muzhogg
Club Legend
- Sep 9, 2017
- 2,092
- 10,012
- AFL Club
- Richmond
Interesting comment from an article on the AFL website. You wouldn't have picked this during the H&A season.
THE TIGERS ARE WINNING OUT OF THE MIDDLE
Just when you thought Richmond wasn't already hard to beat, the Tigers have now become an elite centre clearance side as well. Richmond had a centre clearance differential of -1.7 during the home-and-away season, ranked 16th in the League. However, during the finals series, that differential has improved to +8.0. It's the best of any finals side by some distance. The improvement was noticeable during last weekend's preliminary final win. In a round 11 loss to Port Adelaide, Richmond lost the centre clearance battle 5-20. On Friday night, the Tigers won the centre clearance battle 11-4 against the same opposition and subsequently won the match. The turnaround has come at the perfect time, given the location of this year's Grand Final. A series of past Brisbane players and coaches have spoken publicly about the importance of winning centre clearances at a Gabba ground that is second only to the SCG for the shortest in length in Australia. Winning that contest from the centre on Saturday night could therefore be pivotal to winning the territory battle, and maybe even the premiership itself.
THE TIGERS ARE WINNING OUT OF THE MIDDLE
Just when you thought Richmond wasn't already hard to beat, the Tigers have now become an elite centre clearance side as well. Richmond had a centre clearance differential of -1.7 during the home-and-away season, ranked 16th in the League. However, during the finals series, that differential has improved to +8.0. It's the best of any finals side by some distance. The improvement was noticeable during last weekend's preliminary final win. In a round 11 loss to Port Adelaide, Richmond lost the centre clearance battle 5-20. On Friday night, the Tigers won the centre clearance battle 11-4 against the same opposition and subsequently won the match. The turnaround has come at the perfect time, given the location of this year's Grand Final. A series of past Brisbane players and coaches have spoken publicly about the importance of winning centre clearances at a Gabba ground that is second only to the SCG for the shortest in length in Australia. Winning that contest from the centre on Saturday night could therefore be pivotal to winning the territory battle, and maybe even the premiership itself.