ROUND 3 PREVIEW - RICHMOND vs WEST COAST
PAST ENCOUNTERS:
Overall: 11-16
At Subiaco Oval: 1-9
Past 3 meetings: 0-3
Round 11, 2005 at the M.C.G.
Richmond 3.4 3.7 8.10 15.13-103
West Coast 5.3 8.8 11.12 15.15-105
Multiple Goalkickers: Richmond - Richardson 5, Pettifer 3, Campbell 2; West Coast - Matera 5, Judd 3, Edwards 2.
Leading Stats: Richmond - Tuck 30, J.Bowden 25, Coughlan 25, Johnson 24, Tivendale 23, Newman 21; West Coast - Braun 27, Judd 23, Cousins 23, Fletcher 22, Kerr 22, Embley 21, Staker 21.
Brownlow Votes: 3: Chris Judd (WC), 2: Mark Coughlan (Rich), 1: Ben Cousins (WC)
Arguably the best Richmond match of 2005 despite the narrow loss. Only marred by some shocking umpiring decisions in the first half. Tigers looked gone 5 goals down at half time and with only 3 goals to their name. However the second half was a classic with remarkable momentum swings. Richmond slammed on the early goals to get within a whisker of the Eagles during the third term but two goals in time on to West Coast gave them breathing space. A goal to Phil Matera to open the quarter put the Eagles out to a 26 point lead and Richmond looked gone again. However the Tigers wouldn't lie down and kicked 6 of the next 7 goals with the last to Richo putting us in front by a goal. However the fairytale comeback was not to be with Matera and finally Judd getting the Eagles up despite a late goal to the Tiges.
Round 10, 2004 at Subiaco Oval.
Richmond 3.3 5.6 7.6 9.9-63
West Coast 4.2 5.6 12.10 14.16-100
Multiple Goalkickers: Richmond - Richardson 2, Ottens 2; West Coast - Matera 6, Chambers 3.
Leading Stats: Brown 29, Johnson 28, J.Bowden 23, Chaffey 23, Tivendale 20; West Coast - Judd 29, Embley 26, Cousins 24, Fletcher 23, Kerr 20.
Brownlow Votes: 3: Chris Judd (WC), 2: Kane Johnson (Rich), 1: Phillip Matera (WC)
Richmond in typical ugly grinding fashion under Frawley kept with the Eagles for a half at Subiaco before the floodgates opened in the third term with Richmond unable to match the Eagles' run nor skill. Once again Judd and Matera did the main damage. This would be loss number 2 in a string of 14 straight losses to end 2004 and the Spud era.
Round 9, 2003 at Subiaco Oval.
Richmond 5.1 6.5 10.5 11.6-72
West Coast 4.4 9.8 15.13 18.16-124
Multiple Goalkickers: Richmond - Richardson 4, Fleming 2; West Coast - Matera 5, Haynes 4, Jakovich 3, Sampi 2.
Leading Stats: Johnson 25, J.Bowden 22, Tivendale 19; West Coast - Cousins 26, Fletcher 20, Judd 19, Jones 19.
Brownlow Votes: 3: Ben Cousins (WC), 2: Kane Johnson (Rich), 1: David Haynes (WC)
The Tigers at this stage were 6-2 but it would be all down hill from here as Richmond won only one more game for the year. This game would be remembered more for who didn't play as the injury toll mounted in the lead-up. Richmond's ruck stocks were shot leaving poor Royce Vardy at the mercy of Gardiner and Cox who gave the Eagles first use of the ball. The final hitouts tally being 63-13 in favour of the Eagles. Coughlan was also absent while injured captain Wayne Campbell was stupidly risked by the then coaching staff, only for him to reinjure his calf in the first quarter. Cambo was never the same player again as his legs and subsequently his pace were gone.
KEY MATCH-UPS:
Troy Simmonds vs Dean Cox
Once again this week Simmo will need to perform the ruck duties for most of the match with only Hall as a temporary back-up. However unlike the Saints, the Eagles have one of the best tap ruckman and followers going around in Dean Cox and will have a more reliable backup with Seaby. Don't be surprised if you see Richo this week at ball-ups and throw-ins around the ground to give Simmo a rest.
Joel Bowden vs Andrew Embley
Embley is a vital cog in the Eagle machine as he can play and link up in the midfield as well as push deep into their forward line and kick a few goals. With the Eagles one weakness being the lack of consistent goals from their key forward such as Lynch, we have to pressurize and limit their other avenues of scoring.
Shane Tuck vs Chris Judd
From memory both played wide of each other last year and while Tucky amassed more possessions in the middle, Judd hurt us with his hard running and on the scoreboard which (along with Matera) got the Eagles across the line. Judd has also been awarded 3 brownlow votes in each of the past two meetings.
Brett Deledio vs David Wirrpanda
Wirrpanda has been awesome in the Eagles' opening two rounds with his attacking rebounds and midfield size stats out of a back pocket. Virtually the General in defence who now injury-free can use his pace to make it to the contest and pick off an opponent's pass then immediately set up the counterattack. Not sure if Lids will be his opponent but a less than 100% Browny wouldn't have the pace nor match fitness to go with Wirrpanda and I can't see Pettifer getting the job either. Whichever Tiger is on him needs to drag him close to our goals at every opportunity.
Mark Coughlan vs Ben Cousins
The preseason off-field dramas hasn't affected Cousins on the park and he usually gets plenty of footy against us in his usual manner peeling off the contest into open space at just the right moment to receive the ball and send the it inside 50. As with all their midfielders, our only chance of matching them is to win the contested footy as we did last year with the same intensity of the Saints game last Friday night. If we allow them to run around into open space then it won't be pretty.
What do we need to happen to win?
1. Show the same intensity as last week following on especially from the second half where we added a harder streak with our 1%ers (eg. tackling). The effort was there in the first half but we were too nice.
2. Win more share of the contested footy and try to limit the scoring power of the Eagle midfielders as West Coast struggle to get goals consistently from their key forwards while getting the ball inside our forward 50 on par with them. No more Phil Matera is a plus.
3. Run and carry! If there's a ground where you have to run, run and gut run, it's Subiaco.
Major Queries
1. On a big ground like Subi, Wallace will need to rotate our midfielders often. The onus is on our second tier behind Tuck, Cogs and Johnson to step up and share the workload.
2. Turnovers - we make far too many goal costly ones as we're still learning to implement Wallace's run and carry gameplan
3. We've kicked a total of 18 goals in the first two rounds. Nowhere good enough so far.
