Media articles - Tigers ambush Crows

[one-eyed]

Tigers ambush Crows
4:27:03 PM Sat 20 May, 2006
Jason Phelan
Exclusive to afl.com.au

Richmond has stunned prohibitive favourite Adelaide 10.9 (69) to 9.12 (66) at Telstra Dome on Saturday afternoon.

In a game that will surely draw a lot of discussion in the coming week, the Tigers took the ultra-defensive, possession game to new heights (or depths depending on your perspective) and played it to perfection as they frustrated the Crows out of the contest.

In a measure of Richmond coach Terry Wallace's desire to deny Adelaide the ball, his team set a new league record in marks taken with a whopping 181 and touched the ball 358 times.

Joel Bowden took an amazing 20 marks to go with his 34 possessions in his 200th game, while Andrew Kellaway (23 disposals) and Kayne Pettifer (22 touches) pulled down 15 marks each, Pettifer putting in his nomination for mark of the year.

Young Andrew Raines was given the daunting task of minding Adelaide captain Mark Ricciuto - who was played predominantly out of the goal square - and he did a superb job keeping the Crow to just four disposals while gathering 20 of his own.

Tyson Edwards was Adelaide's best with 30 possessions and a goal and All-Australian full-back Ben Rutten did a good job on Matthew Richardson, keeping the Tiger spearhead goalless.

Richmond's win breaks an eight-game losing streak against the Crows and marks the first time it has beaten Adelaide at Telstra Dome.

According to all and sundry the Tigers were supposed to get a toweling from Adelaide, but Wallace forgot to give his players the script as Richmond slammed through the first three goals of the game.

Troy Simmonds was instrumental in the good start with 11 disposals and a goal in the first quarter, but the Crows soon organised themselves and stemmed the flow.

A 50-metre set shot from Marty Mattner was Adelaide's first and when Edwards let fly from just inside the arc, the margin was back to two points.

That was the deficit at the first break, but that wasn't the only bad news for the Crows with Ben Hart leaving the field late in the term to take no further part in the match with a suspected broken arm.

Adelaide went ahead for the first time in the match when Graham Johncock goaled soon after the restart and perhaps, the Crows thought they had seen off the challenge from the young Tiges, but they were sorely mistaken.

Wallace's instructions were clear as the quarter progressed with the Tigers continually going short to an umarked target to deny the Crows the ball. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective as Richmond painstakingly plotted a way toward goal on three separate occasions with Pettifer's first giving his side a 15-point lead at the half.

Those hoping the game would open up after the main break were left disappointed as the Tigers continued to frustrate the Crows by simply denying them time with the ball.

The sides were able to score just one goal each for the entire term - with both of those coming in the opening five minutes - as the game as a spectacle plunged to new depths. Pettifer provided a rare highlight when he climbed over a pack to take a towering mark inside defensive 50.

Richmond led by 17 points going into the final term and in what was perhaps a vindication of Wallace's game plan, Adelaide came right back into the contest when the game opened up and returned to some sort of normality.

The Crows kicked five goals to the Tigers' three to come roaring back into calculations, but time was against the visitors as the siren sounded to give Richmond a well-planned and well-executed three-point win.

Wallace said the win over Adelaide was a remarkable turnaround from last round's 118-point loss to Sydney at Telstra Dome.

"I sat in this room a week ago, exactly a week ago, coming off the worst-ever loss that I'd ever had as a senior coach, coaching at AFL level," Wallace said.

"So to come in against a side that had been written up all week as being invincible and that was lengths above anyone else … to be able to do that with young boys going around (in the side) was very satisfying."

Crows coach Neil Craig felt his side failed to adequately adapt to the strategy employed against it and thought the number of skill errors committed by his players didn't help their cause.

"It was a good tactic and it certainly took the pace out of the whole game, we've done that to opposition teams, so we understand that," he said. "It's part of our learning experience."

"There's another strategy that an opposition side has put against us and we've put against opposition sides - not for that length of time - but that gives us another thing to look at to try and add to our game, so that we can handle all situations that can happen to you."

"Clearly we didn't handle it as well as we would like to think. Now in the future we'd want to be able to do better than that."

