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- Mar 16, 2002
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3. Jack Dyer’s ghost
2. Neil Balme’s ghost
1. Mark Coughlan
Sat down to watch the replay, pen in hand, ready to make a note of any hard play for this weeks STOMP award. Why watch the replay? Well I went to the game and nothing stood out (admit that I had consumed a few beers and hoped that I might have missed something other that one of Rodan’s goals). I was hoping a second look might unearth something. Unfortunately the first quarter passed and the page before me remained blank………..not surprising really. Not one hip and shoulder, not a single decent shepherd, not a single bone-crunching tackle. Couldn’t even mimic Hawthorn’s tough play (ie when the ball is over the boundary line and out of play and a Richmond opponent isn’t expecting contact just slip the knees in, throw your elbows around in the tackle etc…Barker is a good exponent of this – the weak prick).
From my vantage point the entire game contained only one piece of play worth noting. This was in the Second Quarter when Coughlan made Nick Holland earn a mark on Hawthorns Half-forward line. Crawford left the ground after being tackled by Vardy but it was incidental really. I am therefore casting a single vote this week for Mark Coughlan in the hope that his team mates will follow his lead.
Starting the STOMP award, and searching despairingly for worthy nominees each week, has highlighted to me that we are a very fair team (unfortunately you don’t win Premierships this way). I am convinced that we play to a gameplan that actively looks to avoid any physical contact. I believe this may be a result of our injuries in past seasons and has made us gunshy. When Joel Bowden started I remember him giving out some great shirtfronts. Two broken collarbones later and he avoids physical contact, happy to be an outside player. Watch any game carefully. Often there are a couple of Richmond players an opposition player and the ball in the same area. Richmond players never apply strong shepherds. The opposition usually gets past the first Richmond player and can then apply pressure directly to the other Richmond player. The Tiger player who should have applied a decent shepherd to give his team mate more time to pinpoint a kick to someone up the ground is now the guy calling for the handball over the top. This Richmond player gets the ball and is under pressure and subsequently bombs away and turns it over.
2. Neil Balme’s ghost
1. Mark Coughlan
Sat down to watch the replay, pen in hand, ready to make a note of any hard play for this weeks STOMP award. Why watch the replay? Well I went to the game and nothing stood out (admit that I had consumed a few beers and hoped that I might have missed something other that one of Rodan’s goals). I was hoping a second look might unearth something. Unfortunately the first quarter passed and the page before me remained blank………..not surprising really. Not one hip and shoulder, not a single decent shepherd, not a single bone-crunching tackle. Couldn’t even mimic Hawthorn’s tough play (ie when the ball is over the boundary line and out of play and a Richmond opponent isn’t expecting contact just slip the knees in, throw your elbows around in the tackle etc…Barker is a good exponent of this – the weak prick).
From my vantage point the entire game contained only one piece of play worth noting. This was in the Second Quarter when Coughlan made Nick Holland earn a mark on Hawthorns Half-forward line. Crawford left the ground after being tackled by Vardy but it was incidental really. I am therefore casting a single vote this week for Mark Coughlan in the hope that his team mates will follow his lead.
Starting the STOMP award, and searching despairingly for worthy nominees each week, has highlighted to me that we are a very fair team (unfortunately you don’t win Premierships this way). I am convinced that we play to a gameplan that actively looks to avoid any physical contact. I believe this may be a result of our injuries in past seasons and has made us gunshy. When Joel Bowden started I remember him giving out some great shirtfronts. Two broken collarbones later and he avoids physical contact, happy to be an outside player. Watch any game carefully. Often there are a couple of Richmond players an opposition player and the ball in the same area. Richmond players never apply strong shepherds. The opposition usually gets past the first Richmond player and can then apply pressure directly to the other Richmond player. The Tiger player who should have applied a decent shepherd to give his team mate more time to pinpoint a kick to someone up the ground is now the guy calling for the handball over the top. This Richmond player gets the ball and is under pressure and subsequently bombs away and turns it over.
