Mick McGuane: How Richmond has turned its season around
Richmond and Port Adelaide are among the form teams of the competition. But what happens when they meet head on this week? Mick McGuane takes an in-depth look at how the key match-ups will play out.
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Richmond and Port Adelaide are airborne. The Tigers have won three of their past four meetings.
One of the most intriguing subplots is the battle of young talent on both sides for bragging rights.
Port Adelaide is stocked with Connor Rozee, Zak Butters, Xavier Duursma, Mitch Georgiades and Peter Ladhams.
Richmond has found the next wave too with Liam Baker, Noah Balta, Shai Bolton, Sydney Stack and Ivan Soldo.
That time Butters got in between two Western Bulldogs defenders to tap the ball to a teammate in the goalsquare was a defining moment in the game.
With the Tigers, you have B1 (Baker for Bravery), B2 (Balta for Balance) and B3 (Bolton for Burst).
Both clubs have great faith in their youngsters.
Richmond has done it through necessity due to injury, but Port Adelaide has a strategic belief in their core group of youngsters and they are now paying that faith.
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KEN’S CONUNDRUMS
Can Ladhams play in the same team as Scott Lycett?
It’s a decision Ken Hinkley is going to have to make soon given that Ladhams is a young ruckman on the rise who has great mobility and wants the ball in his hands as opposed to the commitment the club has made to Lycett, who is due back soon after a knee injury.
With Todd Marshall on the sidelines due to a broken thumb, does the coach look at playing the two big men to see if they can work in the finals?
Can Justin Westhoff play as a wingman and slide back to give Tom Clurey and Tom Jonas a chop out against the twin powers of Tom Lynch and Jack Riewoldt? Or can he slot into the back six as he did a few weeks ago?
As good as Port is going right now, these little conundrums could go a long way to determining this match.
Richmond has historically gone with a two tall and four small forward structure, but is now experimenting with a three and three split at times, with Mabior Chol in the mix as well. And of course you add the other layer of brilliance when Dustin Martin goes forward.
DIMMA’S DIXON DILEMMA
Charlie Dixon’s powerful start to the season would have given Damien Hardwick a few headaches.
David Astbury won’t play as he had a minor procedure on his knee on Wednesday.
That’s a shame as if he had been fit, it would have allowed Dylan Grimes, Noah Balta and Nick Vlastuin the chance to get back to their intercept role.
Dixon’s contested marks inside forward 50 are a huge asset and he draws a crowd as well which allows their ground level players to get to work.
Who goes to him? You have got undersized players such as Grimes, Nathan Broad and Vlastuin, so maybe it has to be Balta.
That would mean Soldo as the ruckman must push back into the hole which will take courage.
TIGER FIGHTBACK
Richmond has turned its season around after starting 2020 with one win, one draw and two losses.
Clearly, their front half game is functioning much better now.
Look at the improvements from Round 5-10.
They are now ranked No.2 in time in forward half differential (8th in Rounds 1-4); ranked No. 1 in forward half intercept possessions (4th in Rounds 1-4); ranked No.1 in points from forward half intercept possessions (15th in Rounds 1-4) and No.2 for inside 50 differentials (7th in Rounds 1-4).
If Richmond match the midfielders of Port Adelaide, win clearance, win ground ball post clearance, win territory, lock it in and manufacture scores, it can overcome the travel and one less day preparation and come out victorious.
MICK’S TAKE ON GWS V ESSENDON
Where is Zach Merrett best suited for the sake of Essendon?
On the back of the last two weeks of evidence, the Bombers’ match committee have a serious decision to make.
Two weeks ago, against Adelaide, Merrett produced one of the best midfield games of the season with 33 disposals, 613 metres gained, six clearances, eight score involvements, six tackles and spent 74 per cent of the game on the ground, primarily as a starting onballer.
Then last week, with Dylan Shiel back in the side and back in the midfield, Merrett was cast out to a wing. His numbers shrank to 18 disposals, 333 metres gained, three score involvements from 79 per cent game time.
The Bombers beat Adelaide, but lost to Brisbane comprehensively.
Does Brisbane put Lachie Neale on to a wing? Where does Tom Mitchell play his best footy? What does John Longmire do with Luke Parker?
