Tiger Nathan Brown celebrates side's tackling pressure
Mark Stevens | April 23, 2008
NATHAN Brown may have had trouble reading the scoreboard on Sunday, but he had no problem getting a feel for another set of numbers.
The Richmond forward, who for a moment thought his side had won, at least had a hunch he might be celebrating a rare victory of another kind.
Throughout the clash with the Western Bulldogs, he could sense a seismic shift. The Tigers were tackling and harassing as never before.
"I think you saw that our competitiveness and our tackling pressure and our defensive pursuits in the game was something I've never seen before," Brown said.
"We've always been a side that hasn't tackled or put a lot of pressure on."
Brown said tackling might be the difference between the Tigers being "good" and "ordinary".
And he's on to something.
Richmond won the tackle count 50 to 46 in the thriller at Telstra Dome.
It was the first time the Tigers had won the tackling tussle since Round 10, 2007.
That just happened to produce a draw at the Dome as well -- this time against the Brisbane Lions.
After that game, the Tigers lost 16 tackle counts straight.
But against the Dogs, the Tigers turned ferocious again.
Captain Kane Johnson laid eight tackles, Richard Tambling had six, Jay Schulz four and Chris Newman four.
As a result, the Bulldogs were pressured into errors.
The Dogs could hit the target only 71 per cent of the time. Richmond found the mark 78 per cent of the time.
Who would have thought Richmond, often criticised for poor decision-making and sloppy kicking, would have out-skilled the Dogs?
Under Terry Wallace, Richmond has won the tackle count in only 25 of 71 games.
The Tigers have a tackle count differential of minus 470 under Wallace. That is 140 worse than any other team.
Traditionally, Wallace teams haven't been big on tackling.
In the six completed seasons of Wallace's career covered by Champion Data (2000-2002 at the Bulldogs and 2005-2007 at Richmond), the best one of his teams could do on the tackling ladder was 13th - in 2005.
Some would query why it's so important to be big on tackling.
The cynical view is that if you're tackling, you haven't got the pill.
But premiership teams are generally high on the tackling table. Sydney was first in 2005, West Coast sixth in 2006 and Geelong second last year.
And Wallace has clearly decided enough is enough. If you don't tackle and turn up the pressure, you don't play.
It is a key reason why Joel Bowden, such a valuable set-up player in defence, is still stranded at Coburg.
The four players dropped after the Round 3 shocker against Collingwood did not lay one tackle between them.
There is a correlation between tackling and error rates in the opposition.
The Tigers are still 16th for tackles this year, but the numbers are slightly artificial.
They are lowered by the fact they had only 25 tackles against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval in Round 4.
The Tigers won by 64 points. It ended up being ridiculously easy. The Dockers couldn't get their hands on it to be tackled.
So the key figure for the Tigers this year is the fact they have managed to cut the opposition's average effective disposal rate to 75.8 per cent - only the ninth highest.
In Wallace's first three years at Punt Rd, the opposition's rate of effectiveness was about 80 per cent.
Put simply, the enemy was winning it too easily and using it cleanly without enough pressure.
But Wallace has turned the pressure up.
He's decided it's time to delve into the tackle box.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23582748-19742,00.html