RICHMOND: 3.0 6.3 7.7 10.9 (69)
ADELAIDE: 2.4 3.6 4.8 9.12 (66)

GOALS - Richmond: Simmonds 2, Coughlan, Deledio, Krakouer, Newman, Pattison, Pettifer, Tambling, Tuck
Adelaide: Burton 2, Hentschel 2, Edwards, Johncock, Mattner, McLeod, Ricciuto

BEST - Richmond: J.Bowden, Krakouer, Simmonds, Kellaway, Raines, Pettifer
Adelaide: Edwards, McLeod, Goodwin, Doughty, Hentschel, Rutten

INJURIES - Richmond:
Adelaide: Hart (broken left forearm)

UMPIRES - Donlon, Quigley, McInerney
CROWD - 24,461 at Telstra Dome

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=267174

[one-eyed]

Wallace's style vow
7:04:23 PM Sat 20 May, 2006
Matt Burgan
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au

Richmond coach Terry Wallace says his side's high-possession, 'keepings off' game plan, which ultimately provided the Tigers with a three-point victory over Adelaide at Telstra Dome on Saturday, will not be used regularly.

Wallace said the majority of Richmond's style of play on the day was devised and drilled in the lead-up to its clash against Adelaide.

"We trained to play a different style of game this week and we don't have lock-out training sessions or anything like that, so Adelaide were at our training sessions and they would've seen that we were training a little bit more unusual than what the norm for us normally is," Wallace said after the win.

"From that aspect, all we can do is implement tactics and styles and see where it goes … Adelaide's best quarter is their first quarter and they've been blowing sides out of the water early in the game and we wanted to hit them head-to-head in the first quarter and try to get a result."

"Their worst quarter has been their second quarter and we wanted to see if we could maintain that until half-time and then we spoke to the guys about shutting the game away in the third quarter and then leaving it for a last quarter arm-wrestle and that was what we were trying to implement."

"We thought if we could be in front at three-quarter-time, at our home ground, our environment, with our people here and Joel's (Bowden) 200th game - we thought there would've been enough emotion to perhaps be able to get over the line against a good side - if we could implement those tactics."

Wallace conceded that some of his side's skill level almost cost the Tigers the match, but he added that holding the ball up and not turning it over also proved beneficial to his team's cause.

"There were times when we didn't pull the trigger when we should've been going forward and … (our players) just weren't game enough to (say): 'That's the kick', bang and hit the guy on the lead, so that the play and momentum still went forward," Wallace said.

"I know that people were getting frustrated, going back and sideways, but even with the frustration in the crowd, they (our players) still stuck to their guns and a couple of times where it just seemed as if it was going nowhere, we ended up finding a method or way to get out."

Meanwhile, Wallace praised the performance of Andrew Raines, who shone with his shut-down role on Adelaide skipper Mark Ricciuto. Raines had 20 disposals and 10 marks, while the brilliant Ricciuto had just four touches and kicked one goal.

"He was outstanding. He's only played six games last year and one the year before and the first game of this year, we gave him Robert Murphy from the Western Bulldogs - a massive task when you've only played six games of footy," Wallace said.

"He's had big roles every game this year and none bigger than playing on Mark Ricciuto, an eight-time All-Australian player and he kicked five goals in their game (at Telstra Dome) last week."

"He's learning and he's a kid who is learning the game and the more you can bite off for those guys - one match like that is probably worth 10 to him at least."

Wallace said Raines approached him at the end of last season to fill the small-to-mid-sized role in defence, a move that has paid handsome dividends already to player, coach and team.

"It was a situation vacant that was put out there and he applied for the job and it's legitimately how it worked and he came to us over the summer and said: 'I reckon I can fill that role and I'd love an opportunity to fill that role'," Wallace said.

"He put up his hand and I was more than happy to give him that opportunity and he's taken it fully and he's done a fantastic job with it and that's great and that's what the game is about - creating opportunity and then people taking opportunity."

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=267184

[one-eyed]

Winning end easily justifies Richmond's ugly means
By Rohan Connolly
The Age
May 21, 2006

IT WAS clearly the upset of the season, Richmond, 11th on the ladder at 3-4, coming off a 118-point hiding, hanging on by three points to beat top team Adelaide, 6-1 and having won its past three games by no less than 53 points.

It's the sort of result that normally has fans of the winning team scrambling for the videotape, to watch over, and over, and over again. Except, perhaps, this time.

As exciting as was yesterday's finish, a seemingly beaten Adelaide somehow scrambling back to within a kick with only a minute and 20 seconds left to play, even the most devout Richmond fans will have trouble sitting through anything but the final 20 or so minutes of this match again.

That's no disrespect to Richmond, and coach Terry Wallace in particular. The Tigers had been humiliated against Sydney, and were taking on the flag favourite at the peak of its powers. They came in with a plan, carried it out to the letter against an opponent that was not as committed, and were rightly rewarded. What constituted that plan will be the subject of on-going debate for far longer than discussion about who won and who lost.

