Game Day AFL R14 West Coast Eagles vs Richmond Tigers @ Metricon 5.10 pm AWST Thursday 27th of August 2020.

[HoneyBadger35]

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[xInfected_Virus]

Looks like the Eagles are up another flag favourite in Richmond who many reckon they will be a West Coast Eagles vs Richmond Grand Final which hopefully be in Optus on a dry day in front of 60,000 screaming West Coast Eagles fans provided the McGowan government approves phase 5 COVID plan by then.​

Richmond have been in decent form this season with oppo teams flooding their forward line and some of their best 22 players in Prestia, Astbury, Edwards and even Nankervis are out injured whereas we will be missing Yeo and possibly Redden provided we don't want to risk him. Poor F50 entries and accuracy has them against the Giants a game they should've won and they were right in it against then top of the table Port Adelaide (who've already smashed us) until a momentum crushing 100 m penalty cost them the momentum and the game.

In 2018, we exploited their weakness against them using our kick mark style in the dry and smashed them at Optus with Darling in the form of his life kicking six goals against a full strength Richmond defense with Rance, Astbury, Grimes and Broad, Nic Nat also had a field day against Nankervis and made a mockery with Shaun Grigg in the ruck. However in 2019 despite running away against them on the first half but they got the momentum back and the rest of the game has been scrappy as the rain poured down which we only lost by a goal considering how poorly we play in the wet. Soldo smashed Hickey on that day and now will be up against Nic Nat provided they don't rest him yet and Barrass gave two or three goals to them with poor ball use, time for him to make amends and put his horrible end of 2019 form in the garbage bin where it will be incinerated from existence.

Richmond may have 100,000 members but apparently 30,000 of them have four legs.​

How do we defeat them in slippery QLD?

Richmond rely on a system based game plan which involves turnovers and D50 rebounds. Once they turn the ball over, all their players are in position to run out the corridor and the forward line will be opened allowing Riewoldt and Lynch, Dusty and even a small forward free space to lead into with defense unable to set up. Against top of the table Port Adelaide, most of their points came from rebound 50s. The game will be at 7.10 pm AEST and that's when the dew comes out.

We need to smash them in clearances which we should thanks to Nic Nat and be very clean inside 50 where their defense has been pretty leaky so our forwards can capitalize on them. Midfield pressure must be maniac to stop them from using the ball cleanly and force them to kick high to McGovern, Barrass, Rotham and Hurn and kick start our attack from defense. As mentioned since they get a lot of their points from rebound 50s, forward pressure must be elite as much as possible but with a four day break and having to travel to QLD elite pressuring the whole game is pretty much impossible so they needs to be bursts of it and we MUST convert those opportunities when we have the ball. So in that case we're much better off staying inside Richmond's F50 where we can sling shot it out back but not having Jetta's damaging kicks make it a bit harder.

The Port Adelaide exploited them in the clearances and smashed their mids and therefore won the clearances and they also kicked to Dixon who was in great form at the time and so far the only forward to get a hold of gun KPD in Noah Balta and plus they were more harder around the ground and relentlessly pressured them. The way to tear Richmond is to go wider and use the width of the ground and be patient until the corridor is open and we can pounce through them. They prefer sagging off from their man so kicks have to be precise other the tactic will get found out should the kick miss or it's poor and Richmond can use their system to pounce on us.

May edit this part later in the week if I found something but thanks to our legendary master tactician Dylan82.

This is what we need to do on a consistent basis to tear Richmond's system down and allow our forwards opportunities to put the Tigers defense under pressure. This play gave us momentum for the fourth quarter where AhChee took a good mark and kicked straight after the siren to put us within eight points. This has to happen a few times if were, going to beat the Tigers.​

Training must be done with a slippery footy dipped in a bucket of water to help our players handle the wet footy and when that footy gets dried up then another footy dipped in water comes in. When we have to go down the line when there's no one to kick to, someone must fist it out just like in the Geelong game when JK and Darling are outnumbered so they smacked it to the boundary line and then Nic Nat can do his magic at the stoppage where we can win it and get it forward where we MUST lock it in or they'll rebound and score at will.

