Media articles - Tigers humbled

[one-eyed]

Tigers humbled
5:09:26 PM Sat 13 May, 2006
Scott Spits
Exclusive to afl.com.au

An inexperienced Richmond line-up has suffered a demoralising 118-point loss to reigning premier Sydney at Telstra Dome on Saturday.

Richmond, already without skipper Kane Johnson, vice-captain Nathan Brown and Darren Gaspar due to injury, lost Andrew Kellaway and Ray Hall before the match, which the Swans won 28.12 (180) to 9.8 (62).

The Tigers' line-up included eight players with fewer than 20 games experience, including four players who have debuted in 2006.

But focusing on the Tigers' absentees takes too much gloss off Sydney's performance, and it's becoming more apparent that the Swans require a few home-and-away rounds to swing into gear.

They were close to their cohesive best of 2005 in demolishing the Tigers. The pattern was set early when the Swans slotted four goals in the first seven minutes to race to a 24-point lead. Richmond had barely touched the ball.

Sydney captain Barry Hall took full advantage of the Tigers' undersized defence, finishing with five goals after being manned by Joel Bowden for the whole game. In reality, the Tigers didn't have another option for the tough defensive task.

But it wasn't just Hall who feasted on Richmond's woes. Small forward Ryan O'Keefe booted four goals while Nick Malceski - who didn't play in last year's premiership team - finished with three goals.

Brett Kirk was simply outstanding with 27 possessions, while Amon Buchanan was hot on his heels with 26 touches, 11 marks and two goals.

Sydney's dominance lasted throughout the match as it led by 22 points at quarter-time, 52 points at the main break and 77 points at the final change before the eventual winning margin of 118 points.

The final margin even exceeded Richmond's limp round one effort when the Tigers came under a barrage of criticism by losing to the Western Bulldogs by 115 points.

The Tigers settled after Sydney's early onslaught but the ascendancy had been determined. Kirk was dominating in the middle, winning the hard ball and finishing with 13 touches for the opening term.

Two late goals for the Tigers - including a terrific long kick by Troy Simmonds in the left forward pocket and a great snap by Matthew Richardson - kept Richmond in touch but 8.0 from the Swans in the opening stanza was like a knock-out blow.

Sydney advanced to a 41-point lead at the 19-minute mark of the second term but Richardson's second goal and almost a third - only for his kick to be touched on the line - raised small hopes of a Richmond revival.

However, the Swans booted the next three goals to set up a match-winning 52-point lead at half-time. By the main break, Kirk had 17 possessions and five tackles while Buchanan had 16 touches and seven marks.

By midway through the third quarter Hall snagged his fourth goal and the Swans led by 77 points, with things getting even worse for the Tigers in the final quarter.

Interestingly, prior to Saturday's match the Tigers had won just one of their past nine matches at Telstra Dome, compared to notching eight victories from 10 games at the MCG.

RICHMOND: 4.2 6.6 8.7 9.8 (62)
SYDNEY: 8.0 15.4 21.6 28.12 (180)

GOALS – Richmond: Richardson 2, Pettifer 2, Simmonds, Stafford, Hyde, Hughes, Tambling
Sydney: Hall 5, O’Keefe 4, Malceski 3, O’Loughlin 3, Ablett 2, Goodes 2, McVeigh 2, Buchanan 2, Davis, J Bolton, Richards, Kirk, Williams

BEST – Richmond: Foley, Raines, Hyde, Richardson
Sydney: Kirk, Buchanan, Hall, O’Loughlin, Goodes, Ablett, Kennelly, O’Keefe, Malceski

INJURIES – Richmond: TBC Sydney: TBC
CHANGES – Richmond: Hall replaced in selected side by Jackson. Kellaway replaced in selected side by McGuane. Sydney: Nil.

UMPIRES: McBurney, Grun, Jeffery
REPORTS - Nil.
CROWD - 36,477 at Telstra Dome

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=265254

[one-eyed]

Sizzling Swans cruise to record victory
13 May 2006   Herald Sun
AAP

SYDNEY'S forwards had a day out against an undermanned Richmond defence as the Swans cruised to a record 28.12 (180) to 9.8 (62) win in their AFL match at Telstra Dome today.

The Swans had four goals on the board in the first seven minutes and it was clear from then on they would never be threatened.

The win provided a fitting tribute to 300-gamer Paul Williams, although Williams himself had a quiet game.