There's flooding, there's the super flood, and then there's a phrase that probably still needs to be coined to describe what happened during the second and third quarters yesterday, the third term in particular as close to unwatchable a spectacle as the modern game has ever come.

This game produced an incredible combined 662 disposals and 283 marks. Richmond took a record 181 marks, of which just 13 were contested. For Adelaide, it was just five contested grabs out of 102. Without labouring the point, or maths, that's a combined 18 contested marks out of 283. Unbelievable. And all those marks, and all that possession, had to three-quarter time yielded only 11 goals.

There were another eight kicked in the final term, by which time Adelaide had no choice but to roll the dice in an attempt to break the padlocks, chains and shackles Richmond had applied so successfully to the Crows.

The Tigers by then had driven Adelaide to the point of near-madness in doing what they had to do to prevent Adelaide using its run and superb skills. That involved at several points sending every one of its 18 players into defence to simply play keepings-off. The amazing, if slightly perverse, spectacle, reached new heights, or for the purists, depths, after two goals had been kicked in the first 3½ minutes of the third term, which would not produce another goal over its last 20 minutes.

At one stage, Richmond took 20 disposals, and several minutes, to move the ball from deep in its defence to just past the centre. It was Matthew Richardson who had the "honour" of actually moving his team into attack, Richo then promptly turning the ball over.

Joel Bowden, playing his 200th game for the Tigers, was instrumental in a plot that required plenty of patience, concentration, and, for a side often criticised for its wayward disposal, sure use of the ball by foot. He finished the game with the sort of figures that will live on for years — no less than 20 marks, and 34 possessions — yet would be the first to admit the numbers yesterday meant little. But so what? The Tigers had won what will remain one of this season's most unexpected victories.

"There were a lot of uncontested possessions down there," Bowden said later in a nice touch of understatement, "but if you've got the ball, you're able to control the way the game's played, and we held on to the ball well.

"We weren't planning on playing keepings-off all day. I think the coaching staff did a good job and called it as they saw it. It is OK as a back-line guy, because you can get a bit of the ball. I'm sure the forwards were frustrated all day, because they weren't getting the delivery, but I guess that's just one of the pitfalls of playing like that."

But Bowden was just one of a number of Tigers who carried out their jobs to the letter, the day's most surprising shutdown job applied by young Andrew Raines on Adelaide skipper Mark Ricciuto, who had kicked 20 goals from five games before yesterday, but who managed only one goal on the determined Tiger, and a measly possession tally of only three kicks and a solitary handball.

Raines had plenty of help, too, from Andrew Kellaway, not to mention ruckman Troy Simmonds, who dropped back with the rest of an army to effect, finishing with the very un-big-man-like figure of 24 disposals.

It was a yellow-and-black wall down there, and the ends clearly justified the means, Adelaide, which had averaged 15 goals per game and kicked nine in the first term on this same ground last week, held to just four until 10 minutes into the final term.

But after Richmond's unexpected success yesterday, is this what football is to become? "Certainly not," said Bowden. "I can't see us playing like that week-to-week." And as much as the Tiger army will enjoy the spoils of this massive upset, that's a comment even they will probably be relieved to hear.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/05/20/1147545568093.html

[one-eyed]

Tigers hand Joel Bowden a winning milestone
By Martin Boulton
The Age
May 21, 2006

WHEN he first arrived at Richmond Joel Bowden wasn't sure he would even get to wear the yellow and black in a senior game. Yesterday in his 200th match, Richmond's two-time best-and-fairest winner racked up 34 possessions in the Tigers' nail-biting three-point win over league-leaders Adelaide.

Running all day with a pack of determined, hard-tackling teammates, Bowden epitomised a commitment to the Tigers' game plan that firstly revolved around taking on the Crows at their own game, followed by high-possession football. In a match that saw the ball chipped backwards and sideways almost as much as it was moved into attack, the Tigers had 87 more kicks than the Crows and 79 more marks.

Bowden and his brother, Patrick, who both starred in defence, had 35 marks between them. Most of those were taken in the second-half when the Tigers' game plan shifted from attack to possession, but despite watching the footy criss-cross the Tigers' defence for much of the second-half, it was a game that ended with an edge-of-the-seat climax.

After being kept quiet all day by Andrew Raines, Adelaide captain Mark Ricciuto slammed through a goal late in the final term to narrow the margin to eight points after the Tigers had led by 23 points six minutes into the quarter.