There needs to be a plan B for wet weather footy since Carlton and GWS were on top of us when it rained we can't continue to kick mark when it's wet. On a dry weather, what would be a clean possession and with the oppo's nearest player being a bit further away from the ball carrier, the ball carrier can make a more clearer decision but when the footy's slippery instead of a clean possession, the ball carrier fumbles it for a bit and now the nearest player to the ball carrier is more closer and the ball carrier has less time to make a decision so great decision making under immense pressure is very important so we need Shuey, Kelly and even Brander to get as much of it, luckily Richmond don't use a tagger so they should be free.

Not having Astbury should help since we can stretch their defense although they maybe tempted to bring Garthwaite in to help combat our tall forward line (oh forgot that Garthwaite's injured).


Key Match ups

Shuey vs Cotchin: This the battle of the captains, whoever gets on top will give their teams a better chance of winning. As I mentioned in the How can we beat Richmond in slippery QLD, Shuey needs to get a lot of the ball so he can use his decision making ability even when he fumbles a bit.

Kennedy vs Balta: I highly rate Noah Balta and even praised him several times on the Noah Balta thread on the Richmond board. Noah Balta is the second coming of Alex Rance and is performing very well in Astbury's absence but Kennedy will be a tough task since Charlie Dixon was the only forward so far to get a hold of him but Balta matches or even beats Kennedy for pace, strength and in the air so he's virtually the perfect match up on Kennedy. JK is back in form so it will be an interesting match up. HJs better threaten to cut JK's supply of Whoppers to make him kick goals against the Alex Rance clone.

HJ's better continue their supply of whoppers to JK if he's going to destroy the Rance clone (Note: This is a Rance 2.0 clone JK must destroy).​

Sheppard vs Dusty (when his forward): Sheppard is pretty much the perfect match up on Dusty and Shep destroyed Toby Greene when he went forward who's still damaging even when coming back (see GWS vs Collingwood 2020). Dusty is one of the best one on one players in the league so Gov and co has to help out and intercept if the ball goes to Dusty, if Shep can kill the contest then it's a big win for us.

Hutch vs Dusty and Cotchin or Kmac: Dusty's ball use has damaged other teams but Dusty doesn't handle a hard tag well. So if Hutch can limit his impact in the midfield then it'll go a long way for us to win this match. If Dusty goes forward then he'll have to either line up on Kmac or Cotchin and also limit their influence because the Tigers do well if they perform so we need Hutch to quell them as well.

Nic Nat and Williams vs Soldo and Nankervis: Soldo smashed Hickey last year but now we'll have AA form Nic Nat to give our mids gold plated service. Soldo has nullified the best rucks in the comp but if Grundy and Gawn can't stop Nic Nat let alone beat him, how on Earth will Soldo stop Nic Nat? Now with Williams in and the Tigers bringing Nankervis back, Williams has to continue the domination left by Nic Nat and also stretch their defense by going forward since Nathan Broad and Davis Astbury aren't back yet and they only have two KPDs in Balta and Grimes. Just hope we can still maintain forward pressure or they'll kill us on the rebound.

Hopefully this will be a regular occurrence against the Tigers and Nic Nat smashes Soldo. Yeah all the GIFs here involve Nic Nat because that's how important he is to our success. This play led us to our first goal of the match where JK kicked the easiest goal.​

McGovern, Barrass and Rotham vs Riewoldt, Lynch and their resting ruck: Now we have Rotham in the side, he frees up McGovern and Barrass just like Schoey did. As I said before, we need to maintain strong pressure so they can set up and make them kick high so McGovern, Barrass and Rotham intercept. Riewoldt and Lynch are finding their form back (just wished we versed them when they were out of form).

Kelly vs Bolton: Tim Kelly is in great form like the days as a Cat but now his even better since he has more passion being an Eagle but Bolton has also stepped up in Prestia's absense and looked BOG in one quarter than disappears at times.