The trouble started for the Tigers before the match begun - with tall defenders Ray Hall and Andrew Kellaway both withdrawn from the starting side with injuries.

With regular fullback Darren Gaspar, and young tall defensive options Will Thursfield and Jay Schulz already sidelined, it was always going to be tough for the Tigers backmen to compete, and so it proved.

Sydney co-captain Barry Hall, opposed to Joel Bowden, made his 14 marks and five goals look ridiculously easy.

Michael O'Loughlin, opposed to first-gamer Luke McGuane, who was a late inclusion, was just as dominant, with 10 marks and three goals.

McGuane was the fourth player to make his Richmond debut in the past four games, with forward Cleve Hughes playing his third game today and Dean Polo and Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls their second, in what was a very inexperienced Richmond side.

Half-forward Ryan O'Keefe, playing his 100th match, was another Swans forward to dominate the ragged Tigers' defence, with 11 marks, 24 touches and four goals in a superb performance, with Sydney having 13 goal-kickers in all.

Further up the field, Sydney utility Adam Goodes also provided a nightmare match-up for the Tigers.

Goodes pulled down 10 marks and gathered 20 touches, first opposed to Mark Coughlan and later to Daniel Jackson, the Tigers' other late inclusion.

The Swans' forwards would not have had such an easy time of it if not for the dominance of their midfielders, led by co-captain Brett Kirk.

Kirk constantly drove the ball out of midfield packs, to ensure Sydney dominated possession of the ball, with good support provided by Amon Buchanan, Nic Fosdike and Luke Ablett.

Defender Lewis Roberts-Thomson also deserved plaudits for preventing Richmond star forward Matthew Richardson from having a major impact on the match.

The 118-point margin was the greatest ever by Sydney against Richmond, eclipsing a 93-point win from 1909.

It gave the Swans four wins from their past five games, to ensure their premiership defence is back on track after starting the season with two bad losses.

For the Tigers, it was another huge hit on what was already a very low percentage, following their 115-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in the opening round.

They are the two biggest defeats suffered by any club this season.
 
 http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19123943%255E20322,00.html

[one-eyed]

Wallace: Inexperience hurt
6:59:45 PM Sat 13 May, 2006
Scott Spits
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au

The size of the losing margin was greater than the forgettable round one loss to the Western Bulldogs, but Richmond coach Terry Wallace wasn't looking for scapegoats after the undermanned Tigers crashed to Sydney by 118 points at Telstra Dome on Saturday.

Already without champion Nathan Brown, skipper Kane Johnson and key position players Darren Gaspar, Jay Schulz and Will Thursfield, the Tigers were further depleted when Andrew Kellaway and Ray Hall were late omissions from the team that faced the reigning premiers.

As a result, Richmond fielded a vastly inexperienced team, including eight players with fewer than 20 games of AFL experience. Four of those have made their debut in 2006, including Luke McGuane on the day.

"Obviously we lost some players on the eve of the game. You hope blokes can come in. You hope your senior blokes can keep their resolve the way that you would like them to keep their resolve," Wallace reflected after the 28.12 (180) to 9.8 (62) victory by the Swans.

"We played against the premiers who are getting back into really good form, who were really sharp. Their skills were outstanding. They never missed a target. They never missed a goal opportunity. Everything that they did was very very slick, very very good."

"We didn't deal with that. We didn't handle that. You're hoping that your senior players will set the example, will set the standard, but we were overwhelmed all over the ground, including our senior players."

"We were very, very young, very inexperienced. But in saying that, we're still expecting blokes when they sort of step into AFL footy to compete and contest."

Johnson and Gaspar were initially named as emergencies for Saturday's clash but neither was quite ready to return after hamstring injuries.

Wallace is hopeful that duo, along with Kellaway and Hall, will be fit to take their place in the team for next Saturday's clash against Adelaide at Telstra Dome.

"We've got to look who comes up … We've got six key defenders that weren't available today. I don't know which of those will play next week," Wallace said. "We just have to have a look at what manpower we've got and work accordingly."

After the 115-point defeat to the Bulldogs at the Dome in the opening round, Richmond responded impressively, suffering respectable losses to St Kilda and West Coast in its next two matches before winning three consecutive games.

"I wasn't really confident that we'd respond well after round one," Wallace revealed.

"All you do is set yourself back up and you get going again. We've obviously got a very difficult game next week against Adelaide - probably the best side in the competition at this point."

