We need to get mentally stronger: Howat
By Geoff Dodd
richmondfc.com.au
TAKE one look in his eyes and you’ll realise Tigers’ rookie wingman Cam Howat is a determined man. And he’s not happy with “gallant defeats”.
Speaking after the Tigers nine-point loss to the Crows, Howat said the Tigers just had to get mentally stronger and learn how to ice a game.
“We’ve come over here (Adelaide) for the second week in a row trying to get the job done, but we haven’t, we’ve fallen short,” Howat said. “Terry’s told us to keep our heads up high, but the underlying story is we’re still zip and eight, and we need a win.”
With a team full of young kids – the Tigers had 13 players aged 22 or under on Friday night – there are always going to be ups and downs.
Two identifiable "downs" are a lack of body strength and not running quarters out. Watching Scott Welsh toss Will Thursfield aside like a rag doll in the opening minutes of Friday night’s match, it looked ominously like a case of boys against men. Howat’s teammate Andrew Raines says the Tigers obviously have a lot of developing to do.
“They were certainly physical around the ball early,” Raines said. “But I don’t know if it was body strength in the end, I think it might have been more mental.”
Howat says a similar thing about running out the game. Richmond gave up four goals deep into "red time" - two in each of the first and third quarters - obviously a factor in a nine-point result.
“It’s certainly not a fitness issue or anything like that,” Howat says.
“Maybe just a lack of concentration – getting just a little bit tired ‘upstairs’. We’ve just got to make sure we don’t let that happen because it can really hurt, particularly in a tight game like this, those goals really hurt.
“I (also) just think at times we’ve got to have the ability to change our own game, and we probably haven’t done that. When we’ve needed to slow the game down we’ve tried to keep going faster and faster … I think it’s up to the players to identify when we need to change our style.”
The "up" side of a young team is a lack of fear.
Shane Edwards, 18, and Jake King, 23 but in just his fifth game, are classic examples. Both cast aside the doubts exhibited by some of their older teammates and took the game on, igniting the Tigers when the Crows were threatening to run away with it during a first-quarter blitz.
Both Howat and Raines say that fearlessness helps.
“We get encouraged to do that (take the game on) every week, it’s just up to us to actually do it,” says Howat.
“Young Eddie’s a pretty exciting prospect. He’s only light at the moment, but he comes on and he makes things happen and he’s not afraid to take guys on. Kingy’s only a little fella, but he’s hard at it. They’ve both got big futures.”
Says Raines of his young teammates: “I think they’re really stepping up, and getting used to the senior experience. I think they’re relishing it, and they’re playing with a bit of excitement too, so it’s helping everyone out there.
“If we get everyone stepping up then it’s going to be a tough side in the end hopefully to get into, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
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