One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on April 23, 2005, 03:52:56 AM
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Richo v Gehrig showdown
23 April 2005
Herald Sun
Rebecca Williams
Matthew Richardson and Fraser Gehrig go head-to-head tomorrow evening. Rebecca Williams asks four former defenders how they'd play them and ...
STEPHEN SILVAGNI
ON RICHARDSON:
"ONE of his real strengths is his athleticism. He also has an inch or two on defenders so he's pretty tough to match up. There was a time when people believed he got a lot of his ball up on the wing and that he'd lead very long. Some teams let him have that space and let him get his ball up the ground. I always felt that you needed to stay with him, to try and suffocate him in a sense because he's the type of player who, if he gets early touches, his confidence does grow. I think he's a better kick from about 50-55m out than he probably is closer in."
ON GEHRIG:
"I'VE got no doubt he's a much improved player over the last three to four years. He had really good seasons over in Western Australia, but he just has a presence up forward now. He's so strong and he's maintained his speed. There wouldn't be too many defenders, physically, who could really outbody him. Given the fact that he missed a bit of the pre-season with a bit of an injury, you might look at his endurance. Try and run him up the ground and take him out of the full-forward post and try and wear him out."
SUMMARY:
"YOU could not compare them because, on their day, they're both capable of kicking 10 goals. They both had good games last week so they both go in in really good form and full of confidence."
STEPHEN PAXMAN
ON RICHARDSON:
"MATTY'S very strong, so the key in marking contests is not to get into too many bustling duels. But he's also got the ability to run so you need to be fit as well. The best thing with Matthew is to try and get on top of him early. But probably the biggest thing with beating him is to ensure the supply to him is limited. Obviously with his kicking, get him to have his shot on the boundary side (rather) than in the middle. On the mental side of things, he looks like he has improved."
ON GEHRIG:
"HE'S very strong and also very left-sided so you need to force Fraser to the right. He does kick his goals from the left-hand side of the ground because he naturally swings it from left to right so that's a more difficult pocket to kick from. When he does get it, you always need to look to make sure that he's not going to swing around and play on on that left-foot when he's about 50m out. He's a very good body player, but he's also very quick on the lead. If Fraser is down early, it makes it a bit easier to keep him down."
SUMMARY:
"AS STRONG as Fraser is, I think Matthew is probably a bit better one-on-one. Fraser doesn't out-bustle as many opponents as I think Matthew does. Richo's just got the aerobic ability which Fraser hasn't got. I'd say Richo will kick the most, but I think St Kilda will win."
MATTHEW CROFT
ON RICHARDSON:
"HE IS so quick on the lead, he makes such long, strong leads that you just have to do everything you can to try and fool his lead from the start. If you think you are just going to trail beside him or beside his shoulder and be at the ball when he's at the ball, you've got another surprise coming. The best thing you can do is try and put a lot of pressure on him early. He's got very good hands and he's got the ability to run all day, too, he's very fit. He can get upset with the umpires and even his teammates.
ON GEHRIG:
"IN STRAIGHT line movement, Gehrig is very good like that, too. On a big, long, sustained lead, with his pace he just seems to get away from backmen. Again, I think you've just got to work on him early and try and fool his lead for as long as you can, so it makes it hard for the ball-carrier. You've just got to do your best to get him a little frustrated and off his game because if he gets a good start, you're going to be in for a hectic day. One thing in Gehrig's favour is that he has become a fair bit more consistent."
SUMMARY:
"I'D probably think Richo would be a little bit more damaging, but Gehrig has had two outstanding years. It's like picking a lottery, one of them could have a really good day and the other could be down and out."
MICK MARTYN
ON RICHARDSON:
"HIS strength is his fitness and ability to cover a lot of ground and he's got great height and strength. His leading ability is also good. He can probably cover a lot of ground unnecessarily, but certainly that's one of his strengths. I suppose his weakness at the minute is his conversion rate. He can also be very uncharacteristic with his mistakes, which is pretty well documented. If you've got a decent stuff you can rely on them to man him or match him up. But if they don't, they have to play a man back. You've just got to give him no space to lead into."
ON GEHRIG:
"HE'S a pretty talented player. He's obviously got good height and strength. He doesn't travel as far as Matty does, he doesn't have the fitness with the injuries that he's had. Again, unless you've got someone with good size and strength down back you have to rely on other players dropping back, playing a supporting role. When he's on fire, he's hard to stop and when he's not, he can get a bit frustrated so again you've got to try and shut him down early."