Brett Burton's second goal put the Crows within three points with minutes to go, but the Tigers wound down the clock to notch their fourth win of the season.

It was a different story at the start. The Tigers kicked the first goal of the match through Richard Tambling. The Crows responded quickly by working the ball into attack, but Trent Hentschel's kick hit the post — the first of many for the day.

Kayne Pettifer's neat chip to Shane Tuck resulted in the Tigers' second major and there were strong signs early that Richmond were playing to win.

Raines' job on Ricciuto, Tuck picking up veteran Ben Hart and young Dean Polo lining up on Brett Burton had many wondering if the young Tigers would be in for a football lesson, but the way Danny Meyer chased down Andrew McLeod in the second quarter showed they were jumping out of their skins for a win.

With McLeod streaming towards goal Meyer pelted after him, caught up with the Brownlow medallist and in a desperate attempt to tackle him, caught him by the leg. A free kick was paid, but the effort spoke volumes about the Tigers' determination.

After Richmond went into the first break with a two-point lead, Graham Johncock's running goal early in the quarter put Adelaide in front by two points and it looked like the Crows were waking from a lazy start.

But Richmond kept pushing and Mark Coughlan's clever handpass to Chris Newman midway through the quarter helped put the Tigers back in front by four points.

Andrew Krakouer, who ran hard all day and finished with 25 possessions, goaled after receiving from Greg Tivendale and Pettifer's goal a minute later was the Tigers' third in a row. They went to the main break 15 points ahead.

Matthew Richardson pushed back several times in the third quarter in a bid to get his hands on the footy and coach Terry Wallace eventually sent him into defence to help him get some stats, such was the amount of time the ball spent in Richmond's defence after half-time.

Up by 17 points at three-quarter-time, the Tigers held back the fast-finishing Crows in the last term.

With their lead being eaten away, the Tigers managed to hang on and give Bowden a finish to recall long after he's left the game.

"It was fantastic, tremendous, something I'll remember for a long time," he said.

"We went in with a commitment, a resolve that last week wasn't good enough and we had to do something a little bit extra."

The Tigers produced some turnovers of their own during the match, but it wasn't through laziness or lack of trying. Rather, they were trying to be at every contest.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/05/20/1147545568090.html

[one-eyed]

Tigers' dogged defence
By Lyall Johnson
The Age
May 21, 2006
 
RICHMOND had worked all week to master the ultra-defensive game plan that allowed it to rebound from last week's 118-point thumping and shut down premiership favourite Adelaide yesterday, coach Terry Wallace said.

The Tigers came out with a radically different plan than the free-flowing game that saw them humbled by Sydney, choking the life out of the match to stun the Crows by three points at Telstra Dome.

While not willing to compare the possession style of yesterday's match to the one he implemented as coach of the Western Bulldogs to inflict Essendon's only defeat in 2000, Wallace conceded there was a similarity in the fact that both sides had been forced to drastically modify their game plans.

"You sit there and work out where you sit at any one time. Where the similarities probably start and finish is just the fact at that stage we were coming up against a side all those years ago we probably thought that if we just go out and play flowing football we're not going to get a result," Wallace said.

"And I think it is probably fair coming off what we did last week that if we were going to play flowing football we probably weren't going to get a result again. So we needed just to have a couple of other things up our sleeves and tactics in play. The whole week was about learning — 'what did we learn from our loss against Sydney?' "

The Richmond coaching staff had analysed the Crows' games and noticed a pattern — firstly they came out strongly and then slowed things down in the second quarter.

"Adelaide's best quarter is their first quarters, they have been blowing sides out of the water early in the game. We wanted to hit them head-to-head in the first quarter and try to get a result," Wallace said.

"Their worst quarters have been their second quarter. (We hoped to) see whether we could maintain that until half-time and we spoke to the guys about just shutting the game away in the third quarter and just leaving it for a last-quarter arm wrestle was what we were trying to implement.

"We thought if we could be in front by three-quarter-time that with our home ground, our environment, with our people here, Joel's (Bowden) 200th game, we sort of thought there would have been enough emotion (for us) to get over the line against a good side if we could implement those tactics."

Wallace admitted the side went into shut-down mode a little earlier than planned because it had established a small lead in the second quarter and he also conceded the players became so set in being defensive they failed to take opportunities to attack when they arose.

But particularly pleasing for Wallace was that his players were able to implement the game plan under pressure and with such a young side.

