Chris Greenway's Footy Commentary!

Geelong V Richmond 04/04/2009

Most of the build up to this game was about how bad Richmond had been against Carlton and how much Geelong would beat the Tigers by. Early in the week many people, myself included, were tipping record scores against. Later in the week views had mellowed and many observers thought that sheer pride would force Richmond to at least put up a better showing. Nathan Brown had written an article saying that he had been disgusted by his own performance, Joel Bowden fronted the media and apologised for the display and promised an improved one. I have 2 observations about that and questions. We as supporters have seen these kind of performances in the past, the Tigers were beaten by over 100 points in Rd 1 against the Bulldogs in 2006, they rebounded to register a narrow loss against St Kilda the following week, but the reality is that they still finished that season 9th and didn't recover from the poor start. We've heard what Brown and Bowden have said before, many times, it's been different players and different teams, but it keeps happening. Why do so called professional footballers need the motivation of being completely smashed to perform in the opening rounds of the season. I'm also wondering why Bowden had to front the media. He is one the best public speakers in the side, there's no doubt about that, but he's not the captain. Chris Newman is the captain and he should have been the public face of the side. I think if Newman had been asked he would have done it, but I'd say the club asked Bowden, but if they didn't think Newman was up to the job in every facet why did they appoint him captain? Yet another poor decision by the club and it sends out the wrong message to the supporters.

Playing Geelong in Geelong is never easy and Richmond have a poor record against the side. They did score a win against the Cats at Kardinia in 2006, but that Geelong side was not the one that is currently playing. A number of changes were made to the Richmond side.

Raines, Tambling and Cousins were out injured and Browne, Thursfield and McMahon had all been dropped. The case of Browne, he was too raw and needs time to develop at VFL level. Thursfield appeared to be carrying an injury and had shown no real form throughout the pre season. It was well past time that McMahon was made accountable for his performances. He only plays well when his side is on top, he goes missing when the Tigers aren't playing well, he doesn't have the physical strength to lay a tackle, panics under pressure and there's a myth that he's talented by foot, supporters are yet to see any tangible evidence of this. My opinion is that McMahon should serve the remainder of his time at Tigerland in the VFL. He was a dreadful mistake the Terry Wallace must take full responsibility for. To replace them the Tigers had Tom Hislop from Essendon, Robin Nahas had been elevated from the rookie list, Angus Graham was back in the ruck, Dean Polo got called up, Alex Rance was making his debut and Jake King returned.

Things started badly, skill errors saw the ball turned over and Geelong had 7 points on the board before Richmond scored. The Tigers kept the deficit to a manageable level and whilst they were going in harder they were continually letting themselves down with skill errors and only Geelong's innaccuracy in front of goals was allowing the Tigers to stay in it. Rance and Polo looked good and Hislop was trying hard, but the rest of the newcomers were quiet. The mismatch of Bartel on Richardson was also working in Richmond's favour and whilst the Cats were incapable of finding an opponent to match the big fella, the Tigers forward line just couldn't keep it in the front half of the ground and Geelong kept running it out. The deficit was in the low 20's.

Richmond improved in the first half of the 2nd quarter and were able to make some inroads into the lead, but fell away the longer the quarter went and Geelong still in 3rd gear were able to cruise to a 31 point lead. If Richmond did not lift in the 2nd half the game was going to be very ugly for them.

Right from the start of the 3rd quarter something for Richmond clicked and Jack Riewoldt, courtesy of a nice assist from Schulz had a goal on the board before the quarter was a minute old. The Tigers were taking the chances and they were paying off. Their attack on the ball was seeing fruit and Geelong's defence had problems with the Tigers multiple forward options. Gary Ablett was being well held by Nathan Foley and Daniel Jackson. Richmond kicked 8 goals for the quarter and remarkably were only a point behind when the siren went and looking like causing a huge boilover.

