No Rance, no Riewoldt - can the Giants take advantage?Vince Rugari
The Age
5 April 2019For the first time in Damien Hardwick's reign as coach, Richmond will line up at Giants Stadium without their two most important players, Alex Rance and Jack Riewoldt. The league will be watching to see how Greater Western Sydney take advantage.
The Tigers are 1-1 after two rounds but are about to step into uncharted territory. Rance is out for the rest of the year, having injured his ACL in their season-opening win over Carlton. And on the evidence of last weekend's 44-point defeat to Collingwood, he is irreplaceable.
In that same game, Jack Riewoldt hurt his wrist, sidelining the team's star forward for at least the next four weeks. Losing those two players will put significant strain on a side that appears to be in danger of losing its fearsome aura.
The absence of Rance, it seems, will be felt not just the longest but the hardest. Dual North Melbourne premiership player David King believes the 29-year-old is not just the key to Richmond's defensive system - rather, he is the system.
Giants forward Jeremy Cameron could be forgiven for breathing a huge sigh of relief at the prospect of lining up against the Tigers without the threat of Rance and his superhuman ability to get to almost every contest.
"I guess the way he approaches the footy, he's changed the way backmen think in a lot of ways," Cameron said.
"He reads the ball very quick - just as quick as the forwards. He'll leave his man and try and help others up the ground and turn it over."
Co-captain Phil Davis, a fellow tall defender, agrees. "Of the modern generation, there hasn't been many - if any - better defenders," he said.
"He's half-revolutionised how the backs play now. His ability to play on lots of different players and shut them down, intercept and do all that ... he's phenomenal."
So how do you replace Rance? According to Davis, you can't - but he also disagrees with King's view that things fall apart without him. "Their system remains intact," he said.
"In isolation, any team that loses a player of Alex Rance's capability is going to be worse off, but the one thing I do know about Richmond is they've got a method with how they play. People have always known what Richmond do, but they're just so good at it. The hardest thing is trying to stop it."
With Dylan Grimes suspended and Bachar Houli injured, the Tigers' back six will be further depleted against the Giants, meaning Davis' hypothesis will be put to the ultimate test.
At the other end of the ground, Riewoldt - arguably Richmond's spiritual leader - will also leave a big hole. "It's going to be a bit of a different look," Cameron said.
The bad news for GWS is that hole will be filled by Tom Lynch, another of the AFL's premier spearheads. "Tom probably relies on the contested mark a little bit more than what Jack does ... but when you get to this pointy end of the best forwards in the game, they're pretty good at everything," Davis said. "Last year they played one key forward ... that's the look they had in their premiership year."
The Giants, who welcome back Josh Kelly for his first game of the season and ruckman Shane Mumford for his first since retirement, go into the match as favourites and with a point of their own to prove after a disappointing defeat to premiers West Coast last weekend.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/afl/no-rance-no-riewoldt-can-the-giants-take-advantage-20190405-p51bb7.html
