Saints plan for 'Everywhere Man' Richo
The Age
April 29, 2008 - 6:08PM
Richmond's "everywhere man" Matthew Richardson will be the subject of much St Kilda planning for their AFL match on Saturday night at Telstra Dome.
The key forward's devastating runs off the wing have been a high-profile feature of Richmond's much-improved form over the last three weeks.
Privately, the Tigers expect St Kilda will use tall utility Jason Blake as a tag on Richardson.
"He's been running back, running forward, using him on the switch, he's the everywhere man," said Saints coach Ross Lyon.
"I think there's loose men back to defend and there's loose men back to attack and I think he's struck a really nice balance with both - we'll go to match committee and consider it.
"I've worked with Richo years ago and he's one that gets spoken about a lot, he's a very special player and it takes a player with an enormous workrate to play on him.
"We feel we've got a couple of them - Blake, (Jason) Gram, Sam Fisher - we've got some super athletes that can really run.
"You mightn't be able to stop his attack so much, but you might be able to attack through him a little bit."
Richardson's revised role and Nick Riewoldt's readiness to work up the ground means two of the league's biggest marking forwards might find themselves on opposite wings during the match.
When asked about the pair, Wallace even raised the prospect of them lining up alongside each other.
"I've seen Nick play those sorts of roles before, it depends what they're doing with their structure, doesn't it?" he said.
"It depends what is happening with Fraser (Gehrig), the ruck situation - whether Michael Gardiner comes back into the side, which we think would be a reasonable chance."
Saturday shapes as a massive game for the two teams - the Tigers need reward for effort after the draw against the Western Bulldogs and a hard-working loss to Hawthorn, while there are suddenly big question marks over St Kilda.
Much has justifiably been made of Richmond's improved workrate and tackling over the last three weeks.
Lyon said it can be traced to the middle of last season.
"We noted their change in the second half of last year," he said.
"Clearly their contested ball they consistently win it, Terry's not playing anyone that won't tackle, they've made some philosophical shifts.
"I think when people talk about Richmond, do they talk about the mechanics of their game changing dramatically?
"All I'm reading is about their spirit, the effort and the hardness and I think that highlights what I'm talking about."
Wallace has no doubt the Saints will also bring plenty of competition to Telstra Dome on Saturday night.
"It's a very important game ... you've got the bye the week after, so from that point of view it gets the set-up of almost a final, because you've got one week and then the opportunity to get a break," he said.
"We've had tough games against unbeaten sides, we come off the break and play Geelong next.
"Obviously St Kilda have been under their own sort of pressure publicly, which we probably went through three weeks ago.
"Usually you get a pretty strong resolve that comes along with that pressure that's applied from different quarters - it will be a really interesting game."
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