tgrs
Norm Smith Medallist
- Aug 27, 2014
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Round 20, 2016. Richmond vs Collingwood @ MCG
Hi
Hi
The year of football is finally reaching the sticky end of the season. Finals are looming around the corner for seven impressive footballing sides and North Melbourne. A surprisingly open top eight could still potentially change massively before the end of the home and away season. Footy fans are watching eagerly to see who will clinch the revered home final spots. Unfortunately for supporters of both clubs; (and the AFL's scheduling team) watching the Tigers take on the Magpies in the blockbuster Friday night time slot should prove to be relatively uninspiring; the fervour of a fantastic season of footy fading early for the two big Melbourne clubs.
Season so far
Collingwood and Richmond both entered 2016 with high expectations and even bigger aspirations. The inter club rivalry was fuelled by the signing of Adam Treloar to the Collingwood football club; with Richmond known to have been in hot pursuit of the star player as well. The Decision came down to the quality of each list; Treloar stated he believed the Magpies better placed for finals and completed a trade to the Holden Centre. Richmond star Brett Deledio hit back with an assessment of his own during pre season; confident in the tigers ability to prove him wrong and improve upon last season which saw them clinch 5th spot. The scene had been set for a thrilling fight throughout the season for two clubs with the belief they would be mixing it up in September and were a chance for the ultimate prize.
How wrong they were.
Round 20, 2016; a month of regular football left before the horrible sides are scrapped and it’s safe to say neither team has shown anywhere near what was expected of themselves or by their supporters. Some delusional Magpie fans genuinely believe they’ve turned the corner after a ‘gutsy’ win last weekend over an Eagles team whose away form woes are now only comparable to the Lions putrid home game efforts. Gold Coast Sun’s general terribleness compounded by a massive injury list still has them sitting only marginally lower than the rubbish usually brought to the table by an 8-win Collingwood side whose back line is practically non-existent, midfield almost the most under performing of the competition (save that for later) and forward line that is just that one Travis Cloke type player who isn’t Travis Cloke from being semi - competent until you remember the go to small forward is Jarryd Blair.
This is the part where that one magpie person on the tigers board (screw you) will chirp up and say; “But hey! tgrs, at least we won OUR game and we sit ABOVE you on the ladder so take your Colliwobble bashing elsewhere”.
And to them I say…well I’m not really sure how to respond to that. It’s been such a long time since tigers fans have faced this problem, 2012 in fact, that we'd forgotten how it felt to be placed below the Pies (and only one win above a team whose playing team resembles a hospital admittance list).
Well, unsurprisingly, it’s not great.
If that damning fact isn’t motivation for the tigers to get up and about on Friday Night in front of an always great MCG home crowd, despite the disappointing season, I’m not sure what will; although I do know it isn’t Damien Hardwick's pre game speeches.
That brings me to Richmond, where disappointing is an understatement when describing the quantity of quality football coming out of Punt Road Oval in the first 19 rounds. 7 wins and a good 10 percent percentage behind the Pies, the tigers can hold their heads high as the most under performing team in the competition perhaps bar Fyfeless Freo. A disappointing opening round 'feels like a loss' to Carlton in retrospect squares as the Tigers 2nd most impressive win for the entire year; the thrilling victory against Sydney and "LLLLLLOOOOOOOYYYYYDDDDDD!!!!!" the greatest highlight by far of a frustrating season which saw the Tiges start a dismal 1-6 and play some truly ugly footy scarily consistently.
The terrible side of the tigers was on display once again last week; copping a season high 88 point shellacking at the hands of a skilful GWS side that only two years ago were on the reverse end of the thumping. At times, the weekend resembled a training drill for the Giants; the speed and skill level of each side startlingly apparent and the 3.5 scoreline the Tiger's lowest score production from a forward line that has finally reached rock bottom after faltering from round 1, and both on paper and on field looks one of the weakest in the competition.
Line Ups - Richmond
B: Rance, Astbury, Grimes
HB: Short, Hunt, B. Ellis
C: A. Moore, Miles, Cotchin
HF: Martin, Rioli, Markov
F: Riewoldt, Lloyd, Vickery
R: Hampson, Grigg, Vlastuin
IC: Drummond, Houli, Griffiths, Marcon
Em: Townsend, Lambert, Menadue
In: A. Moore, Griffiths
Out: Conca (hamstring), Lambert
B: Rance, Astbury, Grimes
HB: Short, Hunt, B. Ellis
C: A. Moore, Miles, Cotchin
HF: Martin, Rioli, Markov
F: Riewoldt, Lloyd, Vickery
R: Hampson, Grigg, Vlastuin
IC: Drummond, Houli, Griffiths, Marcon
Em: Townsend, Lambert, Menadue
In: A. Moore, Griffiths
Out: Conca (hamstring), Lambert
Milestone: Dustin Martin, 150th game
Line Ups - Collingwood
IN: Jarryd Blair, Mason Cox
OUT: Darcy Moore (hamstring), Jordan De Goey (omitted)
B: Jonathon Marsh, Nathan Brown, Jeremy Howe
HB: Josh Smith, Ben Reid, Brayden Maynard
C: Steele Sidebottom, Adam Treloar, James Aish
HF: Rupert Wills, Travis Cloke, Travis Varcoe
F: Mason Cox, Jesse White, Ben Crocker
Foll: Brodie Grundy, Scott Pendlebury, Taylor Adams
Int: Jarryd Blair, Levi Greenwood, Jack Crisp, Marley Williams
Emg: Jordan De Goey, Tyson Goldsack, Adam Oxley
Players to watch - Richmond
Dustin Martin
Dustin Martin has continued his terrific AFL career by improving dramatically again this season. 'Dusty' is in career best form and is a lock to win his first Best and Fairest this year, whilst in a better performing team would even have been a shout for the Brownlow. When Richmond were getting thumped last week it was Dusty who, once again, tried to impact the game and carry his teammates with his running, skill and ferocity. This year there has only been 2 superstars in the Yellow and Black (Trossman too); and even then Martin has been doing a lot of heavy lifting alone this season. Any Richmond fan would be forgiven for focusing in on the one player who never lets the jumper hit the ground and still has that natural flair that makes him such a damaging, classy player.
