Do-nothing Tigers earn coach's seal of approval
By Stephen Rielly
The Age
April 24, 2006
It is almost 40 years ago that John Kennedy famously challenged his Hawthorn players to "do something". It is a sign of the times that two Richmond players will be hailed by their coach this morning for doing nothing.
Possession football and the absolute determination of teams today to protect a lead in the last minutes of a match were taken to an extraordinary new length on Saturday night when Richmond introduced a "no-play" strategy against Brisbane at the Gabba.
With approximately two minutes of the game left, the Tigers led by 16 points. In such a situation, every team in the competition knows to slow the game and, if possible, deny the opposition possession of the ball until the siren sounds. A speculative kick to a contest is, in these circumstances, a football crime.
Most teams choose to retreat, kicking the ball backwards as they concede ground but, importantly, not possession. If this poses a question to the game, Richmond asked another of it altogether by deciding to keep the ball not just out of Brisbane hands but out of play.
Patrick Bowden marked a Ray Hall pass in the back pocket. He then simply stood still, holding the ball. When asked by the umpire to play on, he turned to the Brisbane goal and handballed it through for a behind. Chris Newman quickly kicked out to an unattended Andrew Kellaway in a pocket, who swiftly kicked the ball back to Newman who, when confronted by Daniel Merrett on the mark, stepped behind the goal line and stayed there.
Newman didn't move, didn't bring the ball back into play and by not doing so didn't allow Merrett to dispossess him with a tackle. He wasn't on the field to be tackled. The umpire called the Richmond defender to bring the ball in and when he refused, awarded Brisbane another behind.
The upshot was no play but over a minute of time, very precious to the Lions, wasted.
Richmond coach Terry Wallace said yesterday that he was proud of the initiative shown by Bowden and Newman in particular.
"I thought the guys handled it very well. They couldn't see what they could do so they did nothing," Wallace said.
"We have a policy of no risks in those sorts of circumstances. We started going backwards with about five minutes to go and I sent the runner out with the message, 'Don't be put off by the boos'. It can happen that the crowd is allowed to have an impact on what you're actually trying to achieve and you can't allow that.
"Once the clock became our friend the players knew that they were not to kick to a 50-50 under any circumstances and I suppose that just took it a bit further.
"When those boys got into a situation where they were going to have to kick to a 50-50, they preferred to step back over the line and kick it out to a better situation, where there wasn't a 50-50.
"They'll be getting a pat on the back from me in our review. You can be certain of that. It was smart. Plain and simple," Wallace said.
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/04/23/1145730811539.html
