Why Richmond is still the AFL's team to beatBy Chris De Silva
Nine's Wide World of Sports
13 March 2019Richmond should be the premiership favouriteThis perhaps isn’t necessarily something we learnt from the JLT series, but rather something that was reinforced through the competition.
After winning the premiership in 2017 and being the league’s best side last season before its shock preliminary final defeat to Collingwood, the Tigers are hungrier than ever. The prelim loss to the Magpies might serve as a blessing in disguise for a list that now comes into the season with a massive chip on its shoulder.
However, after suffocating opponents for the best part of 24 months, the Tigers showed a different side to their game in their two JLT contests.
The Tigers came back from a 22-point quarter-time deficit in JLT 1 against the Demons before running down a 40-point half-time deficit in JLT 2 against Hawthorn.
More impressive than the two comebacks themselves were the manner in which they were made.
Despite being well off their game in the first half against Hawthorn, the Tigers never looked to be panicked at any point in the game.
Club captain Trent Cotchin was asked about his side’s first half against the Hawks and was extremely calm and suggested that the team would “chip away” at the deficit which it did emphatically, led by Cotchin himself who was exemplary with 24 disposals and two final quarter goals.
The scary part for opponents? The Tigers get to add Tom Lynch to what is an impressive forward set-up with the likes of Jack Riewoldt, Jack Higgins, Josh Caddy and Dan Butler to name a few.
https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/jlt-community-series-10-things-we-learned-from-pre-season/b22e5101-d253-4704-bea0-faab385ae27e
