Richardson and Riewoldt Should Be A Winning Combination For Richmond
December 5th 2006 21:51
aflinsider.net
There has been a long line of forwards that the Tigers have teamed with Richardson. The right combination has not been found yet, but Jack Riewoldt could be the player to change that.
In the past 20 years the Tigers have not had a lot of success, but since 1993 they have had one of the tallest and quickest forwards around. Matthew Richardson teamed successfully with Gale, Naish and Daffy in those early days of his career. But it wasn't enough for the Tigers to win consistently.
So the Tigers tried tall forwards next to Richardson, short forwards, quick forwards, resting ruckmen, but nothing worked very well. The Tigers did have some success in the mid 90s and that was when they added another tall forward to their structure. Stuart Edwards or Stephen Jurica were sometimes played with Richardson in the goalsquare. If Richardson went on one of his long leads, the Tigers still had a marking option deep in their forward area.
During the Richardson years the Tigers have tried many other tall forwards like Stevan Jackson, Justin Plapp, Ben Holland and currently Jay Schulz. Some ruckmen/forward types have also been used like Brad Ottens, Ben Marsh and Greg Stafford.
The Tigers have also moved a skilful player from another part of the ground to help Richardson. Joel Bowden can play in plenty of spots but has played many games as a forward. Mark Merenda, Matthew Rogers and Rory Hilton were also played as a forward in past years.
The Tigers also went small around Richardson. Naish and Daffy were the best at that role, but Andrew Krakouer and Nathan Brown might be able to succeed in that role next season. In the past the Tigers put some of their midfielders in the forward line, as well as small forwards like David Rodan and Ashley Blurton.
One player who started for the Tigers around the same time that Richardson did was Justin Murphy. When he first debuted for the Tigers it seemed he would be a star in the forward line for them but it didn’t work. At the opposite end of a player's career was Paul Hudson when he had a brief appearance in the yellow and black.
So the Tigers have around 14 years of mixing around their forwards to find a system that would work with Richardson. With Jack Riewoldt the Tigers might finally have found the player to help Richardson, and Richmond, succeed.
A forward line with Richardson and Riewoldt having all of the 50m area to themselves would be hard to stop. Krakouer and Brown could be played further out from goal, and crumb off the contests that the two big forwards create. Simmonds also can get forward so another tall may not be needed there on a full-time basis, although Richmond do have some options there if needed too.
Time is running out for Richardson, but his best chance to win could be next season as he is teamed with another high-marking Tasmanian in the forward line. Those two should provide plenty of thrills for the Richmond crowd to roar for, and if Richardson and Riewoldt are able to play together and combine for over a hundred goals then the Tigers could be a surprise team in the September action in 2007.
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