"I sat in this room a week ago … coming off the worst ever loss that I had ever had as a senior coach coaching at AFL level so to come in against a side that has been written up all week as being invincible and was lengths above anyone else and to be able to change a result and still be able to have a lot of young boys running around (was pleasing)," Wallace said.

"We brought (Adam) Pattison and (Danny) Meyer into our side this week, we trusted (Andrew) Raines to play on (Mark) Ricciuto, we trusted (Dean) Polo to play on (Brett) Burton. To be able to do that with young boys still going around it is very satisfying."

Crows coach Neil Craig said his side suffered from not being able to execute basic skills well enough. He would not criticise Richmond's defensive tactics, saying his side had used such a style to beat opponents.

But he did lament the loss of key defender Ben Hart, who broke a forearm in the first quarter and is likely to miss up to eight weeks.

"Richmond were pretty good (but) we were critical of our execution and it can be as simple as just a handball on the body that enables you to run away. I thought our execution was poor and the game got away from us," Craig said.

"It was a good tactic. It certainly took the pace out of the game. If sides continue to play that way the better we'll be because we'll get more practice in playing against it," he added.

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2006/05/20/1147545568072.html

[Ox]

Proof Terry has a plan B.

[one-eyed]

Craig: Tactics exposed us
21 May 2006   
Sunday Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein

RICHMOND'S tactics and a broken arm to veteran Ben Hart brought ladder leader Adelaide down to earth in a three-point loss yesterday.
 
Coach Neil Craig said it was a valuable learning experience to be blunted by the Tigers' high possession, shutdown style.

"It was a good tactic and certainly took the pace out of the whole game," Craig said.

"We've done that to the opposition and we understand that. That's probably the most we've had that exposed to us.

"I thought our execution was poor and our ability to at least stay in the game wasn't what we want, but we hung in there."

Craig said the players did not have enough patience to combat the Tigers' ploy but he said they would be prepared for it next time.

"I think it's great, I don't have a problem with it," he said. "I think it gives people something more to deal with now and get better at and being able to handle that.

"It's better to be exposed to a different style because it gives you time to adapt. Clearly we didn't handle it as well as we would have liked.

"All credit to Terry and his players. He had a plan and their ability to execute it is the thing they should take from it. They should get recognition for it.

"We weren't good enough to handle it, but we'll be better next time. That's what it's about, just building as a club and as a team and being able to handle those situations."

The Crows finished with five goals in the final quarter but they were unable to respond after Richmond started chipping the ball around halfway through the second term.

Hart went off with a fractured left arm at the 23-minute mark of the first term and is likely to be sidelined for up to two months.

Craig said it would leave a big hole in his tall man stocks.

"It's not what we want, obviously," he said.

"The height factor at the moment, we've been able to cover reasonably well with mid-range type players. (Nathan) Bock and (Ian) Perrie (are out) . . . it leaves us another one short in that area."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19203250%255E19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Tigers up tempo
21 May 2006   Sunday Herald Sun
Jon Pierik

ADELAIDE has referred to it as "tempo football".
 
The likes of former AFL captains Tony Shaw, Danny Frawley and Mark Bickley have described the style as "ugly".

Others fear it will turn fans away from a game which for so long has been built around long kicks to a key forward.

Whatever the view of the modern-day tactic – holding on to the ball for as long as possible and chipping it backwards, forwards or sideways to a teammate – Richmond didn't really care last night.

And for good reason. Coach Terry Wallace's blueprint to starve the Crows of possession worked a treat as the Tigers posted an upset three-point win at Telstra Dome – clearly their best victory of the season.

All this only a week after his Tiger cubs had received a 118-point pounding by Sydney.

Statistics can be deceiving, but they told the story yesterday.

The hardnut Tigers had a whopping 358 possessions compared with the Crows' 304, finished with an amazing 180 short kicks, having averaged 80 this season, while only 13 of their 181 marks were contested.

They also won the stoppages 25-15 – an area the Crows pride themselves on.

Wallace's game plan also forced the Crows into the unfamiliar position of having to man up when, for most of the season, they had enjoyed enforcing a zone defence.

With Joel Bowden superbly patrolling the half-back line in his 200th match and finishing with a match-high 34 touches, the Tigers had a zeal and sense of purpose missing during last week's drubbing.

Wallace showed great faith in young defenders Andrew Raines and Dean Polo, and they had the better of Crows' captain Mark Ricciuto and the flashy Brett Burton respectively.

Ricciuto had only four possessions and kicked one goal, which came late in a furious last quarter when eight goals were kicked.