Although Richmond did go up by a goal early in the last quarter and caused a huge excitement and worried the Cats fans I had a feeling that they couldn't sustain it. 2 charity goals from contentious umpiring decisions allowed the Cats to arrest the Tigers momentum and get out to a 20 point lead. Gary Ablett was back to his brilliant best and curiously enough what would be incorrect disposal of the ball and be judged dropping the ball by any other player doesn't seem to apply to him. It's interesting how the umpires judge some players differently owing to their reputations. Skill errors let the Tigers down when they counted the most and Geelong scrambled to an unconvincing 20 point win. I'll also admit that the absence of Brad Ottens helped Richmond (the former Richmond ruckman hurt his knee in the 1st quarter, unfortunately it won't be career ending and spent most of the game off the ground) ultimately it boils down to the same old story for Richmond, they simply aren't good enough to win when it counts and will not rise above mediocrity for that reason.

3 Brett Deledio: quiet in the first quarter, but lifted his work rate after that to become the Tigers most effective midfielder. Also able to move forward and take a strong mark or kick a goal when it was needed.

5 Troy Simmonds: beaten early, but was able to control the centre bounces when Ottens left the field. Slow and lumbering around the ground and as such ineffective.

7 Nathan Brown: played most of the game in the forward line, but also mopped up down back, kicked multiple goals, was always dangerous near the ball and created goals for team mates.

8 Jack Riewoldt: again better in the 2nd half than the first. Kicking for goal and field kicking are both deficiencies that need to be urgently addressed.

10 Shane Edwards: didn't have much impact, but was better when forward than back and his size simply will not allow him to be the half back the Richmond coaching panel seem determined to turn him into.

11 Joel Bowden: far better than last week and this was purely because he was played forward of the wing for most of the game.

12 Matthew Richardson: the Cats couldn't find a matchup for him. He took advantage of it and ran riot around the ground. Major headache for Geelong.

14 Dean Polo: although he came in for Tambling he took McMahon's role and did it far better. He's physically strong, takes a good mark, kicks well, he also tackles, harasses and uses his body to hold his opponent out of the contest.

16 Luke McGuane: marked, kicked and defended strongly. Needs to curb his aggression. A display of petulance gave Geelong a free shot on goal late in the game.

17 Chris Newman: better than last week, still relying on the dinky kick to himself and run away in goals when he should be kicking long, but ran hard and broke lines. If he's going to be played as a defender then he needs to tighten up, his opponent was Geelong's most effective forward.

18 Alex Rance: I think the Tigers have found a player here. He's tall and quick, marks the ball well and kicks with authority, still needs some muscle, but won't take a backwards step. Barring injury or a dramatic loss of form should be played in the seniors for the remainder of the season.

20 Mitch Morton: took a while to work into the game and needs to develop a defensive side to his game, but worried the Geelong defenders all game and did kick two goals.

21 Shane Tuck: improved from last week and was valuable in the centre clearances.

23 Daniel Jackson: helped Foley hold Ablett for 2 quarters, but still prone to silly errors that let him down badly.

25 Jay Schulz: had more impact than last week and took a screamer in the 3rd quarter, but is a poor shot on goal and simply doesn't work hard enough.

27 Tom Hislop: game with a mature body. Tries hard and could be a useful player to help out Tuck in the centre.

35 Matt White: spent the game running through the middle, runs hard, can break tackles and apply them equally well. A real goer.

38 Robin Nahas: not a debut he'll remember fondly. Could barely get near the ball and didn't do much with it on the few occasions that he did. Needs to build up if he wants to forge an AFL career.

40 Kelvin Moore: given a better matchup this week and linked up well with McGuane, alternating the run between themselves.

41 Nathan Foley: an effective midfielder and tagger. Kicked one goal and instrumental in others, also a large part of the reason that Gary Ablett was kept quiet for much of the contest.

44 Angus Graham: back up ruckman, he's slow, but big and strong. At present despite his deficiencies the only real viable back up solution for the ruck.

46 Jake King: he tries hard and is quick, but simply doesn't have the size of skill to make it at senior AFL level.