WHAT THEY GOT RIGHT AND WRONG: EACH CLUB’S WINS AND WOES FROM ROUND 2Andrew Slevison
SEN
25 March 2024
What they got rightInexperienced defenders filled the voidThe Tigers have been hammered by injuries recently, particularly in defence.
Josh Gibcus (ACL) is out for the season, while Tylar Young (concussion) and Nathan Broad (calf) all came out of the team that narrowly lost to Carlton in Round 1.
In came Ben Miller, James Trezise and Tom Brown, plus a little bit of shuffling to fill the key position void.
They would give up 17 marks inside 50, but with the amount of quality ball that came in from Port’s dominant midfield, that’s a decent result.
It was a tough task against a very good Power side and they did a decent job, but the weight of numbers banked up and eventually told the story.
Remained in the contestFor the second week in a row, Adem Yze’s Tigers managed to keep themselves in the contest as a winning a chance at three-quarter time.
Liam Baker’s two goals late in the third term had them within striking distance at seven points down.
They had also led at half-time in a match they were expected to lose comfortably. In the end, that was somewhat the case as they went down by 30 points, but not before they gave the visitors an almighty scare.
They’ve been ok across the last two games, but they don’t want to let honourable losses start to creep in.
The beauty of BakerSpeaking of Baker, isn’t he a very good footballer.
He tends to be thrown around wherever he is needed and did just that again on Sunday.
Without Jacob Hopper and Dion Prestia in the side, Baker spent more time through the midfield, mixing his time as a high half-forward.
He was Richmond’s best player who finished with 23 touches, 12 score involvements, seven inside 50s, five clearances and three goals, having a massive impact for his side.
The Tiges would be keen to lock him away as soon as possible.
What they got wrong
More lapsesRichmond led by 11 points at the main break which could have been 17 if not for some ill-discipline from Tom Lynch.
He gave away a clumsy 50 which resulted in Zak Butters converting a simple shot at goal.
The Power would then pile on four goals in less than 10 minutes in the third term and seven for the quarter which would have looked worse if not for Baker’s two late replies.
That lapse in concentration reemerged in the fourth quarter when Port went bang, bang, bang, bang with another lot of four goals - this time in less than nine minutes.
They are two periods of play Yze would love to get back as it eventually cost them the game.
No midfield for MartinDespite there being lots of talk about it during pre-season, Dustin Martin hasn’t spent too much in the midfield so far in 2024.
He attended just four centre bounces on the weekend which seems low considering Hopper and Prestia were missing.
Martin was solid in the first half with 13 touches before he was basically non-existent in the second half to finish with 16 for the game.
As the Power midfield of Zak Butters, Connor Rozee, Ollie Wines and Willem Drew started to get on top, a player of Martin’s experience and ilk might have been helpful in the middle.
His presence might have sparked something in the guts for the Tigers. It seems like an opportunity missed.
Poor outing from LynchTom Lynch was never going to be running on top of the ground in his second match back after almost a year off with a foot injury.
But he was unequivocally beaten by Brandon Zerk-Thatcher on Sunday.
Lynch failed to take a mark and had just three kicks for a return of 1.1. He was comfortably handled in the air and was at times uncompetitive.
He needed to bring the ball to ground more often, especially given debutant Mykelti Lefau was trying to find his feet at the elite level up against Esava Ratugolea.
Hopefully for Tigers fans Lynch can return to somewhere near his best for next weekend’s clash with Sydney.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2024/03/25/what-they-got-right-and-wrong-each-clubs-wins-and-woes-from-round-2/