Oleg Markov
Oleg has been an exciting addition to the team since making his debut against the Bulldogs in Round 16. He completed that game with 18 disposals at 83% disposal efficiency and his kept his spot since, scoring his first goal in football against Essendon the following week which was another highlight for the Richmond faithful. On Saturday against GWS, Markov had a quieter game with only 9 disposals, notable only for two reasons; giving Stevie J a little dust up around the ear early on and then hilariously yelling at Johnson for being soft and being part of a defence that conceded 17 goals. If Damien sticks with his intended plan of playing the kids; it would be great to see Oleg bounce back with a brilliant effort this week against the Wobbles and gain some confidence and composure with an efficiency rivalling his first game.
Trent Cotchin
'Cotch' had a weak outing against GWS; unable to break free of the loose tag on him all day and unable to inspire any sort of coherency and flow to the tigers game; he was well beaten. As captain of the footy club he lowered his colours and that of the clubs in a poor display of leadership. The most insipid stat of Cotchin's game was that he laid 0 tackles on a day where Richmond lacked any form of intensity or toughness at the contest and as a leader Cotch would be the first to acknowledge the team trend starts with him. Trent has been good if not a little underwhelming for the whole season and displayed his skill and talent this year without having as much an impact as Richmond would like. This week, hopefully 'Cotchy' explodes out of the gates early and comes into the game with a point to prove. Seeing him up forward with a couple goals as well as his usual workmanship through the middle would definitely help the Tigers chances of getting across the line.
Players to watch - Collingwood
Scott Pendlebury
Pendlebury started inconsistently in 2016; a couple of niggles perhaps relating to some quieter games but hit his straps in the middle of the season and has been building yet another impressive stat sheet as Captain whilst his team fails to justify the hype of being seen as a Final's contender each year. If 'Pendles' had less baggage around him in the midfield the pies might have won a few more games this year. The time and space he seems to have in close quarters is elite and Richmond will need to pay close attention to him to stop his influence from giving the Pies the upper hand in the midfield battle.
Rupert Wills
This bloke came into Collingwood's side last week much like Adam Marcon did for the tigers but, unlike Adam, played his role in an important win for the context of their season. Wills managed to accrue 17 disposals (one more than Adam) and 11 tackles (6 more than Adam) in his first game which also broke records as the most tackles on debut. Tackling being a forgotten art at Richmond (good effort to Adam for 5 on his debut) this blokes dedication to helping his teammates through aggression at the ball is commendable in his first game and it will be interesting to see how he backs it up on Friday.
Jesse White
Sometimes it's just nice to know you're not the only team with spuds.
How Richmond can win:
Richmond's back line has been under bombardment all season. 64 Inside 50's last week for GWS indicating how much time the ball spends down there, whilst conversely, our forward line has struggled for opportunities; 3.5 a harsh realisation of how little it spends up there. In the middle our team looks reasonably strong on paper but throughout this season has been consistently poor. Richmond's midfield group has been the most disappointing in the competition when the team set up breaks down. With games being increasingly won out of the middle; the RFC game plan has struggled to adjust to a faster more free flowing style of footy that has resulted in too many helicopter hand passes and lofted kicks putting pressure on players in the middle resulting in significant turnover scores. If Richmond can win the midfield battle with good games from Cotch, Dusty (thats a given)and players like Miles, Griggs, Bellis and Conca pulling their weight; more supply to the forward line could see us kicking a winning score.
How Collingwood can win:
Fresh from a demoralising thrashing where the ball never seemed to move to the other end, Richmond's back line could be mentally susceptible to a hot start from the Magpies in front of goal. Physically, Richmond seems slightly undersized to combat the height of the Pies on all fronts. Alex Rance will shut out his opponent without question but Astbury and Grimes will have to play well to hold the other two of Cloke, White and Moore (if he plays) to minimal goal scoring contributions. Their small forwards can also apparently be dangerous against us whilst usually being rather ineffectual; Fasolo's best game of the season came in Round 2 against the tigers where he kicked five, it might not be him this time after a meagre 4 disposals in his last game but one of their pesky smalls could get off the handle and cause havoc.
Summary:
After the nail biting thriller that came down to a Vlastuin deliberate and Grundy toe poke, it would be great to see us get one back in a close game where Cotch can finally make some smart arse comment to Treloar without it backfiring on him.
Tiges by 5.
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