Gaff vs McIntosh: This is an interesting match up here. Gaff has been great during our win streaks with his link up ability and endurance and ball use is improving with that odd around the corner kick just to move us forward. Kmac has been great for them. If we're gonna have more chance of winning then Kmac must be stopped (obviously Gaff is not a tagger and he shouldn't be playing as one just to stop Kmac, instead he can outwork him around the ground). If he get's more than fifteen disposals then Richmond have a much better chance of winning since they gone 7-0-1 in 2020 with him getting fifteen plus disposals but if we can keep him to less than fifteen disposals then we'll have a better chance of winning since they've gone 1-4 with Kmac getting less than fifteen disposals so you stop Kmac, you stop Richmond especially with Prestia and Edwards out.


Last 5 matches in 2020.

West Coast Eagles. Eight wins in a row that's how you F*cking do it.

W vs decent but injury depleted Collingwood 111-45.
W vs in form Geelong 73-64.
W vs decent Blues 72-50.
W vs bottoming out Hawthorn 81-49.
W vs struggling GWS 61-49.

Richmond.

W vs inconsistent Dogs 90-49.
W vs top 2 but very inaccurate Brisbane Lions 82-41.
L vs top of the table Port Adelaide 93-72.
W vs Rowell less Suns 53-32.
W vs downskiiing Bombers 73-61.


Last 5 matches vs Richmond.

R22 2019: Lost 88-82. We were good early on but they started to comeback and it was a hard fought tussle in the wet.
R9 2018: Won 130-83. Our flag season when we were all over them at Optus. Darling was a gun at that game where the famed Richmond defense had no answers to him.
R3 2017: Lost 76-65. We were pretty mediocre that year and was barely contending and the Tigers are on a flag hunt that year. We were doing pretty well in that game but our inaccuracies cost us at the end.
R4 2016: Won 125-57. Tigers are awful that year and we easily smashed them. Could've been over a hundred points had we kicked more straighter.
R12 2015: Won 90-70. We were contending for the flag that year and Richmond were pretty good that season as well


Teams.

TBA at 4.20 pm AWST the day before the game. Will be updating this part if the team sheets come out.

Predicted changes: We either go unchanged or we rush Redden back in at the expense of XON who did well but is unlucky.

Nice to see Bailey Williams debut since they also bought back Toby Nankervis. Now they cannot exploit us with two ruckman now, I can't wait to see Williams in action. Also good to see Hutch back, I would have him tag Dusty when his in the middle and McIntosh when Dusty goes forward because as I mentioned, you stop Kmac then you stop Richmond. Good call to give Redden another round off, get him fit and firing for next round.

Weather Forecasts.

Partly cloudy. Slight (20%) chance of a shower. Light winds becoming south to southeasterly 20 to 30 km/h early in the morning then becoming light in the late evening (according to BOM Gold Coast). Hopefully the rain doesn't come or affect us considering how poor we've been with the wet footy.


When can I watch it on TV or hear it on the radio?

Free to air: Seven Mate at 5.00 pm AWST.
Subscription TV: Fox Footy.
Streaming/IPTV: Kayo.
Mobile: AFL Live pass.
Radio: Triple M Rocks Footy, ABC, AFL Nation or 6PR. Just hear the our BigFooty commentary, beats the radio for sure.

Proper commentary from the West Coast Eagles BigFooty Board: HoneyBadger35 will send us a link of their commentary when their live above this post. We gotta hear what Dark Shark sounds like cause he apparently looks like the guy from the Shack. Mute your TV, computer or mobile phone and let their magic go to work with quality commentary.


Venue tickets.

Call Ticketek on 13 28 49 for tickets to watch the game at Metricon Stadium to support the legendary mighty West Coast Eagles for Gold Coast and Brisbane based WCE supporters. Your support will go a long way in boosting morale since the Tigers have a pretty decent support in QLD. Better get tickets quick before Richmond supporters overrun the crowds.

Address is in: Nerang Broadbeach Rd, Carrara QLD 4211 for any QLD based WCE supporters wanting to watch the game in person.


Prediction.

West Coast by 25 if it's dry but Richmond by 20 if it's slippery.

