Dimma's dissection for the round 10 win over Fremantle
VIDEO:
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/2015-06-11/dimmas-dissection-r10----------------------------------------------------------------
Q. It appears more than a coincidence that the Tigers play well on the road. Without giving secrets away, is there a factor behind this, a strategy or a process that focuses the group on the challenge at hand OR they just enjoy the road trip?Dimma: You're right, we've had a good record interstate over the past 2-3 years. We do follow the exact process we use week in, week out with our travel. We fly late, we train, have dinner and then basically go to bed; then up the next day and play. It's worked really well for us. Our sports science staff work incredibly hard with the players to make sure they're hydrated, they get enough sleep and their nutrition is spot on as well. We generally have a meeting over there on the day of the game which keeps our players in good stead. We're really pleased with the guys' ability to travel. It's really important as those interstate matches are effectively 8 point games as you're not expected to win the majority of them. So for us to beat Brisbane, Port and Freo has been a really good result for us thus far.
Q. The move of Steve Morris forward has been controversial from our side of the fence. A little more hungry on Friday night and he might have kicked three or four goals. Then you switched him back in Q4, why?Dimma: It has been a move that, at times, has attracted attention from the media and fans, but what we felt we needed up forward 50 was a defensive presence and Steve Morris gives us that in spades. His ability to create turnovers which we score off is very good - one of the highest at our footy club. He promotes great endeavour and intensity inside that forward 50. You're exactly right, we had to send a message at one stage to stop being a little too unselfish. There was probably three stages where he could've kicked a goal. He got the ball out 20m from goal and then ran 30m the wrong way to give off a handball to a teammate when he should have had a shot at goal. Then there was one where he tried to snap around his body a 20m pass when he was probably entitled to have a shot also. We've been pleased with is effort. We break the game down in stages - his ability to defend has been good; his ability to compete has been good; probably from an offence point of view, he has been below what we would've liked but we're seeing some trending upwards in that. He had a really good game on the weekend and we expect that to continue. If whe can get 2-3 goals for us then that's a massive result for us. So overall, it's trending in the right direction.
Q. Looks like the 3 talls are starting to click. Could we see Ty, Liam and Griff all in the side with Jack further up the field?Dimma:Not at this stage from our point of view. Although, they are different types of players - Liam is more like Jack in that he has the ability to go down the ground and capable at ground level. His contested marking probably has to improve from that point of view. We don't see those four playing in the same side at this stage. The three talls worked really well on the weekend. Is it going to work going forward? We hope so. We think it provides us with a great target inside forward 50. It allows Jack more freedom up the ground. You only need to look at his workrate where he covered 13km on the weekend which is a great result for us. He's not only providing a target across half-forward but his ball use inside forward 50 is very good also and he has managed to chip in with a couple of goals of his own. I thought Ty and Griff were terrific at various stages throughout the game and, more importantly, hitting the scoreboard with Ty kicking three important goals and Griff two (plus he also missed what should have been a soda on the night). Pleasing for us they are providing good defensive pressure and hitting the scoreboard.
Q. A few times in the past weeks, we've not taken the ball over the boundary when we should have. It can be costly. Should we be putting more focus on our stoppages play and causing more throw-ins?Dimma: [Laughs while reading the question, so it must have been right on the mark].
You make a great point. You were lucky you weren't privy to the box conversation where we were 1mm from the boundary on defensive 50, kept it in and we turned it over costing us a goal. You're right, it's happened a few times in recent weeks. We've probably been disappointed with that phase of our play. One thing that did go against us was we were playing against a side with Sandilands and Fyfe who are both very good stoppage-wise. So we probably didn't want to create too many stoppages as we knew it would come. From our point of view, it wasn't a stoppage focus game but we had to make sure we killed that dangerous ball in a couple of situations. We also made a couple of goal-line errors as well. Look, it is something we focus on and something we continue to improve and it's our job as coaches to make sure that happens.
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* The plan was carried out. Our players were not only terrific in their intensity and effort but also their diligence in carrying out the plan to beat Freo. Credit to the players and the leaders.
* It was a good week. Always good to win. From our point of view, we're 6-4 with still an enormous challenge in front of us. We still feel we have a lot of improvement left in front of us. We'll enjoy the week off but our players will train both days this weekend.
