https://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/1764885/round-7-yze-post-match------------------------
Richmond coach Adem Yze refused to blame the side's sluggish second-half performance on the absence of Noah Balta, who was unable to take part in the Anzac Day Eve clash due to his court-imposed curfew.
Balta is unable to play in night games that finish beyond 10pm due to a curfew handed down this week after an assault charge in New South Wales over the off-season, but Yze reiterated it wasn't a distraction for his playing group.
"Well, in the end, we had a short week," Yze said.
"I think it was more around the amount of games we've played … three games in 11 days. That was more of a distraction, or tougher for our players to handle, than Noah. A short week, the game was on us pretty quickly.
"I don't think it was a distraction for our players, but (Balta) is a great player. He played really well last week and we missed him. So, it will be good to get him back in next week."
Richmond's fixture pile-up included games against Fremantle (April 13), Gold Coast (April 19) and then Melbourne (April 24), with Yze suggesting his Tigers struggled to cope with the increased playing demands.
"It's a hard one," Yze said.
"We've had three games in 11 days. We spoke about that after the game, but I didn't want to use it as an excuse. But we do have young players that would never have dealt with that."
"We spoke about that after the game. I didn't want to use it as an excuse, but we do have young players that would never have dealt with that.
"Our small forwards are expected to put a lot of pressure on and energy, and we just looked a step off at times.
"To their credit in the last quarter - we've had a couple games this year where the third quarter hasn't been up to standard and the fourth quarter just got away from us - to put up a spirited fight in that last quarter... we owed it to our fans to finish the right way.
"We kicked four or five goals in the last quarter, we've done that a couple of times now. It was nice to finish off with a bit of spirit."
Richmond laid just 42 tackles in the defeat on Thursday night, 30 fewer than Melbourne, while the Tigers were also -24 for contested possessions and -8 for clearances throughout the match.
Yze said he referenced the numbers in his post-game debrief with a rebuilding Richmond outfit, but said he was pleased with the way his side overcame any fatigue in a final term where the Tigers kicked the last four goals of the game.
"We spoke about that," Yze said.
"It was a little bit about what they were doing with the ball. We gave up way too many uncontested marks. We sagged off a little bit, and they took our pressure away by doing that with the ball. But our pressure wasn't to standard.
"When you look at the numbers, it was way too low. It's not to standard. It's not us."
https://www.afl.com.au/news/1306148/melbourne-demon-max-gawn-lauded-as-one-of-the-best-ever-richmond-tigers-rue-congested-fixturehttps://www.zerohanger.com/would-never-have-dealt-with-that-close-three-game-run-a-burden-for-young-richmond-core-161281/
