Ruthless ‘Richmond of old’ returns amid 22-year first as sloppy Cats exposed on big stage: 3-2-1Ben Waterworth
Ben Waterworth
Foxsports
13 May 20233. RUTHLESS ‘RICHMOND OF OLD’ RETURNS AMID 22-YEAR FIRSTAs triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown declared on Fox Footy, the Tigers looked like “Richmond of old”.
To be fair, there had been ample signs in recent weeks the Tigers were on the verge of clicking, only for their poor forward-half efficiency bringing them undone.
But on Friday night, Richmond produced its slickest performance of the season to date – against one of the best teams in the competition.
“This has been a mighty performance,” five-time All-Australian Garry Lyon told Fox Footy.
“It’s had blue collar elements, but they’ve also added a bit of touch and class around the place.”
The win was set up by an outstanding first quarter, with the Tigers booting 6.0 to Geelong’s 2.6. It was Richmond’s best opening quarter of the season to date and the first time since 2001 that club had kicked five goals in a first term against Cats.
The Tigers came into the match ranked 18th for kicking efficiency (63%). In the first term against Geelong, Damien Hardwick’s troops went at 76 per cent by foot as they pounced on the lack of defensive pressure from the Cats. That was personified by the fact four of Richmond’s first six goals were generated from its defensive half.
Importantly, the Tigers’ trademark trait – metres gained via handball – was on display, particularly after adjusting following intercepting Cat Esava Ratugolea’s strong start to the game.
“This is the opposite of their story so far this season. Their execution had been horrible, but tonight they’ve been very good,” Brown told Fox Footy.
“They haven’t been careful and just chipped it around. They’re still going quick enough, but they’re able to go well inside 50.
“Ratugolea took a few intercept marks and that was a concern, but then they were a bit smarter going inside 50, made some good contests, brought the ball to ground and hit the scoreboard.”
The second and third quarters saw the Tigers ramp up the defensive pressure. Richmond’s pressure rating in the third term was 196 – rated elite by Champion Data – while it also generated nine forward-half intercepts.
“The messier it got, it seemed like Richmond were able to get to contest to contest better than what Geelong were able to do,” four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis told Fox Footy.
“It looked more like a Richmond quarter Geelong couldn’t find any easy ball.”
The Tigers had a lovely spread of scorers, with Trent Cotchin (3.0) and Rhyan Mansell (2.0) an unlikely duo to be among their top goalkickers for the night.
So that’s two wins in a row for the Tigers, who now face Essendon, Port Adelaide, the Giants, Fremantle and St Kilda before their mid-season bye.
After sitting 16th on the ladder a fortnight ago, there’s life in Richmond’s season again.
2. CATS JUST ‘A BIT OFF’ AS YOUNG TEAM EXPOSEDAs Garry Lyon suggested on Fox Footy, Geelong just “looked a bit off” on Friday night.
While the result saw the Tigers secure back-to-back wins for the first time this year, it also snapped the Cats’ five-game winning streak.
Geelong headed into the game without Patrick Dangerfield (hamstring), Cam Guthrie (toe), Sam De Koning (face), Tyson Stengle (arm), Gary Rohan (hamstring), Jack Henry (foot), Rhys Stanley (eye), Brad Close (suspension) and Jack Bowes (calf) – and it proved too much for the younger midfield to deal with.
The Cats led the clearances 26-10 at one stage, and finished up winning that category convincingly 48-31, but were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball going forward, and without Dangerfield or Guthrie, their midfield lacked direction and polish.
“They are getting clearances, but because Dangerfield isn’t there, they’re not breaking from those stoppages and getting really dangerous ball forward of centre. They’re messy and under pressure,” Fox Footy’s Jordan Lewis said.
Geelong also finished with more disposals (357-343), contested possessions (148-130), inside 50s (57-56) and scoring shots (23-22), but their frequent skill errors and woeful accuracy early (4.11) brought them undone. Richmond’s pressure was hot all night, and they comfortably won the tackle count 63-46.
“I think last week was a hard game for them against the Crows down at Geelong. They just looked a little bit off tonight and I think the tackle numbers alone … usually when you lose a game of footy, you win the tackle count – and they were beaten convincingly, which shows they were flattish,” Brown said.
Despite the goalkicking inaccuracy and struggles to transition the ball from defensive 50 to inside 50, Lewis said he wasn’t too concerned by Geelong’s performance.
“I think it’s a great learning game for them when oppositions try different things and they don’t have control over the way its positional or the way they’ve played,” he said.
“Richmond were totally dominant and Geelong didn’t just seem to have the answers.”
1. TIGERS FANS IGNORE COACH’S PLEAS … BUT CATS STAR ‘MOTIVATED’ BY BOOSDamien Hardwick and Dion Prestia’s pleas to not boo Tom Stewart were ultimately ignored by Richmond fans. But it didn’t seem to faze the Cats star one iota.
Stewart on Friday night played his first game against the Tigers since his heavy bump that left Prestia concussed and cost the Geelong defender a four-week stint on the sidelines. He even predicted during the week he’d receive – and deserve – jeers from Tigers fans.
So every time Stewart touched the ball against the Tigers, he was booed by Richmond fans, who clearly hadn’t forgotten the incident.
And they booed a lot on Friday night, for Stewart had a mountain of the ball in another impressive defensive display in the first half – although the Tigers did seem to curtail his influence in the second half.
Stewart finished with 24 disposals, 11 marks (5 intercept), eight rebound 50s and 545m gained, while he also went at 84 per cent by foot.
“Reckon he’s loving the boos. It’s motivating him,” Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor said.
But crucially Stewart took just two marks in the second half as the Tigers controlled possession and dominated in the air.
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