Tigers looking like Tigers of oldThe upside for Richmond of playing one of that trio [ed. Eagles, Hawks, Norf] – West Coast – was that they ran the Tigers into form. Richmond this week continued the form from that win against Geelong.
Undoubtedly, Richmond looked more Richmond than they have all year, as both coaches acknowledged after the game. Partly that was because their method looked like Richmond again.
They worked hard to adjust to combating Geelong’s possession game, which was accentuated by having their best midfielders out. The Cats were playing a short kick-mark game to work the ball up the ground, until, in basketball terms, they could ‘post-up’ Tom Hawkins. It was very effective.
Richmond took time to adjust to push up hard at the man on the mark. They also had Nathan Broad follow Jeremy Cameron up field and pull numbers into defence to congest the space for Cameron – and others – to post-up Hawkins.
But the most critical features to come out of the game were that Dustin Martin played his best game in two years. Richmond’s fortunes this season – and any season, really – would be informed by how good Martin would be. Could he get back to something closer to his best again. Until Friday, he hadn’t been close. Friday was very close.
Maybe it was because Richmond looked like Richmond. Did he cause that, or did they bring it out in him? Chicken. Egg.
The other critical difference was the effectiveness of Trent Cotchin as a small forward. Who knew? It was a side of Cotchin’s game not really seen before, certainly not to this level. He has kicked goals before, but they felt like midfielder’s goals. These were genuine small forward goals. Whether we are talking about him this way as a small forward in a month’s time will be the question but, for now, he showed something that will excite the prospects for Richmond.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/four-points-the-struggles-of-the-bottom-three-tigers-looking-more-like-tigers-carlton-s-uncertainty-20230514-p5d884.html