"But we just deal with that as it comes. We go back to the drawing board - have a look what we did right and wrong - and then try to reassess."

The timing of Richmond's clash against Sydney could barely have been worse as the Swans stepped up a gear in their premiership defence.

"If you had a look at their inside 50s - a few of those indicators were actually up on last year. They're probably playing a more attacking brand of footy this year," Wallace said.

"They're in pretty fair form. They saw an opportunity against a fledgling team and they did what good premiership teams do."

Sydney enjoyed the perfect start, slotting four goals in the first seven minutes to put a significant dent in Richmond's confidence.

"I think sometimes when that happens you need some encouragement early. When they kicked the first three or four goals in the opening first couple of minutes, it looked like that really took the air out of a lot of our boys' tyres."

"From that stage I didn't think we ever recovered."

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=265275

[one-eyed]

Tigers need seniors back after belting
The Age
May 14, 2006

RICHMOND hopes to call on significant senior reinforcement as the club attempts to recover from its second massive thrashing this season.

Coach Terry Wallace is also sure his young players' confidence will not be permanently dented after yesterday's 118-point defeat by Sydney, which came after a 115-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in round one.

Richmond lost key defensive pair Andrew Kellaway and Ray Hall before the match, in which the Swans kicked their highest score since 1987, and were unable to recall captain Kane Johnson or full-back Darren Gaspar from hamstring injuries.

The side contained eight players who had played fewer than 20 games, including first-gamer Luke McGuane as well as Dean Polo, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls and Cleve Hughes, who have make debuts in the past month.

Wallace, his Tigers totally overwhelmed by a Sydney side playing more attacking football than in its premiership season, was not concerned about any long-term effects the belting might have.

"I don't think it will. You go back to St Kilda over a two-year period. I think they won six games in two years at one stage before they started to mount, and that was on the back of blokes like Nick Dal Santo, and Luke Ball, and Nick Riewoldt running around when they were youngsters," Wallace said.

"I don't think it does them any damage. They've got to learn, and they've got to learn somewhere along the line.

"As a club we don't want those sort of losses. We want to play competitive footy, but I don't think from an individual point of view it does any harm to anyone."

Wallace believed Kellaway and Gaspar would be available next weekend and was disappointed Gaspar had not been able to take either defender's place.

He said Gaspar and Johnson had been named on the emergency list because Kellaway and Hall were in doubt, because neither had proved their fitness by selection, and he did not want to drop any young players who would probably come straight back in.

He said Sydney had looked more sharp and slick than any team the Tigers had played this season.

The Swans' total of 180 points bettered the 169-point score they posted against Melbourne in round 18, 1987. The 118-point margin was also the Swans' greatest win over Richmond, eclipsing the previous record of 93 points in 1909.

Fourteen Sydney players contributed to their score, with Barry Hall kicking five goals and 100-gamer Ryan O'Keefe four.

"If you had a look at their inside 50s and a few of those indicators, which were actually up on last year, they're probably playing a more attacking brand of footy this year," Wallace said.

"I know that was one of their highest scores for a very, very long time, but they're in pretty fair form. They saw an opportunity against a fledgling team and they did what good premiership teams do — they get hold of that and make the most of it."

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/05/13/1146940775635.html

[one-eyed]

Tiger cubs thrashed
By Emma Quayle
The Age
May 14, 2006

TERRY Wallace pointed out two things before his Richmond side took on Sydney yesterday.

First, that the Swans had not beaten a top-eight side so far this season, but that they had Paul Williams' 300-game milestone to do justice and would not be caught off-guard. Also, that this Tiger side was the youngest he had ever been in charge of. Eight Richmond players took less than 20 games worth of experience in with them yesterday.

It took 14 of them to match Williams' 300 games, and Luke McGuane was in for his first match, becoming the fourth Richmond debutant in the past three weeks.

As it turned out, Wallace encapsulated this match before it had begun. McGuane headed straight for full-back, and Michael O'Loughlin, who kicked the first of his three goals in the second minute.



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Cleve Hughes, in his third game, scored Leo Barry as an opponent. He got his first and only kick in the third quarter, though it was a good kick that curled through the goals from the boundary line.

Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, second-gamer No. 1, was crunched early, and Dean Polo, second-gamer No. 2, stood Williams on a wing. Late last week, in his first game against Essendon, Polo had swooped upon a loose ball and calmly levelled the scores.

