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". . . if the players play with the same intensity and aggression, well, they should go alright. But if they don't -- and they're off their guard at all -- then the opposition, no matter who it is, will come out and make them look a bit silly."
Prophetic words indeed from the mouth of the Tigers’ Football Operations Manager, Greg Hutchison, in an article on richmondfc.com.au early last week.
Hutchison had praised the efforts of the Richmond players in the impressive opening round victory over Collingwood, but followed up with a warning about what would happen if they didn’t approach the Round 2 match against Melbourne in a similarly committed manner.
All week, coach Danny Frawley and his assistants had drummed into the players just how determined Melbourne would be to atone for its poor first-up display against Hawthorn. The Tiger boys were left in no doubt whatsoever that the Demons were going to come out breathing fire under the MCG lights.
Unfortunately, however, virtually from the opening bounce, Richmond was blown away by the pumped-up Dees. The level of intensity, fierce tackling, hard running, slick skills and quick movement of the ball, so evident the previous week against the Magpies, was sorely lacking.
Danny Frawley hit the nail on the head after the game when he said: “The opposition were super-hard and we were probably 10% off where we were last week”.
According to Frawley, that’s why the Tigers fumbled, went wide, missed targets and, generally, played sub-standard football.
Richmond supporters, so buoyant after Round 1, understandably, were downcast after last Friday night’s dramatic form reversal. The two decades-plus of disappointment that have followed the most glorious era in the Club’s history (1967-80), has made the Tiger Army particularly sensitive to performances such as last Friday night’s.
But, at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, it’s two rounds into the 2004 season and our win/loss record stand at 1-1.
As any coach in the competition will tell you, it takes at least 6-8 rounds to fairly assess a team’s prospects for the season. Mind you, even then, as we saw with the Tigers last year (6-2 after eight rounds), that can be misleading.
The bottom line is that Richmond is no more likely to endure a bad season because of what happened last Friday night against Melbourne, then it is set to soar in ’04 on the strength of that opening round victory over Collingwood.
Yes, the Tigers have been prone to these wild form fluctuations for many years now, but it’s way too early to tell if that’s going to be the case again throughout the course of this season. Basically, what happened last year, or in 2002, or any season for the past couple of decades for that matter, is irrelevant to how Richmond will fare in 2004. And, two rounds into the new season, with one win on the board, it's hardly time to be swimming against the tide in a sea of negativity.
Again, as any league coach will tell you, the competition is more even now than ever. There simply is no game anymore that is a ‘gimme’ four points. The Western Bulldogs, wooden-spooners in 2003, with a fraction more luck, could be 2-0 now after two rounds instead of 0-2. They’ve narrowly lost both games – to last year’s Grand Finalist Collingwood and one of the glamor teams (also a 2003 finalist) in West Coast. Essendon, the team widely tipped to lead the Victorian charge, is 0-2 and on the bottom.
Clearly, the mental side of the game will take on more significance now due to the even nature of the competition. If you're not fully prepared for battle each week, you're going to struggle to take the four points home, regardless of the opposition.
The trick now for the Tigers is to be consistent with their on-field efforts. Having a fair dinkum crack at it on a weekly basis, and sticking rigidly to the game plan that we saw reap the rewards against Collingwood in Round 1, needs to become routine.
When that happens, I reckon the rest will fall into place because there is undoubtedly sufficient talent at Tigerland to generate excitement among the Yellow and Black faithful.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=opinion&spg=display&articleid=141415
Prophetic words indeed from the mouth of the Tigers’ Football Operations Manager, Greg Hutchison, in an article on richmondfc.com.au early last week.
Hutchison had praised the efforts of the Richmond players in the impressive opening round victory over Collingwood, but followed up with a warning about what would happen if they didn’t approach the Round 2 match against Melbourne in a similarly committed manner.
All week, coach Danny Frawley and his assistants had drummed into the players just how determined Melbourne would be to atone for its poor first-up display against Hawthorn. The Tiger boys were left in no doubt whatsoever that the Demons were going to come out breathing fire under the MCG lights.
Unfortunately, however, virtually from the opening bounce, Richmond was blown away by the pumped-up Dees. The level of intensity, fierce tackling, hard running, slick skills and quick movement of the ball, so evident the previous week against the Magpies, was sorely lacking.
Danny Frawley hit the nail on the head after the game when he said: “The opposition were super-hard and we were probably 10% off where we were last week”.
According to Frawley, that’s why the Tigers fumbled, went wide, missed targets and, generally, played sub-standard football.
Richmond supporters, so buoyant after Round 1, understandably, were downcast after last Friday night’s dramatic form reversal. The two decades-plus of disappointment that have followed the most glorious era in the Club’s history (1967-80), has made the Tiger Army particularly sensitive to performances such as last Friday night’s.
But, at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, it’s two rounds into the 2004 season and our win/loss record stand at 1-1.
As any coach in the competition will tell you, it takes at least 6-8 rounds to fairly assess a team’s prospects for the season. Mind you, even then, as we saw with the Tigers last year (6-2 after eight rounds), that can be misleading.
The bottom line is that Richmond is no more likely to endure a bad season because of what happened last Friday night against Melbourne, then it is set to soar in ’04 on the strength of that opening round victory over Collingwood.
Yes, the Tigers have been prone to these wild form fluctuations for many years now, but it’s way too early to tell if that’s going to be the case again throughout the course of this season. Basically, what happened last year, or in 2002, or any season for the past couple of decades for that matter, is irrelevant to how Richmond will fare in 2004. And, two rounds into the new season, with one win on the board, it's hardly time to be swimming against the tide in a sea of negativity.
Again, as any league coach will tell you, the competition is more even now than ever. There simply is no game anymore that is a ‘gimme’ four points. The Western Bulldogs, wooden-spooners in 2003, with a fraction more luck, could be 2-0 now after two rounds instead of 0-2. They’ve narrowly lost both games – to last year’s Grand Finalist Collingwood and one of the glamor teams (also a 2003 finalist) in West Coast. Essendon, the team widely tipped to lead the Victorian charge, is 0-2 and on the bottom.
Clearly, the mental side of the game will take on more significance now due to the even nature of the competition. If you're not fully prepared for battle each week, you're going to struggle to take the four points home, regardless of the opposition.
The trick now for the Tigers is to be consistent with their on-field efforts. Having a fair dinkum crack at it on a weekly basis, and sticking rigidly to the game plan that we saw reap the rewards against Collingwood in Round 1, needs to become routine.
When that happens, I reckon the rest will fall into place because there is undoubtedly sufficient talent at Tigerland to generate excitement among the Yellow and Black faithful.
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=opinion&spg=display&articleid=141415