As much as I hate saying this, the slippery conditions favour them and their pressure will overwhelm our midfield and we haven't been convincing against the Blues and the Giants when it rained but we do match up well against them in the dry at least. Hopefully I'm wrong and we smash them but even if we do lose we have winnable games coming up although not easy. Hopefully our system beat theirs so we can be flag favourites and we get the grand final at Optus.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Nice write up - agree that Balta is the second coming of Alex Rance in that he's absolutely ordinary but plays for a massive club with a huge media presence. If Josh Rotham played for Richmond he would be in the Brownlow conversation by now.

A reminder that a few members of the Eagles board will be doing live commentary of the game. A link will be provided later in the week. Simply follow the link, mute your TV and listen to some commentators who have actually watched the Eagles play and know the difference between Liam Ryan and Willie Rioli.

UTBC.

 

[xInfected_Virus]

Nice write up - agree that Balta is the second coming of Alex Rance in that he's absolutely ordinary but plays for a massive club with a huge media presence. If Josh Rotham played for Richmond he would be in the Brownlow conversation by now.

A reminder that a few members of the Eagles board will be doing live commentary of the game. A link will be provided later in the week. Simply follow the link, mute your TV and listen to some commentators who have actually watched the Eagles play and know the difference between Liam Ryan and Willie Rioli.

UTBC.

Thanks, it means a lot

But I do think Balta will surpass Rance considering he's only 20 and Astbury's absent so he has to play a lockdown role for now.

 

[THE A5]

Nice write up - agree that Balta is the second coming of Alex Rance in that he's absolutely ordinary but plays for a massive club with a huge media presence. If Josh Rotham played for Richmond he would be in the Brownlow conversation by now.

A reminder that a few members of the Eagles board will be doing live commentary of the game. A link will be provided later in the week. Simply follow the link, mute your TV and listen to some commentators who have actually watched the Eagles play and know the difference between Liam Ryan and Willie Rioli.

UTBC.

keen hear what Dark Sharks sounds like.

I only found out recently that he looks like this

 

[Doashuey]

Good write up. I think the whole dewy thing gets blown out of proportion in QLD this time of the year.
In winter months down that way you are looking at a dew point of around 10C with temps around the 15C during playing hours. It should be a non-factor.

 

[Luuuc]

I think the whole dewy thing gets blown out of proportion in QLD this time of the year.

Jonathan Brown agreed with this On The Couch last night. No worries in Aug-Sep.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Enjoyed the write up.
The lack of punctuation at times gave it a real Richmond feel.

 

[Asapartyhat]

I suspect we will definitely make orphans of his children

Richmond to slide into thirty seven years of obscurity following an Eagles win

 

[RookiePick]

I suspect we will definitely make orphans of his children

Richmond to slide into thirty seven years of obscurity following a resounding Eagles win

Here's a sentiment we can all get behind!

 

[DanWCE]

Squiggle (and every other predictive model) says we're no chance this week

Fold the club and pack it in a suitcase, because we're off to Qld to upset the Vics!

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

Good write up.

I am hoping someone from On The Couch starts lauding Balta before the finals and the Gerard Healy will share vision of how often he is getting away with manhandling the key forwards. He is starting to get pinged for it so lets hope Razor Ray is umpiring it and picks it up. That would move JK back into top spot for the Coleman.

 

[KERRPOW]

keen hear what Dark Sharks sounds like.

I only found out recently that he looks like this
View attachment 944488

The dude from the shack?

 

[squashface]

keen hear what Dark Sharks sounds like.

I only found out recently that he looks like this
View attachment 944488

DS goes to my gym, can confirm I've seen this bloke in short shorts doing hip thrusts daily

 

[bUCKET__]

They prefer sagging off from their man

That's a really weird way to write 'staging'

 

[THE A5]

DS goes to my gym, can confirm I've seen this bloke in short shorts doing hip thrusts daily

DS Is Nitro?

 

[WCE Wizard]

Richmond are a quality side they have some guns like Edwards, Prestia and Atsbury missing but still will be coming at this game very hard

 

[darksquare]

Good write up. I think the whole dewy thing gets blown out of proportion in QLD this time of the year.
In winter months down that way you are looking at a dew point of around 10C with temps around the 15C during playing hours. It should be a non-factor.

