Tigers turn back the clockRohan Connolly
The Age
May 16, 2016Sam Lloyd joined an illustrious club on Saturday night, of players who have lived the boyhood dream and steered their teams to victory with a goal after the final siren.
This was one of the better entries to that pantheon, too. The Richmond forward had marked 45 metres out on about a 50 degree angle, but when ball met boot he was only a step inside the paint of the 50-metre arc. He hit it flush, and it never looked like missing.
Cue mayhem, Richmond's second win of the season, against a highly-rated opponent, and temporarily at least, the relief of what had been mounting pressure not only on coach Damien Hardwick, but his assistant coaches and the Tigers' recruiting, development, even their administration.
There's still time for Richmond to revive their season. The Tigers play the winless Fremantle in Perth this week (where they've won three of their last four road trips), then Essendon. A 2-6 record could easily become 4-6 before a huge game against North Melbourne.
But what you'd hope will be a far bigger focus at Punt Road this week than the final kick of Saturday night's thriller is the 30 minutes or so leading up to it.
Because that gave us a Richmond who, with essentially nothing left to lose, finally released the handbrake and played a brand of football capable of mixing it with the sort of game, and the sort of teams, who are going to prevail in 2016.
The Tigers' last-quarter effort of 7.3 was by some margin their highest-scoring of this season. But it was the way they scored that was just as significant. They had five goals on the board in under eight minutes, a key quick, clean possession out of the middle thanks to the efforts of Shaun Hampson in the ruck.
At the same time, they were also far more economical in their ball use. The last term was Richmond's second best quarter all year for disposals per scoring shots (8.56 disposals per score).
The Tigers effectively threw caution to the wind and took the game on with run and carry. And it should serve as a template for the sort of football they attempt to play for the rest of this season, whatever happens.
This was more reminiscent of the Richmond of 2013, a more exciting version of Hardwick's Tigers that we've seldom seen since, even on their good days a far more cautious, deliberate and slow-moving outfit.
That year, they had the balance of attack and defence about right, still defensively sound enough to concede the third-fewest points of any team, but also managing to finish fifth for points scored.
Perhaps that infamous elimination final loss to Carlton, in which the Tigers gave up a five-goal-plus lead to lose by 20 points, spooked them into shoring up their defences further. But in retrospect, it's always looked a little like the baby was thrown out with the bathwater.
Richmond haven't been sufficiently skilled enough to consistently pick their way through opposing defences with slower, precise ball movement, turnovers costing them scores and opening the door for scores against. The numbers back it up.
In 2013, the Tigers ranked eighth in the AFL for their mark and play-on percentage. The following year, that dropped to 10th. By last season, Richmond marked then played on less than any other team, ranked 18th.
Offensively, they've never really recovered. That fifth for points scored became 11th in 2014. Last year, the Tigers managed to regain their defensive steel for a ranking of third in points against. But still they were dragging their heels on the scoreboard, ranked ninth. Five of the six teams that finished above Richmond on the final season ladder also scored more.
Why? Well, to be blunt, buggering around with the football doesn't help much.
Richmond currently rank just 13th for disposals per scoring shots. The Western Bulldogs, travelling much better in 2016, rank even lower. But the Dogs also defend well. Before this round, no team had conceded fewer points nor made their opponents rack up as many possessions for a score as the Bulldogs.
Richmond's equivalent rankings before Saturday night were 16th and 16th, Saturday night the fifth time in six games the Tigers have conceded 100 points or more. The difference this time was that Hardwick's side, backed into a corner, fought fire with fire. And it worked.
Ben Griffiths isn't going to kick five goals every week. But Jack Riewoldt is capable of booting a lot more than the one he contributed against the Swans. Lloyd is a more-than-handy crumber. Ditto Shane Edwards. And Daniel Rioli, given some space, was able to conjure two goals in that frenetic final term.
They'll all have a better chance of keeping the scoreboard ticking over if Richmond keep backing their attacking instincts, taking the odd risk in order to create scoring opportunities, and avoiding a forward 50 traffic jam.
Another tardy start to a season has Richmond once again playing catch-up. But surely Saturday night's final term was enough evidence that the time for Tiger caution is over. If Hardwick's team is going to go down, it might as well go down not just swinging, but running, bouncing and scoring.
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