Late yesterday, with things nowhere near on the line, he watched Williams scoop up a ball in Sydney's forward line, fake a handpass, snap a running goal and add an extra layer of icing to his side's 118-point win.

Richmond's youngsters were not to blame for what happened to their team, but their afternoons summed up a match won, essentially, by bigger, stronger and more experienced bodies.

The Swans kicked eight goals straight in the first quarter, four in the first five minutes. They had 14 goalkickers, too many good players for Richmond's depleted senior core to worry about and, unlike the Tigers, most of their ideas worked.

Halfway through the second quarter, for instance, Brett Deledio got the ball from a kick-in, looked around and saw no one. He was called to play on, took off, darted through three Swans and into the centre square, but could still kick only to a contest.

Minutes later, Nic Fosdike grabbed Chris Hyde on Sydney's 50-metre line, and the ball spilled to Jared Crouch, who noticed Adam Goodes running, alone, into an open goal. The Swans' strength in numbers essentially allowed them to take the chances they created much more often than Richmond.

This was important early, when Brett Kirk dominated the middle of the ground, where the Tigers could look only to Matthew Richardson, who did his best to kick-start things, the Sydney player had more to choose from.

Barry Hall not only dragged Joel Bowden deep, but kicked five goals on him. O'Loughlin beat McGuane, as he should have. Three of Nick Malceski's first four kicks were goals. Ryan O'Keefe was better than any of them. When Kirk needed help, he had Fosdike and Amon Buchanan.

And so on, and so on. "They saw an opportunity against a fledgling team, and they did what good premiership teams do," said Wallace of the Swans. "They see an opportunity, and make the most of it."

The more this match wound on, the more badly the Tigers got beaten. But when he was figuring out where things ended, Wallace could only go back to the beginning, when Nick Davis, Jude Bolton and Hall added to O'Loughlin's first score.

When you're without a few players, he said, some early encouragement helps, and Richmond didn't get any.

"When they kicked the first three or four goals in that opening stanza, that first couple of minutes, it really took the wind out of a lot of our boys' tyres," he said.

"It was almost like 'yeah, we can … no, we can't'. From that stage, I don't think we ever recovered."

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/05/13/1146940775691.html

[one-eyed]

Clinical Swans crush Tiger cubs
14 May 2006   Sunday Herald Sun
Mark Harding

THE turning point came early – 45 minutes before the start to be precise. That's when the team sheets were released, confirming that Richmond would enter its match against Sydney with two late replacements.
 
Already without their skipper Kane Johnson and their most experienced defender Darren Gaspar, the Tigers also lost Andrew Kellaway and Ray Hall.

It not only cost them two more experienced players when they could least afford it, but it left them almost completely devoid of defenders.

The late replacements, first gamer Luke McGuane, 19, and Daniel Jackson, 20, meant that Richmond entered the match with eight players who had played less than 20 games.

That makes it tough to win at the best of times, let alone when you are playing the reigning premier whose only player under 20 games was Nick Malceski, who kicked three goals and is an outstanding prospect in his second season.

The result was that the Tigers were flattened like roadkill, the 118-point winning margin a record for the Swans against Richmond and a credit to the professionalism with which they tackled every minute of the game.

Many other top sides of recent years would have been tempted to lairise once it was obvious that they had the game at their command.

But not this committed unit from Sydney, which began the season so sluggishly and has now built a 4-3 record which is ominously better than where they were at the same stage in their premiership year.

Of course, it would be unwise to place too much store on the scoreline, even though the 28.12.180 was the highest so far this season. The Tigers were simply boys against men. And skinny boys at that.

Their injuries meant their only option to play on Barry Hall was their main defensive playmaker Joel Bowden. It was a lose-lose because not only did Hall gather 14 marks on the lead and kick five goals, but Bowden required to stick with him and was unable to create attack from defence with his usual dash.

Next to Hall was Michael O'Loughlin and the only option Terry Wallace had for him was first-gamer McGuane. It was a most daunting assignment on debut and it took only one forward thrust from the Swans after one minute for the size of the task to become apparent.

O'Loughlin marked and goaled – the first of 24 marks and eight goals that the two key forwards would take between them. After six and a half minutes the Swans had been inside 50m four times for four goals. If the game wasn't over with the release of the team sheets, it surely was then.

The Tigers had won their previous three matches but they were against the three bottom sides on the ladder. This was something different and everytime the Tigers fought to get their heads up, the tough, patient Swans just kept chipping away and knocking them down again.

