Mark Duffield: Richmond’s aura affecting teams even before the bounceWest Australian
7 May, 2018Richmond lost four successive games from rounds six to nine last year.
Three of them were heartbreakers against the Western Bulldogs, Fremantle and Greater Western Sydney.
The cries for coach Damien Hardwick’s head came thick and fast. This was the old Richmond, they said — snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
It was so Richmond, critics said.
It is what happens when clubs endure long periods without success — emotion rules over common sense.
It was ignored that the Tigers had been good enough to put themselves in a position to win three times, and after they had been 5-0.
Fans couldn’t get over how Fremantle and GWS in particular had taken games from them at the death — the Dockers via a Lachie Neale clearance and David Mundy shot after the siren, the Giants via Jeremy Cameron, who goaled on the run.
The Brownlow medalist easily shrugged off Fyfe, but missed the goal.
Hardwick’s men are 19-4 since that moment. It is time to draw the clear distinction between them and the Bulldogs of 2016.
The Bulldogs were the best team in September 2016 when they won the flag. Premierships are never a fluke, but the Bulldogs’ flag was a product of perfect timing and a dominant month where they overwhelmed their opponents.
Richmond have been the AFL’s best team since the start of the 2017 season.
The only sides to beat them since that loss to the Giants in round nine last year are Adelaide in Adelaide, Geelong in Geelong, Sydney at the MCG and St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.
The St Kilda loss in round 16 last year by 67 points is the anomaly. All other defeats were hard-fought losses against gun teams.
The imposing Richmond teams of the 1960s and 1970s had an aura about them. They won four flags under Tom Hafey and a fifth under Tony Jewell in 1980.
They were skilled, tough and ruthless.
Hardwick’s men have a different aura, but it is there.
They have an absolute belief in the method — with good reason. Their forward pressure is as good as the game has seen.
It is starting to affect the teams they play even before the ball is bounced.
This is not an excuse for Fremantle, hammered by the Tigers yesterday at the MCG.
But there were times in the first half — before the Dockers gave a yelp in the third term — that Fremantle appeared to be playing the aura of Richmond the premiers and the perception of the pressure they apply rather than the actual Richmond team out there.
Lachie Neale shot a pass across the ground to Nathan Wilson, who dropped an uncontested chest mark with no body contact.
Neale was the innocent victim of a teammate’s skill error in that instance, but he was one of the culprits when he and Brandon Matera made Reece Conca look like Gary Ablett Sr later in the quarter.
Neale and Matera between them had four goes at tackling Conca and he stepped through and out of every one.
The Dockers were better in the third term, but the damage was done and was reinforced in the last.
It is not uncommon for teams that have made a big breakthrough to suffer a letdown or hangover.
It is not uncommon for that hangover to come mid-season and we are not there yet. But the Tigers, who it must be said are extremely healthy at present, have the look of a hungry team, not a satisfied one.
They have complete belief in their method and that belief is yet to be shaken. The pressure Hardwick’s men put on opponents with and without the ball is as good as we have seen in recent years.
This was a brutal football education at the home of football for Fremantle’s younger players.
Many Dockers could not follow the lead that Nat Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands and Neale offered.
In fairness, first-year pair Andrew Brayshaw and Adam Cerra were a long way from their team’s worst.
That, even in a flogging like the Dockers copped yesterday, may be a good sign.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/mark-duffield/mark-duffield-richmonds-aura-affecting-teams-even-before-the-bounce-ng-b88827692z
