6. RICHMOND
Defence: 5th
MICK SAYS: Out: David Astbury. In: Robbie Tarrant. It was clever recruiting by the Tigers, who are also set to get back Noah Balta following an ankle injury that saw him miss the second half of last season. Having Tarrant and Balta at your disposal to play on the best opposition key forwards allows Dylan Grimes and Nick Vlastuin to focus on the intercepting roles they are so good at. Add in Jayden Short, Liam Baker and Nathan Broad and the Tigers are as good as anyone defensively when great effort is given up the ground to limit or slow opposition entries. Sydney Stack shapes as the X-Factor. Someone has to take over the Bachar Houli role after his retirement last year. Stack has all the attributes to be that man and become an elite defender of the competition if he applies himself in a disciplined manner.
Midfield: 8th
MICK SAYS: From all accounts, Dustin Martin is as hungry as ever in ominous signs for opposition midfields. He’s a terrific centre bounce player who wins pure clearances and has the power, vision and ball use to make them impactful further up the ground. Martin also lifts his teammates around him. But I’d be challenging coach Damien Hardwick to change the mix of those players around him. As great as Trent Cotchin has been, when him and Dion Prestia play onball together the Tigers can look a bit pedestrian. Shai Bolton offers burst speed that troubles opposition midfielders and makes opposition defences uncomfortable. He should be spending more time through the middle. Liam Baker also provides a different dynamic and Kane Lambert is another option, having been used as a high forward in recent years. With the return of Ivan Soldo from a knee injury will the Tigers go back to a two-pronged ruck set up with Toby Nankervis? That will be an interesting watch.
Forwards: 6th
MICK SAYS: Having the Tigers this highly ranked might surprise some. But I still think Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch have the ability to still influence games and, more importantly, they have a great understanding of how each other play. Lynch’s form was patchy last year yet still kicked 35.33 from his 18 games. If he can improve his accuracy a little it will bode well for the team. Many thought Riewoldt’s days were numbered last year – including me – but he still finished equal-sixth in the Coleman Medal with 51 goals. Coach Damien Hardwick would hoping for similar returns this year, as well as 50-60 goals between Dustin Martin and Shai Bolton – which is entirely possible. The challenge for Richmond is to get their pressure game back, which waned a little bit last year. The Tigers’ forward half pressure factor ranked 13th last year, after sitting 7th in 2020. There’s no excuse for that when you have the speedy smalls that Richmond has.
Source: HeraldSun.