Indeed, until the final term when the game started to open up, only 11 goals had been drilled on a glorious, sunny day made for high-scoring.

"We have had a few kicks in the guts, but we showed a bit of character," Bowden said.

"We learnt from last week. The one thing was that we had to learn something from it.

"It was a little bit ugly. But I will take that on my 200th."

His brother, Patrick, summed up the mood in the Tigers' rooms.

"It might have been a boring, but a win is a win," he said.

The prospect of an upset was on the cards when the Tigers drilled the opening three goals of the match and led by two points at the first break.

Troy Simmonds was dominant in the ruck and around the ground, while Andrew Krakouer – thrown into the middle – provided drive, helping to extend the break to 15 points at half-time.

While the Crows grew frustrated and coach Neil Craig appeared to be bereft of ideas, the Tigers stuck to their disciplined style and tackled ferociously. There were two highlights in the first half which exemplified the Tigers' intensity.

When Patrick Bowden was caught holding the ball at half-back, brother Joel bailed him out almost immediately by tackling Burton and winning a free kick just as the Crow looked set to set up a shot at goal.

Not long after, a desperate lunge and tackle by Chris Newman on the defensive 50m line stopped Martin Mattner from what had seemed an almost certain goal.

The Tigers maintained their vigour in the third quarter when each team managed only a goal apiece.

In a dour arm-wrestle, the Tigers at one stage had a startling 20 possessions in their defensive half – inciting the wrath of Crow fans and, it appeared, from some of their own.

Kayne Pettifer gave the 24,461 on hand something to cheer about with a high-flying pack mark at full-back, but it was a rare highlight.

Leading by 17 points at three quarter-time, the contest appeared over when Tiger Mark Coughlan drilled the first goal six minutes into the final term. The Crows responded with two in a minute to close the gap to nine points. Suddenly, there was some spark in the day.

When Burton floated a wobbly left-foot punt through from 30m with about a minute left, the Crows had drawn to within three points.

But, true to the theme of the day, the Tigers then held on to possession to end an eight-game losing streak against the Crows.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19202747%255E19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Wallace in masterly form
21 May 2006   Sunday Herald Sun
Scot Palmer

TAKE a bow, Terry Wallace – you're a maestro at setting the tempo.
 
Yesterday's coaching effort recalled those of Round 21, 2000, when you orchestrated the Bulldogs' defeat of the previously unbeaten Bombers.

It was a masterstroke that has put a question mark against Adelaide's premiership chances.

The Crows were beaten at their own game.

This around it was the Tigers who carefully played that slow-share game, monopolising the ball and frustrating Adelaide, which had won five on the trot and was looking a certainty for late September action.

True, at times, Wallace sent Richmond into reverse to wind down the clock.

The final scoreboard indicated the Tigers were three-point victors, three late posters preventing a more convincing win.

Nevertheless, the result must create some anxiety among clubs in line to play the Tigers.

They can stick to a game plan, be it so ugly it drives opposition fans to the point of distraction.

With committed senior players such as Joel Bowden, Matthew Richardson and Andrew Kellaway – and a pair of competent ruckmen in Trent Knobel and Troy Simmonds – the Tigers cannot be under-estimated.

The flight home to Adelaide by the Crows last night must have been one of intense discussion by coach Neil Craig and assistants Don Pyke, Charlie Walsh and David Noble.

What do we do when a club does to us what we thought we did best?

Obviously, late in the game Craig was hoping one or two of his game-breakers, such as Andrew McLeod or Mark Ricciuto, would increase the Crows' tempo and wipe Richmond's best lead of 23 points away.

It didn't happen.

The Tigers kept chipping away, backwards, forwards and sideways until they found the openings.

The crowd of 24,461 was always expecting the young Tigers to falter and far too often positive thrusts were ruined by bad options, poor vision and skill errors.

Yet after the thrashing the Tigers suffered last week at the hands of Sydney, great credit must go to their discipline – and, of course, their conductor, coach Wallace.

Maybe Wallace would be able to get better results from his attack if the talented Andrew Krakouer could develop some leg speed and the other Richmond players at the drop of the ball could be more productive.

Too many chances go begging in the Richmond goal mouth.

Krakouer had 19 kicks for the day, six handballs and nine marks, but only 1.1 against his name.

It was a reality check for Adelaide.

Craig will have to delve deeper into his technical wizardry to uncover the right solution for times when Adelaide is placed in a stranglehold as it was yesterday.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19202744%255E19742,00.html

[one-eyed]

Tigers defend ugly style of winning
21 May 2006   Sunday Herald Sun
Jackie Epstein

THE lockdown was back at Telstra Dome yesterday and it delivered the Tigers four points with a massive upset over ladder leader Adelaide.
 
