Chris Greenway's Footy Commentary!

Rd 3 Western Bulldogs V Richmond 13/04/2009

There was an oddly subdued build up to this game. There were a few reasons for that. One was that it was not expected to be much of a contest, the poorly skilled winless Tigers up against the highly skilled Dogs, who were yet to lose a game. Richmond had been better against Geelong, but they were not up to the level of the Bulldogs. It was also scheduled for Easter Monday. The round started on Thursday night and by Monday people have had enough football. On a personal level I also had things going on that took precedence.

It had become a MUST WIN game, due to the poor showing against Carlton and the expected loss against Geelong. If this was the case, as it was, then there were some odd selection moves. They dropped Nahas, who whilst he had been overwhelmed in his first game, deserved another chance. They however retained King, who putting aside his desire for the contest makes too many skill errors to be considered an effective player. Tambling came back after missing a week due to injury. Thank God Jordan McMahon was not put back into the side.

It was a beautiful early Autumn day, sun shining, temperature hovering in the mid 20’s, it was as they say: ‘a perfect day for football’.

There was little hope of the Tigers winning this game, but it’s a funny game football, and anything can happen. Richmond hit the ground running and very quickly had a goal on the board courtesy of the prominent Jack Riewoldt. The Dogs were uncharacteristically poor by foot and had problems entering their forward 50, wasting the ball when they did so. The first term ended with a buoyant Richmond up by 16 points, the Dogs having failed to register a major in the term.

It couldn’t last and it didn’t. The real Richmond stood up in the second quarter, fumbled, missed targets, refused to lay tackles and in general made a mess of things. The Dogs took advantage, made the Tiger turnovers count and soon had the lead. I think the final tally was one goal that quarter to six. Absolutely pathetic and inexcusable.

The third was more of the same, although the Tigers managed to even up the scoring a bit, however the Dogs pulled further away. Richmond supporters, myself included, just looked at the display on the field, shook their heads and asked why this team continually fails to improve.

The Dogs shot out to a near 40 point lead in the last, Richmond pegged it back a bit to 21 points, but never seriously threatened, then Jason Akermanis ripped the heart out of the Tigers with a vintage display that netted him 3 goals in about as many minutes and the Dogs cruised to a 47 point win leaving the Tigers looking dispirited and anchored to the bottom of the ladder.

Terry Wallace becomes more enigmatic and less effective by the week.

One comment was that Richmond were not at the Dogs level last year and they’re not now. Why Terry? Why in a year has your team not improved?

Richard Tambling, who had an absolute schocker of a game, was suffering from lack of sleep due to his wife having given birth their second child two days previous. Why was he playing? Is the side that hard up that they can’t find a replacement flanker so that the regular can have a week off to get over the stress of a new baby? Why in four years have the teams skills not improved under your coaching Terry?

Why does there still not seem to be a game plan? These are the questions that should be asked, not are you going to see the year out?

Not do you feel the pressure of seeing your contract through? Who cares? Terry and his bank manager maybe, but not the supporters. We want to know why after having been given four plus years has the recruiting been abysmal, the selection mystifying and very little changed from the inept coaching of Danny Frawley?

I’ll try and rate the players as best as I can:

3. Brett Deledio, lowered his colours to the inexperienced Liam Picken. Picken is making a name as a tagger, although I have a sneaking suspicion that he may use less then fair tactics to gain that reputation.

5. Troy Simmonds, won the hitouts, but very little else.

7. Nathan Brown, he was dangerous at both ends of the ground, but was off target near the goals.

8. Jack Riewoldt, prominent and energetic early, disappeared after half time.

10. Shane Edwards, down in confidence and skills, needs to go back to Coburg and get both back.

11. Joel Bowden, played in defence…..again…and was the only player with a brain prepared to run the ball out.

12. Matthew Richardson, beaten by Brian Lake early, but rallied to square the ledger, didn’t win, but didn’t lose which is more than most of his team mates can say.

14. Dean Polo, had a crack and was good early, but overwhelmed later on.

16. Luke McGuane, took mark of the day, looked fairly good and never gave in, but disposal let him down.

17. Chris Newman, man of the match in the first quarter, led by example, unfortunately rarely seen after half time.

18. Alex Rance, this kid is about the only hope, enthusiastic, runs hard, marks well, occasionally makes errors with disposal. I wonder how long it will be before the Richmond virus infects him and he becomes another ‘could have been’?

20. Mitch Morton, kicked a goal late, but was rarely sighted otherwise.

21. Shane Tuck, busy and one of the two midfield winners for Richmond.

23. Daniel Jackson, would someone give this kid a brain and a clue with what to do with the ball?

25. Jay Schulz, doing a great impression of someone who just doesn’t care. Coburg is the place for him.

27. Tom Hislop, has the heart and the body, but not the skills.

30. Richard Tambling, worse than useless. Given his home situation (new baby) should not have played. I lay this squarely at the feet of Terry Wallace.

35. Matt White, worked hard and was rewarded with 2 goals, needed help.

40. Kelvin Moore, not the worst of the players, starting to regain the qualities that made him one of the most improved last season.

41. Nathan Foley, worked his guts out and along with Tuck, the only marginally effective midfielder for Richmond.

44. Angus Graham, he’s big and he can win hitouts, but he’s painfully slow and reluctant to kick, probably because like about half the team he can’t do it with any expectation of success.

46. Jake King, please end our pain and drop him back to Coburg. I admire his heart, but he gives up too many chances with his dreadful disposal.