The Swans took 125 marks to 59 and the marks inside 50 metres were even more lopsided – 36 to eight.

Richmond's biggest trier was Matthew Richardson, who had a great battle with Lewis Roberts-Thomsen and was their only clear winner. But the most heartening signs for Wallace would have come from the performance of Nathan Foley, in his 12th game. Foley won 18 possessions, including six clearances and was more competitive than several of teammates with much more experience. Dean Polo also did reasonably well in his second game, although his role was vastly different than his best-on-ground debut performance.

This week he was given the task of running with 300-gamer Paul Williams and Polo ensured the veteran would not have it easy on his big day.

Two of the Tigers' most experienced players Greg Tivendale and Greg Stafford had nightmare days. Tivendale was tagged by Jarrad McVeigh and had only five possessions, while Stafford kicked a goal but had almost no other impact.

The Swans had five or six players lining up for best-on-ground honours, with the nod going to Adam Goodes for the marathon ground he covered. Brett Kirk was magnificent in the midfield with 27 hard earned touches and eight clearances.

Amon Buchanan wasn't far behind him and Luke Ablett, Jude Bolton and a host of other runners were back in the form which took them to the flag last year.

The Swans didn't have much to beat but they showed no mercy.

They kicked eight goals in the first quarter, seven in the second, six in the third and seven in the last. It was clinical, clean and compelling.
 
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19126090%255E19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Terry's Tiger cubs savaged by Swans
14 May 2006   Sunday Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein

A RICHMOND team of "babies" copped a hammering yesterday, but coach Terry Wallace said the 118-point loss would not harm them.
 
The Swans kicked the biggest score of the season and their highest as a team since 1987 to ruthlessly dispose of the younger and more inexperienced Tigers who suffered a similar defeat against the Bulldogs in Round 1.

Wallace rued a lack of personnel after defenders Andrew Kellaway and Ray Hall pulled out before the match to join Darren Gaspar and captain Kane Johnson on the sidelines.

Luke McGuane, 19, was called up to debut, joining other youngsters Cleve Hughes, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls and Dean Polo.

"They're in pretty fair form," Wallace said of the Swans.

"They saw an opportunity against a fledgling team and did what good premiership teams do.

"We knew we were never going to get them on an off day.

"They came here to play because of the fact it was Paul's (Williams) 300th game so you knew they were going to be on and they just got hold of us and wrung us out.

"You go back to St Kilda over a two-year period, they won six games in two years at one stage before they started to mount and that's on the back of blokes like Dal Santo and Ball and Riewoldt running around when they were youngsters.

"I don't think it does them any damage.

"They've got to learn somewhere along the line.

"I don't think from an individual point of view it does any harm to anyone.

"We had 14 players today who have played less games than Paul Williams all put together.

"We get to a situation where we had all babies running around in our backline and they just physically weren't capable of all holding up together."

Wallace said Gaspar (hamstring) was likely to play against Adelaide this week, as would Hall and Kellaway whose injuries he did not specify.

He said the senior players were helpless to stop the onslaught after the Swans kicked four unanswered goals in the opening seven minutes and never looked back.

"When you're losing the game it's very easy to say . . . we weren't good enough," Wallace said.

"That's purely and simply put.

"We played against the premiers who are getting back into really good form, who are really sharp and their skills were outstanding.

"They never missed a target, never missed a goal opportunity.

"Everything they did was very good and very slick.

"We didn't deal with that, we didn't handle that. We were hoping the senior players would set the example and set the standard, but we were overwhelmed all over the ground, which included our senior players.

"I'm not trying to lay anything on the senior boys, but right across the board we weren't capable of doing the job.

"We've got to look who comes up.

"I know we've got now six key defenders who weren't available today, but I just have to look at what manpower we've got and work accordingly.

"At one stage I sat there and one or two of their forwards were doing damage and I looked around and said geez I better make a change.

"I better get Gaspar, I better get Kellaway, no I better get Schulz, no I better get Thursfield – they were all sitting in the stands.

"Unfortunately, you can't make changes if changes aren't there to be made."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19126122%255E19771,00.html

[Mopsy]

Tiger cubs thrashed
By Emma Quayle
The Age
May 14, 2006

Richmond's youngsters were not to blame for what happened to their team, but their afternoons summed up a match won, essentially, by bigger, stronger and more experienced bodies.

And that just about sums it up