Richmond coach Terry Wallace defended the use of high-possession tactics, which slowed down the game and turned it into an ugly contest.

The manner of the three-point win was reminiscent of the style Wallace employed in 2000 when he coached the Bulldogs to a shock victory over Essendon.

"If we had have come to the game and played a similar style of game to what we played last week, I don't believe we would have got the result," Wallace said.

"We came away and we put something in place against a very good side and were able to get the result. That doesn't mean we play the same way next week. Every week is a different week."

The Tigers' approach was reflected in the statistics – a combined total of 662 possessions and a record 283 marks, of which only 18 were contested.

Richmond had been averaging 80 short kicks a match. Yesterday the number was up to 159.

Shutdown mode started halfway through the second quarter when the Tigers managed to steal a slight break.

It was enforced until the final siren and almost proved their undoing, the Crows clawing back to within a goal after capitalising on Tiger skill errors.

Wallace said the team had trained in accordance to yesterday's style all week and praised the players for their ability to execute the plan.

"I sat in this room exactly a week ago, coming off the worst ever loss that I'd ever had as a senior coach coaching at AFL level," he said.

"So to come in against a side that had been written up as being invincible and was lengths above anyone else, to change the result and to still be able to have a lot of young boys running around . . . was very satisfying.

"Guys knew exactly what we were going to try and do at any stage. Credit goes to the implementation from the players. They can go from one style of play to another style of play.

"The style was attacking enough to get us three goals in front and then it needed to be defensive enough to hold that sway over the course of a few quarters."

Defender Joel Bowden celebrated his 200th match with family members, including his dad, Michael, and friends in the rooms after the game.

He said the result was testament to the team's determination to atone for last weekend's abysmal effort against Sydney.

"I think it was commitment, but also a resolve that last week was not good enough and we had to do something a little bit extra," Bowden said.

"It's tremendous and something that I'll remember for a long time."
 
 http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19203256%255E19771,00.html

[julzqld]

Rather insulting for Danny Frawley to say it was "ugly" - umm hello???  What about 2002, 2003, 2004 Danny?

[mightytiges]

Rather insulting for Danny Frawley to say it was "ugly" - umm hello???  What about 2002, 2003, 2004 Danny?

This from the coach who would push everyone behind the ball after half time to protect a 6-goal loss .

[WilliamPowell]

Rather insulting for Danny Frawley to say it was "ugly" - umm hello???  What about 2002, 2003, 2004 Danny?

Well let's be honest Danny would certainly know 

[one-eyed]

Shock tactics by Wallace open secret
Greg Denham
The Australian
May 22, 2006

RICHMOND's surprise win over Adelaide on Saturday was no ordinary upset. It was far more significant than 11th beating first on the ladder, or the $5.75 chance downing the 10-1on pop.

The previous weekend, the Tigers were thrashed by Sydney, losing by 118 points. And again out of action were their captain Kane Johnson, full-back Darren Gaspar, centre half-backs Jay Schulz and Will Thursfield, their best forward Nathan Brown, best tagger Mark Chaffey and the handy Ray Hall.

Adelaide, too, has had its share of injury problems this season, which got worse on Saturday but with depth to match those on the sidelines, judged on its six consecutive wins leading up to the weekend.

To the credit of Richmond fans, the first miracle of the day was that 24,461 fans turned up at Telstra Dome considering the number of experts who believed the Tigers faced their third 100-plus defeat for the season. The two met once last year, at Telstra Dome, and the Crows won by 70 points in round 13.

The second miracle is Richmond was in front by three points when the final siren rang.

The result was further vindication of the five-year appointment of Terry Wallace as coach, and a reality check for the Crows, who were immediately deposed as premiership favourites by West Coast.

Wallace's tactics brought out the best in the underdogs and his high-possession plan confused a team which was considered the best-drilled and most professional outfit in the competition.

Speaking on radio yesterday, Wallace said he was surprised to learn Richmond's ploy had apparently caught the Crows off-guard.

"We had actually done some work during the week on the training track, we didn't have closed or lockout sessions, we like our supporters to be able to come along and have a look," Wallace said.

"Anyone who had been to our training during the week would have seen that we were doing things very much differently to what our normal training regime had been.

"Probably, I was more surprised to hear after the event that they were shocked about the tactics. What they do during the game is up to themselves."

