Tigers flirt with finals
Nick Sheridan | July 27, 2008
RICHMOND's three-point win over the Brisbane Lions at Telstra Dome last night may have put them just two points outside the eight, but coach Terry Wallace insisted that the Tigers were not yet ready to entertain thoughts of a berth in September.
"I think you come back to earth pretty quickly when you're playing Geelong the next week, so I think that's sort of a fair reality check for everyone," he said after the game.
While the Tigers prevailed courtesy of a thrilling eight-goal final quarter, during which the lead changed three times — the last time with just 20 seconds left on the clock when Joel Bowden put Richmond in front — Wallace said he was not pleased with his team's overall performance.
"I didn't think we played well for the first three quarters," he said.
"I clearly wasn't pleased at all going into the quarter-time, half-time, three-quarter-time huddles with the group.
"In a perfect world you don't want to be playing in games where you're sort of down to the wire … that's not ideal, clearly, but I think sometimes when you're a young team trying to get maturity you're going to have a few of those ups and downs.
"Clearly we've got to work on it and if we want to be any sort of side in the competition, that four-quarter basis has got to be there."
Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews rued his side's inaccurate goalkicking, which yielded 16 goals from 34 scoring shots.
"They took their shots really well, kicked really accurately, we generated the shots but we missed too big a percentage — that was probably the single most reason why they won and we didn't," he said.
Matthews also marvelled at how his team managed to stay in the contest when it was hammered in clearances — 24 to Richmond's 41.
"Somehow we were two points behind at half-time but we actually were getting killed in the stoppage, bounce, congested areas," he said.
Wallace paid tribute to Bowden who, for the second week in a row, was the difference for the Tigers, kicking three goals in the final term.
"The one thing with Joel is you know he's a cool, wise head. I mean, the goals that he kicked he never looked like missing," he said.
And he also gave a huge wrap to Richard Tambling, who gathered 27 touches and eight inside 50s.
"I though it was his best game for the club. I thought that when we were struggling he was one bloke that was at least keeping us in the game," he said.
"It's nice to actually be able to go to a young bloke and say that to him at the end of the game, which I did."
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