SUMMARY:
"They're both quality forwards and on any given day they can cut loose and kick goals. I suppose Matty Richardson (probably troubled me more), in the very early days. I'd probably say Fraser will come out on top. It's going to be a tough ask for Darren Gaspar."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,15053892%255E19771,00.html
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A Saints supporter on the way home on the train after the Freo game mentioned the similarities between Richo and Gehrig. Like they both have in the past shown their frustrations publicly and have produced both brilliance and comedic clangers with the footy.
I think Richo's got his emotions more under control now than Gehrig has. Gehrig still appears he could pop. Richo seems more focussed over the past 18 months and pleasingly he gets on with the game even if a bad decision goes against him (like Parker getting a free) or he makes a mistake.
I don't have the stats but you wouldn't think the conversion rates of each would be that much different. Gehrig's "airy" in the goalsquare last week was hard to beat in the comedy stakes ;D.
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MT K H D Avg M Avg HO Avg T Avg
Fraser Gehrig 195 1635 736 2371 12.2 1039 5.3 133 0.7 161 0.8
FF FA G Avg B SC
99 134 343 1.8 171 2229
MT K H D Avg M Avg HO Avg T
Matthew Richardson 198 2085 568 2653 13.4 1513 7.6 56 0.3 83
Avg FF FA G Avg B SC
0.4 146 174 595 3 392 3962
Career stats for both players MT
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Matthew Richardsons record against the Saints
MT Versus K H D Avg M Avg HO Avg T Avg FF FA G
13 St Kilda 109 28 137 10.5 81 6.2 2 0.2 9 0.7 6 10 39
Avg B SC Rat Avg
3 16 250 890 68.5
Fraser Gehrig's record against Richmond
MT Versus K H D Avg M Avg HO Avg T Avg FF FA G
9 Richmond 77 41 118 13.1 55 6.1 2 0.2 5 0.6 9 3 13
Avg B SC Rat Avg
1.4 8 86 586 65.1
Clearly by the Stats Richo has the upper hand.
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Richos time has come :thumbsup
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Thanks for that RR.
Yeah from a career comparison there's no comparison. Richo walks all over Gehrig. It's only the past couple of years that Gehrig has played to an elite level. From memory he was very inconsistent at the Eagles and played in defence didn't he when he first arrived at the Saints.
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Season MT Team G Avg
2005 4 St Kilda 11 2.8
2004 23 St Kilda 103 4.5
2003 21 St Kilda 55 2.6
2002 12 St Kilda 12 1
2001 20 St Kilda 3 0.2
2000 19 West Coast 34 1.8
1999 11 West Coast 19 1.7
1998 23 West Coast 42 1.8
1997 22 West Coast 31 1.4
1996 24 West Coast 12 0.5
1995 16 West Coast 21 1.3
Kicked a few goals for the drink coasters but nothing really big, then looks like went over to the Saints a played a few years in defence then went forward. Last year best by a long stretch
Totals 195 343 1.8
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Season MT G Avg
1993 14 31 2.2 (debut round 7)
1994 19 56 2.9
1995 9 27 3.0 (ACL knee) - had only kicked 3 behinds as well.
1996 22 91 4.1
1997 19 47 2.5
1998 16 55 3.4
1999 20 67 3.3
2000 3 13 4.3 (foot fracture)
2001 22 59 2.7
2002 13 36 2.7 (hamstring)
2003 19 33 1.7
2004 18 65 3.5
2005 4 16 4.0
Total 198 596 3.0
2003 and last year were the only years Gehrig averaged higher than Richo thanks to Ball, Dal Santo and co pumping the ball down Gehrig's throat and Spud's non-exisitent gameplan. There would be daylight between our and the Saints inside 50 stats in those years :banghead.
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Kicked in the head
Martin Blake
The Age
April 24, 2005
AFL footballers are faster, taller and stronger than ever before. Their skills are more polished. Yet there’s still every chance they will kick it out of bounds from 30 metres out, directly in front. Why? Martin Blake investigates
Goalkicking, the most fundamental skill of the game, is a facet of Australian football that does not seem to improve, notwithstanding the professionalism of the players and the better conditions presented to them. Recent statistics support the theory.
Five years ago, AFL teams were converting 57.1 per cent of shots on
goal. In 2005 thus far, the rate is 55.4.In 2003, it was 53.3 per cent.
Anecdotally, there is evidence to suggest that players are better at their snap shots, their Daicosian dribblers from tight angles and their banana kicks from a pocket, than they used to be. But they still miss set shots from inside 50 metres more often than just about any observer would want.
It drives people like Mark Maclure mad as well. Maclure, the former Carlton premiership centre halfforward who works as an ABC commentator nowadays, finds it inexplicable that it is still a problem in the modern era.