So, was the result an aberration, or is Adelaide vulnerable when taken out of its comfort zone?

Whatever, it was a massive turnaround by the Tigers. Richmond's injuries this season have been so prolific it has used 35 players already, and the season is still three games shy of the halfway mark.

That's 11 more than the Swans have used and four more than the Crows at senior level for the entire season last year.

It's also seven more than the Tigers had used at the corresponding time last season.

Richmond's desperation was best depicted by son-of-a-gun Andrew Raines in just his 15th game. The young defender kept Adelaide captain Mark Ricciuto to just four possessions and one goal, after the veteran had kicked 20 goals in his five previous games this year.

It was not a good day for the Crows, who may have lost defender Ben Hart for up to eight weeks after he fractured an arm in the opening quarter.

The Crows should soon welcome back full-forward Scott Welsh who has yet to play this season because of a foot stress fracture, but key-position players Nathan Bock (back) and Ian Perrie (knee) will not be back until late in the second half of the season, at best.

The third miracle of the weekend is Richmond sits just outside the top eight, but a game clear of Geelong, which held premiership favouritism after winning the pre-season competition and remaining unbeaten after round two.

They play each other at Skilled Stadium on Saturday.

Geelong's 102-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night stunned coach Mark Thompson and prompted him to say: "There are some serious problems and we've got to get to the bottom of them and see if we can relaunch our season."

The Cats were almost at full strength, but could manage only two goals to half-time and, for the second time this season, finished with just six for the match.

It was Geelong's lowest score since kicking 4.9 (33) against the Kangaroos in round four in 2001.

Captain Steven King pulled up sore in a calf and will be assessed this week, while Kane Tennace will miss up to two weeks with a knee injury after scans revealed a grade-one medial ligament strain.

Collingwood plays the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Friday night where it will become the first club this year to kick 1000 points.

The Magpies have won all three contests at the MCG this season.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19211049-36035,00.html

[one-eyed]

Ugly is beaut for Tigers
22 May 2006   Herald Sun
Daryl Timms

THE game might win the title of the ugliest of the year but Richmond coach Terry Wallace and his players achieved a mission impossible against Adelaide on Saturday.
 
Having a game plan and being capable of implementing it are two different things and even Crows coach Neil Craig conceded Wallace and his players deserved all the credit after their shock three-point victory at Telstra Dome on Saturday.

Wallace's plan was simple; keep possession of the ball at all times, even if it meant kicking backwards and sideways so many times that the players could hear the groans from the crowd.

Asked why players such as Joel Bowden, who was playing his 200th game for the Tigers, was allowed continually to mark the ball uncontested and kick backwards and sideways, Craig replied: "Eventually they have to come forward. They can sit back all day but eventually they have to score as well."

Craig said he wanted it made clear the Crows weren't good enough to handle Richmond's tactics but promised they would be be better next time.

As for Richmond keeping possession of the ball through uncontested marks, Craig admitted he'd never seen anything like it before.

"It's probably the most I've seen it happen in a game of football this year," he said.

"Certainly the length of time which it went on, it's the most I've ever seen, and we lost by three points."

It looked early in the match that it was going to be a slow, painful death for Richmond and it would only be a matter of time before the Crows displayed the type of footy that has made them premiership favourites.

But the Crows left too much to too few and Richmond's style of play had the visitors rattled for much of the game.

To mark Bowden's milestone, Wallace allowed the younger Bowden, Patrick, to play alongside his brother and the pair had a feast of football.

Andrew Raines, who gets better each week, shut Mark Ricciuto out at full-forward, while Andrew Kellaway was also superb in defence.

Ruckman Troy Simmonds proved valuable for the Tigers as the most dominant big man on the ground.

After the third quarter, which produced only one goal for each team, the Tigers kicked the first goal of the final term through Mark Coughlan to open a 23-point lead.

And under the circumstances it looked enough to guarantee victory.

But the Crows – after being in front only once for the game, at the four-minute mark of the second quarter – suddenly seemed capable of pulling off their own mission impossible and snatching victory.

Although it was an ugly afternoon, Wallace admitted his team's previous game against Sydney was his worst as a coach and if the Tigers had played a similar style, they would have lost.

Even a few Tiger fans were complaining about the performance but it couldn't have been too bad; after all, they played the Richmond theme song five times over the public address system after the game.

To add to the mystery of footy, the Tigers achieved their victory without Matthew Richardson kicking a goal.

He hit the post twice and finished the last quarter having a run in defence.
 
 http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19209840%255E19742,00.html