Why Richmond Tigers must improve rapidly if they are to make 2016 AFL finals series in SeptemberTom Morris
Foxsports
April 3, 2016WHAT is Richmond?
Are they premiership contenders, finals aspirants or simply making up the numbers?
On the evidence of the last two weeks, it would appear the Tigers are more the latter than the first two.
In Round 1, they narrowly defeated Carlton. On Friday night, Damien Hardwick’s men lost an error-riddled game to the Magpies by a solitary point.
Yet in fairness, a draw would have been an appropriate result such was the sloppiness of the game.
Even Nathan Buckley admitted Collingwood is “so far away” from where they want to be. But based on Friday night’s data, the Magpies are ahead of their Punt Road neighbours — if only by a whisker.
The harsh reality is Richmond’s premiership window is now. They aren’t planning for 2018 like Melbourne or St Kilda. They expect to be challenging now.
Only they’re not.
Richmond’s window is not in any immediate danger of closing — say in the mould of North Melbourne or even Hawthorn — rather it’s their propensity to waste three consecutive September opportunities that is most troubling. It won’t be open forever.
But in assessing the Tigers’ position, it’s first important to look at their list demographic.
Firstly, they have fewer players aged under 21 than any other club, indicating a conscious shift towards trading and drafting for the now rather than the future.
For further evidence, look no further than the 2011,12,13 and 14 rookie drafts.
In each of these intakes, the Tigers have acquired nine players and each of these nine has played at least one senior game, but only one has reached 50 matches.
And these rookies weren’t teenagers searching for a lifeline, rather mature-age recruits such as Ricky Petterd, Brad Miller, Matt Thomas and Orren Stephenson.
Only Anthony Miles has found a regular position in the team. The midfielder is also the only one of this nine that remains on the list.
So considering Richmond’s push to bring in Essendon-style top-ups, shouldn’t its premiership aspirations be immediate? The answer is of course yes — not that you’d know it from the first two rounds of the season.
Moreover, Champion Data rates their top eight players as elite, but their depth is far from top echelon.
In 2015, Tiger players ranked 17-22 by Champion Data had the fifth worst rating of any club in the AFL, illustrating this deficiency in their spread of talent.
In other words, having Brett Deledio, Jack Riewoldt, Dustin Martin and Alex Rance is all well and good, but they need more help.
It’s these so-called ‘mid-ranked’ players that continue to cost Richmond.
On Friday night, it was Shaun Grigg who Damien Hardwick singled out. Grigg may have accumulated 30 disposals for the evening, but in the critical moment, he failed.
“I thought we played some really unintelligent footy towards the end,” Damien Hardwick lamented post-match.
“Shaun Grigg, with a minute-and-a-half to go, has a long shot from outside 50 and we play on.
“From a situation like that, we never do that.”
Cast your mind back to last June, when similarly rated Tiger Bachar Houli made a poor mistake in the dying seconds of his team’s loss to Fremantle at the MCG.
At least on Friday night, faced with an almost identical scenario, the skilful left-footer played on from full-back and booted the Sherrin long and away from danger.
Although these incidents are isolated events within games, as a pattern they paint a bleak picture for a club that is starved of finals success despite finishing in the top eight in each of the past three seasons.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
At 1-1, Richmond’s season is hardly teetering on the brink — although dates with Adelaide and West Coast in Rounds 3 and 4 complicate matters somewhat. And seven ordinary quarters out of eight does not exactly fill the Richmond faithful with hope at this early stage.
“It’s a tough game,” Hardwick said.
“Collingwood had some players out and we had some guys out. I still thought we had enough players to win the game.
“We’ve got to battle and hang tough … and get back on track.”
Maybe this last quote illustrates the underlying issue for the Tigers.
Much like Hardwick the player, they have become accustomed to scratching and clawing under Hardwick the coach.
If dare and flair is how games will be won this year, then Richmond is well off the mark.
Admittedly, the Tigers will continue to fight, but the very best teams rise above weekly cage fights.
Sure, Hawthorn, Sydney and West Coast are prepared to lock horns with their opposition and battle for the four points to the bitter end, but in the vast majority of their games, they don’t give the other team a sniff in the first place.
And once these top teams are in front — even by a couple of goals — they rarely let the opposition back in the contest.
They are ruthlessly efficient. The same cannot be said for Richmond, who lack proficiency — which hurt them against the Magpies.
Maybe they are saving their best for September?
Based on Rounds 1 and 2, something needs to change if they are to progress beyond August.
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