Richmond v Melbourne a rivalry with legs/ Martin's versatility to give the edge

[one-eyed]

Richmond v Melbourne a rivalry with legs

    Mike Sheahan
    From: Herald Sun
    June 21, 2011

MELBOURNE entered this season as the most likely next big thing, Richmond as a future NBT, yet one, maybe even two years behind Melbourne.

When Saturday afternoon football finally returns to the MCG this week, Melbourne and Richmond will face each other in a tantalising match-up.

Both sit just outside the eight with five wins and a draw from 12 games, Melbourne holds a handy break in percentage terms, one of them probably will end up in the final eight.

It looks a genuine 50-50 contest, the most eagerly awaited encounter between these two since Round 15, 2006, when 60,086 saw Melbourne, third, beat Richmond, eighth, by 18 points.

It may not seem that long ago, yet Melbourne's best players that night were Russell Robertson, Matthew Whelan, James McDonald, Simon Godfrey, Brad Green, Daniel Ward and Nathan Carroll. Only Green endures in red and blue.

What's almost as exciting as the match is the anticipated battles within the battle.

Jack Watts and Tyrone Vickery from the 2008 draft, Jack Trengove and Dustin Martin from the 2009 draft, Tom Scully and Trent Cotchin in the midfield.

Mouth-watering prospects, all of them, with Martin the player with the box office appeal.

He is a jet. My initial thought was of Sam Kekovich in his early years at North Melbourne, when he was the most exciting youngster in the competition.

Yes, there's a dash of the powerful, irresistible Kekovich in Martin, but maybe he's more like Collingwood's 1990 premiership hero, the late Darren "Pants" Millane.

Like Kekovich and Millane, he stands 187cm and is as strong as a bull.

No wonder the Tigers entrusted him with the No. 4 guernsey worn by luminaries including Royce Hart and Geoff Raines after just one season.

He is a midfielder like Millane, a goalkicker like Kekovich (21 in 12 this year), a physically mature youngster with plenty of poise and a booming kick.

As the respective win-loss records suggest, the two teams are difficult to separate to this point.

The Tigers have wins over North Melbourne, the Brisbane Lions (twice), Fremantle and Essendon, and a draw with St Kilda; Melbourne's wins have come against Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Essendon and Fremantle, with a draw with Sydney.

On balance, Richmond has been marginally better, given the pre-season expectations of both.

What Melbourne has shown is a capacity to crush an opposition ... just as much as its propensity to be crushed.

It has an average winning margin of 63 points, the highest in the competition, and an average losing margin of 49. Six days after losing to Collingwood by 88 points, it beat Freo by 89 at the same venue.

Dean Bailey's biggest task is to narrow the gap between his team's best and worst.

No real damage done, though, in terms of finals.

Win six of the remaining 10 games and they're off to the finals. Maybe another five will be enough, for Freo and Essendon have the staggers.

Melbourne should be in the mix, too, having finished 12th last year with eight wins and a draw.

The Tigers finished 15th with six wins. They're honest and there's plenty to like about them.

They overpowered Brisbane on Saturday night after a torrid week, coming off a six-day break and a 10-hour bus trip back from Sydney.

No trouble to a group growing in confidence, disposing of the Lions by 31 points.

They're playing with confidence and purpose and they got the job done with just two goals from Jack Riewoldt.

Jack spat the dummy once or twice, but, bottom line, he again learned winning and losing isn't all about him. Martin kicked five, Vickery four.

Vickery and Melbourne's Watts have copped more than their share of criticism for their perceived slow development. Vickery recently turned 21, Watts is 20.

Both will be players. Actually they're earning their keep now, and they're going to get a lot better. As their teams are.

It will be a novel experience Saturday, an afternoon game at the G. Can't wait.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-v-melbourne-a-rivalry-with-legs/story-fn7shz1t-1226078775129

[one-eyed]

Martin's versatility might give Richmond the edge
Michael Gleeson
The Age
June 21, 2011


CARLTON'S rise to the top three and legitimacy in the conversation of possible premiers is further validation of the draft - were it needed - by proving that if you are poor enough for long enough you will gain enough elite talent to rise.

Melbourne and Richmond are next. The Tigers and Demons have undoubtedly been poor enough for long enough to cream Carlton-like talent and both are now taking baby steps to the top eight.

Either could make the top eight this year - they are ninth and 10th - and this weekend's game will show which has the stronger argument.

Last weekend's performances illustrated why they are back in this position. There are myriad players and reasons why, but ostensibly it comes down to six players - three from both teams.

They are players of the same generation, but taken from three drafts: Tom Scully, Jack Trengove and Jack Watts for Melbourne, and Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin and Ty Vickery for Richmond.

Two midfielders and a key forward each. Or are there?

Certainly there are two players on both sides who are legitimate midfielders and two who are promising key forwards. But Richmond also has the joker in the pack. There is more versatility to Martin than perhaps any of the other players.

Martin this season, and again last Saturday night, has shown the Luke Hodge or Mark Ricciuto-like quality that marks him as being more dynamic than any of the others. Martin could potentially play as a marking forward. With his speed, power and strength overhead he has already shown, even as a teenager, the ability to alter the course of matches.

''He'll be a midfielder who can go forward, but he'll be for the majority in the midfield,'' Ricciuto recently told The Age's Jake Niall.

''He's an in-and-under, hard in-and-under player, and that's where he does his best work, inside, and he can obviously kick goals as well. They're the best type of midfielder you can have, the most important type of midfielder is a goal-kicking midfielder, a hard goal-kicking midfielder. There's no more important things at the moment than winning contested balls at stoppages and kicking goals in the midfield and he does both of them. He's obviously not scared, either.''

Aside from a gnawing uncertainty about Scully's future, there is no doubt he, Trengove and Martin are all exceptional talents and rightly taken as the first three players in the 2009 draft. But should that have been the draft order?

In Scully and Trengove, Melbourne took two midfielders of great class, poise, skill and ability. Players of good balance they have a maturity in understanding the play that separates them. But there is also a similarity about them that raises the question of whether Martin's more robust style of game and ability to go forward might not have made for a more rounded package when taking two players.

The easier decision for Richmond was no decision at all - Martin was their man. He complements the audacious talent of Cotchin and rounds out Richmond's midfield.

The more intriguing choice is between two players who have both publicly worn their lumps - and, yes, in this paper, too - for the perceived sluggishness of their development but both are now taking the appropriate strides.

Watts was the first pick in 2008. Vickery, slightly less heralded, arrived at Richmond seven places later at No. 8.

Both are maturing into their games. Watts has improved in the past month since Dean Bailey tried him behind the ball and his confidence grew.

Vickery on Saturday did something Watts is yet to do - and that is dominate his position. Vickery, playing from the goal square against Brisbane Lion Joel Patfull, had another game that showed he and his club had found his best position. He is a forward who can ruck - not the other way around.

Last weekend showed why both teams are where they are - rising but out of the eight. Melbourne's fortunes swing weekly like the moods of a teenage boy. Richmond found it could monster sides, even on the road.

This weekend the Tiger trio take on the Demon threesome. For me, Richmond looks to have the better blend.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/martins-versatility-might-give-richmond-the-edge-20110620-1gbu2.html#ixzz1PpMBxK00

[pmac21]

I don't want to see any of this stuff written coming from the RFC.  Too many times we pump up the game and get flogged.
Let Melbourne hold all the press conferences and have the articles written about them.
If questioned just simply say we will let our actions do the talking....