“My thoughts are that it’s mental,” he said this week. “Plus it’s about our recruiting. We’ve brought these athletes into the game — not all of them, but a higher percentage — and their techniques are flawed.
“They’re not pure footballers, and they don’t do it naturally. When you manufacture a kicking style, it’s always going to be flawed and that will come out under pressure.”
Hudson, who bagged 727 goals for Hawthorn, including a record-equalling 150 in 1971, finds it hard to stomach. “I’m not one of these people who lives in the past,” he said.
“I think footy’s better now than it was when I played. The players are more skilful. But my big frustration is the lack of remorse we see when a player misses. They don’t seem to grasp the importance of kicking the goal.
“In footy, the one you miss is the one you never catch up on. From 25 or 30 metres, a professional footballer shouldn’t miss that. If he does, he should be going into the room of mirrors and asking himself why he missed it.”
Goalkicking will always be an imperfect science, a little like putting in golf, but it’s a matter of how much margin for error you allow. Even the greatest of them all, Tony Lockett, was only a 70 per cent conversion man.
Of the present-day forwards, Matthew Lloyd’s 69 per cent is the best, and the likes of Daniel Bradshaw, Brendan Fevola and Fraser Gehrig are outstanding as well.
Then there are the flawed ones, such as Richmond’s Matthew Richardson, who is never a certainty. When Richardson missed a set shot from 15 metres out, directly in front against Sydney at the MCG last year, there was widespread mirth in the crowd and even the good-natured“Richo” could not resist a smirk.
But Richardson at least averages 60 per cent conversion, which is better than Chris Grant (59) and Tarrant (58), examples of superb overall kicks who can tend to freeze up in front of the sticks.
“The reason people have gone on about it is that when I’ve missed, it’s tended to be a good one,” said Richardson, who has shortened his run by half this year as part of the tinkering process. “It perpetuates a bit of a myth, I reckon. But I’m well past cracking the poohs about it. If I miss, I just want to get the next one.”
Everyone practises goalkicking at training as a matter of course. Lloyd said last week he had at least 100 shots on goal in a normal week, and Richardson, who needs four goals this weekend to reach a career tally of 600, averages between 50 and 100 shots.
But there’s a problem in this. “It’s impossible to duplicate a game-day situation at training,” Richardson said. “There’s no pressure, no noise, no one mouthing off at you. That’s the problem.
“All you can do is practise your routine. And sometimes it depends how much other training you’ve done.”
Richardson extracted his routine from one of his Richmond predecessors, Michael Roach, who in turn got it from Royce Hart. It’s not groundbreaking stuff: pick a mark behind the goals and aim for it,
trying to run straight.
The Tiger cut his run-up to 13 paces this year, he said, “because I was giving myself too much time to think about it”.
Which explains much of the problem in this science. It’s all very well to practise, says Maclure, but you need to do it on the day. “The brain kicks in,” he said. “And that’s a problem for most of us.”
MOST ACCURATE GOALKICKERS OF THE MODERN ERA
Tony Lockett (StK/Syd) 70%
Matthew Lloyd (Ess) 69
Peter Hudson (Haw) 69
Michael Roach (Rich) 66
Jason Dunstall (Haw) 66
Peter McKenna (Coll/Carl) 66
Tony Modra (Adel/Frem) 66
* Only includes players who kicked at least 400 goals.
## Statistics not available for some players.
SOME CURRENT DAY OTHERS
Fraser Gehrig (WC/StK) 67%
Saverio Rocca (Coll/Kang) 65
David Neitz (Melb) 62
Barry Hall (StK/Syd) 62
Matthew Richardson (Rich) 60
Warren Tredrea (Port) 59
Chris Grant (WB) 59
Chris Tarrant (Coll) 58
– information supplied by Prowess statistics
RATING THE GOALKICKERS
WHAT THE ALL-TIME GREATS SAY ABOUT SOME OF TODAY’S SPEARHEADS
MATTHEW RICHARDSON (RICH)
“It’s a confidence thing with him. He hasn’t got a perfect technique because he’s got a bit of a high drop, so it comes down to how confident he is.’’
- JASON DUNSTALL
FRASER GEHRIG (ST K)
“It’s funny, he’s got this stuttery run sometimes. But he gets the job done most of the time.’’
– JASON DUNSTALL
* Peter Hudson kicked 727 goals for Hawthorn and owns the highest goal average (5.64) in league history.
Jason Dunstall kicked 1254 goals for Hawthorn, the third highest career tally in football history.
Full Article: http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/04/24/1114152375504.html