No doubt Dewy has been blown out of proportion.

 

[Dylan82]

Good write up. I think the whole dewy thing gets blown out of proportion in QLD this time of the year.
In winter months down that way you are looking at a dew point of around 10C with temps around the 15C during playing hours. It should be a non-factor.

Agreed. Forecasts earlier in the week predicting rain have vanished - it will be dry and dew should not be a factor until late in the game, if at all.

 

[FKASC]

Agreed. Forecasts earlier in the week predicting rain have vanished - it will be dry and dew should not be a factor until late in the game, if at all.

Dryness makes me moist

 

[Jiggyman]

Oh man this is exactly what I hoped the Gifs would be used for. Fluffing out game-day write-ups. Awesome!

 

[THE A5]

This photo makes Gaff look like a beast compared to dusty for some reason

 

[Wedgetailed Westerner]

Enjoyed the write up.
The lack of punctuation at times gave it a real Richmond feel.

I thin, you are being too kind to the Richmond mob

 

[Dylan82]

May edit this part later in the week if I found something but thanks to our legendary master tactician Dylan82.

I'll take the easy route and quote myself


From earlier in the week in the selections thread; Hutchings should be used to tag Lambert:

Because Lambert is their only genuine two-way runner. The others all look to push forward into space, rather than covering it.

Shut down his influence and the Tigers start leaking cheap goals.


Richmond 2020:
Lambert less than 15 disposals: (1-4) Opp Av. 80.0
Lambert 15 or more disposals: (7-0-1) Opp Av. 40.0

From the tactics section of the season preview thread; typical Richmond-style setups and how to counter them.

A Tiger Economy
Richmond are clearly the greatest challenge that lies between the club and another premiership. With premierships bookending the Eagles’ 2018 triumph, since Round 14, 2017 the Tigers have a 35-4 record at the MCG (10-0 against interstate teams at the MCG, by an average margin of 47 points).

So what is it that differentiates them from the rest of the competition and brings such success? Three things: risk, discipline and opposition fear.

Richmond are the greatest gamblers in football – on-field that is (I’ll leave it to the Bay to cover off-field gambling matters). They play with a near reckless amount of defensive risk, pushing players up the ground away from their marks and abandoning multiple players from stoppages entirely in order to maximise the conversion of any possible turnover into a scoring opportunity. This method of play would fall apart entirely if it were not for the Tigers being the most disciplined team in the league for both movement off the ball and trust in their teammates. Everyone knows where to position when the team is without the ball and everyone knows where they and their teammates are running to once they do gain possession. A plan that is defensively spread, attacks through the middle, yields a high proportion of scoring shots from the corridor and becomes more efficient to execute on wider grounds – it’s an incredibly ambitious and devastatingly effective approach to playing on the ground that is guaranteed to be hosting the final match of the season.

As mentioned, Richmond have a third card up their sleeve in the form of fear by the opposition. The Tigers generated almost two thirds of all their points scored in 2019 from opposition turnovers – yet their opponents keep trying to focus upon defensive mechanisms and negative tactics, when it is clearly apparent that attack and retention of possession is what they should be trying to address. Teams fear the Richmond counterattack and take a reserved approach – which ends up playing directly into the Tigers’ hands.

Hence, it is a product that is becoming increasingly emulated within the competition. But it does have its weaknesses.


Typical Richmond setup for the kick going up the wing.


Negating Richmond-style defensive and stoppage setups.

Once players start second-guessing their positioning, the system implodes – that is how to defeat Richmond and any wannabe Richmond-lite copies.

The overall key to negating Richmond is to never allow them to gain extra numbers within the corridor. If you congest the middle and force them out wide their ball movement loses its potency and neither Lynch or Riewoldt are effective talls at marking the kick down the line.

Take away the middle and the match will be played on our terms.

 

[MrKK]

I dreamt last night that I kept getting interrupted by work calls while trying to listen to the BF pod commentary, then whenever I got back to trying to sync audio with TV it was during a break.
* me I need to get a life.

#justobsessednotafan