Terry Wallace says basic skills let Tigers down
Mark Stevens | August 11, 2008
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace regularly walks into post-match press conferences clasping a piece of paper akin to a list of key messages.
High on that list yesterday, scrawled in heavy black texta, were words to the effect of: What happened to the basics?
The Tigers have become renowned as hard-running fast-trackers more at home at a scorching Subiaco than a heavy, slippery AAMI Stadium.
And no matter how often Wallace warned his players to keep it simple, they failed to adapt against the hard-bodied Crows in wet and wild conditions.
"It was a back-to-basics type of day. I have no doubt they played the basics of the game a heck of a lot better than we did from start to finish," Wallace lamented.
"It started virtually from the first kick of the game.
"You want to get the ball in, we're kicking with the breeze at that stage, and then all of a sudden to start kicking the ball sideways and backwards was terribly disappointing."
It wasn't as if Richmond had an excuse for playing dumb.
Given the Tigers' tenuous position in the race for the eight, this was all but a Grand Final.
It was also the popular Joel Bowden's 250th game, for good measure.
But Adelaide, obviously spurred by Andrew McLeod's own 300-game milestone, was much sharper in a 63-point victory set up in the first half.
Richmond trailed by only 11 points at quarter-time, at least managing to make it a scrap, but the competitiveness on the scoreboard was nothing but a big tease.
It seemed the breeze heading the Tigers' way in the first term was worth at least three goals. It didn't take the Crows long to prove it.
At the restart, Adelaide immediately won the ball out of the centre, ending in a Scott Stevens goal. The Crows were up by 19.
Four minutes in, Nick Gill added another with a set shot from 20m. Two minutes later came confirmation that Richmond was in for a dog of a day.
McLeod, the man of the moment, charged forward and goaled from 40m on the run.
The celebration was vintage McLeod. We're talking Grand Final proportions.
And why not? The margin was still only 29 points, but it was obvious there was no coming back for the Tigers.
Goals to Simon Goodwin and Kris Massie put the Crows ahead by 43 points 13 minutes into the second term.
To rub it in further, Gill, the most unpredictable set shot in the Adelaide side, slotted another from 50m.
By halftime it was 10.4 to 1.4. Embarrassing.
It was back to the bad, old Richmond. Matthew Richardson was missing shots and others were missing targets and tackles.
The first half was perhaps summed up by Richardson's miss deep in time-on in the second term. He had a set shot, less than 20m out, but sprayed it to the right.
Richmond, as if beaten mentally by the foul weather before the ball was bounced, lacked fluency and spent most of the game making poor decisions.
Finally, 22 minutes into the third term, the Tigers moved the ball cleanly from half-back to half-forward.
It ended with the highly-skilled Mitch Morton on the half-forward flank. Summing up the horror day, Morton wheeled around on his right foot, took a snap, and the ball curled into the right goalpost.
Adelaide, with no Brett Burton and no Jason Porplyzia, was expected to scrounge for every goal. But inspired by Goodwin, the Crows had 15 to three-quarter time in the slosh.
Richmond will need to get back to basics in a hurry with Hawthorn, and 91-goal freak Lance Franklin, waiting next week.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/1,9191,24158494-19742,00.html
