped ourselves over the pre-season, and battle-hardened over the end of last year, to be able to cope with that," he said on Monday.
"I am not sure if Tex [Walker] is playing, they have obviously got Bryce Gibbs and they didn't have Brodie Smith in the grand final, either. Rory Laird looks like he has kicked off from where he left off last year, he had an amazing game at the weekend. You can't really focus on what other teams are doing and emotions that are attached to certain games, whether it's a final or a Dreamtime at the G. You just have to keep doing what you do."
Speaking in his role as an ambassador for Wolf Blass, Rance said he had kept a keen eye on rivals through the opening round, and whether they had sought to replicate the pressure acts, particularly inside attacking 50, which had driven the Tigers to the premiership. The Bombers, who toppled the Crows at Etihad Stadium, were one side that had focused on this area.
"We were always chasing that in years prior, to emulate how a flag was won in the year previous. It's, I guess, a different case now. Everyone is trying to emulate our style of play in a lot of ways," he said.
"I watched a bit of footy over the weekend and did see shades of the way we did play in other teams, which I guess is flattering. We have trained against it for the last 18 months to two years, so we do know how to combat it. But it is an adaptation that we need to keep making as the game grows.
"We are a principle-based game plan, so rather than saying this is what you have to do in a given situation, the game is too imperfect for that, it's too free flowing. It's not like NFL or NBA where you can have these set plays on a regular basis to be able to get yourself a victory. We need to encourage independent thought and creativity and play on instinct and get these young players doing what they did from 12 to 18 in men's professional environment. We need to focus on that and not squash any talent and make sure it's a strong-fence, big-paddock scenario."
The Tigers are also looking for their younger talent to keep emerging, with Rance pointing out the "young pups" of Jason Castagna, Dan Butler and Shai Bolton up forward, Jack Graham in the midfield and Jayden Short would continue to "reinvigorate" the team's elder statesmen.
Coach Damien Hardwick's mantra changed last year, with the coaching group focusing more on a player's strength than his weakness. This gave the playing list greater confidence to play at their optimum, free of negative thoughts. This, combined with a program focusing on mindfulness, which has intensified through the latest pre-season, has the Tigers in the right frame of mind to defend their breakthrough flag.
"Initially when I heard the word mindfulness, it's one of those buzz words that gets flown around when no one actually knows what's attached to it. If you break it down, being mindful, if you are mindful of your weight or you are mindful of oncoming traffic, it means you are conscious of, focused on that and you want to achieve a certain goal attached to that mindful state that you are in," Rance said.
"Especially with football, there are so many distractions, whether it's contracts, media, performance, coaches, teammates, family - all these different scenarios which are making you less mindful of what you want to achieve.
"If you are focusing on 10 things at once, you are spreading yourself far too thin and not be able to execute at a level that is required at such an elite environment. It's easy to say that and describe that but it's very difficult to perfect that because you can't control what people are doing on a day-to-day basis. You can't control what influences people allow in their lives."
The mindfulness program has been run by a company owned by Canadian-born expert, Dr Jacques Dallaire, swimmer Ian Thorpe and cricketer Shane Watson.
What Hardwick has been able to do is deliver a more encouraging message to his players, and the rewards have been on show.
"The way coaching has changed over the past few years - [it was the] stick versus the carrot. [It was] 'you need to do this better' rather than 'you need to do more of this good thing that you are doing' and positive reinforcement rather than whipping the dog and telling them they are a dog. Then they will start to believe they are rather than celebrating they have champion attributes and then they become a champion," Rance said.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/flag-defence-tigers-flattered-by-copy-cats-but-urged-to-play-on-instinct-20180326-p4z685.html
