Richmond appears more certain of a successful premiership defence as it leads AFL at the end of June

RICHMOND is better prepared to defend the AFL premiership today than the Tigers were as flag contenders in June last season, writes Michelangelo Rucci.

Richmond players celebrate during the Tigers’ win against Sydney.

SOME “useful” and potentially misleading pointers from Round 15.

Richmond has always advanced to a VFL-AFL grand final when the Tigers are top of the ladder at the end of Round 15. There is no reason to imagine this trend will not continue.

Collingwood has won all four games in June this season after falling out of contention for September’s top-eight finals by being 1-4 in this telling month last year and 1-2 in 2016. The last time the Magpies had a winning record in June was 2015. They had an 8-4 count at the end of June ... and missed the finals.

Nick Vlastuin of the Tigers celebrates a goal against Sydney.

Reserve all judgment on Collingwood, particularly when the Magpies have beaten just one top-eight side (Melbourne) and played just two others to lose to Richmond and Geelong.

Some pointers are more useful than others.

Certainly Richmond is the real measure of Season 2018. And it seems fair to conclude the Tigers are better at Round 15 this year than they were last season when they were fourth at this stage of the marathon build-up to September.

Richmond is scoring more (particularly in last terms) - even with that different system in attack where key forward Jack Riewoldt has defied his critics with his maturity and consistency. The Tigers are defending with more vigour. And Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin is still to find another gear.

And Round 16 opens on Friday with the grand final rematch - the second of the season with Adelaide, now seemingly liberated of its demons, to deal with the Tigers on the MCG. The Crows have a 4-1 record against Richmond in their past five meetings - and the “1” in the loss column is the one that counts most.

No team has beaten Richmond at the MCG in 16 games since June last year. It is difficult to imagine the Crows, based on one manic quarter against West Coast, stopping the Tigers extending this streak to 17.

But who knows what could unfold now that the Crows have more players to “share the load” and less dirty water on their chests.

“All the hysteria around the grand final rematch has been done,” says Adelaide lead ruckman Sam Jacobs in reference to the March 29 rematch won by the Crows at Adelaide Oval.

“But it is the first time against Richmond at the MCG ...”

And the Tigers look better than ever before at the G. That 16-game winning streak is a true pointer to where Richmond stands in the race to September - and in September.