Andrew McGrath is Essendon’s best two-way midfielder and that’s why he is getting more midfield minutes – and rightfully so.
That only leaves two starting mid-size positions in there and the Bombers have used Darcy Parish, Devon Smith, Kyle Langford, Shiel and Merrett in those roles.
When you put a player of Merrett’s ilk out on to the wing – away from where he seems to play his best footy – you can lose your rhythm because the ball can live on the other side of the ground.
To me, it looks as if Merrett is questioning his role on the wing and his psychology looks impacted.
I see a bit of that in Essendon. Are the individuals really about the team? To me, the Bombers’ team synergy isn’t as strong as it should be.
Too often they don’t appear to be on the same page. Thinking “team” must always prevail.
THE SNELLING STRATEGY
Will Snelling is playing the “Kane Lambert role”.
He is starting as a half-forward and rolling up to the middle of the ground, particularly at stoppages.
He is going up to meet an opposition starting midfielder in the pursuit of trying to free up one of his teammates in the middle.
But this is not the night for this.
If you allow GWS defenders that sort of freedom – with six backs matched against five Bombers forwards (with Snelling further up among the numbers) – Nick Haynes, Phil Davis and Heath Shaw will have a picnic in intercepting the ball.
That would compound Essendon’s biggest issue – forward half pressure factor.
Against Collingwood, their at-ball pressure was outstanding after a slow start.
But it hasn’t been that way for much of the 2020 season.
Maybe the Snelling positioning might serve initially its purpose by winning the ball with an extra number, but when it goes in and they lose a contest at ground level, that’s where the opposition counter attack as they don’t have the full blown torch of pressure applied.
That will aid the Giants’ kick, mark, control game.
A rebalancing of Snelling’s role this week might create a better balance in all areas of the ground.
SURPRISE CHOICE TO FILL GREENE HOLE
With Toby Greene out of the GWS forward line for the next couple of weeks, the million-dollar question is … what will the Giants do to fill the massive hole that’s left?
It’s a risky call, but I think Callan Ward is their left-field solution to life without Toby.
GWS is not performing at the moment as a forward half pressure team and I believe Ward can inspire them to become better in this area.
Ward naturally puts the fear of God into most defences with the way he assaults the footy, either aerially or at ground level.
Harry Himmelberg is rated average when it comes to pressure. But Zac Langdon and Tim Taranto, when forward, they become below average in terms of pressure.
Jeremy Cameron, Brent Daniels, Jeremy Finlayson and Bobby Hill, when they play, they’re at the poor end of the pressure gauge.
Moving Ward forward in his return from injury this week against Essendon’s stoic defence is something I believe coach Leon Cameron should closely look at.
Firstly, it could bed Ward down and away from the rigours of the non-stop activity that happens between the arcs and it might help with the psychology with his knee after missing all of last season and being interrupted with fitness setbacks ever since.
He can just attack the footy when it comes through him, but also when it’s in his area, he can just focus on keeping it there.
On the back of that he could add a strong physical presence in that forward half of the ground that is clearly much needed.
I think he could really compliment the likes of Himmelberg, Finlayson and Cameron who would benefit from that aggressive team-first player that Ward is.
Seeing him first hand and how he assaults it and how he wants to keep the ball in to create scoring opportunities, they might breed off that.
Essendon’s tall defenders have done magnificent jobs against opposition key forwards this year, but it’s their smaller defenders who are getting scored against.
So the question I’d be asking coach Cameron is if the likes of Cameron, Finlayson and Himmelberg get shut down, can we rely on guys like Langdon and Daniels to hit the scoreboard?
Performance this year says you can’t. Langdon has kicked one and Daniels hasn’t kicked a goal.
So who is that person who can rattle the cage a bit? Who is the person who can take the mark that Greene can down the line?
Who is the person that can shark a ball off a marking contest?
Maybe it’s an opportunity for someone with the hardness of Ward to be reprogrammed and give the Giants what they need right now.
Say to Ward: “We want you to think of yourself as a goal kicker. We believe you’re capable of hitting the scoreboard and having three or four shots at goal in that part of the ground, because we know you’ll win enough footy.”
Good players win one-on-one contests in the forward half of the ground. Those possessions are hard to come by. It’s why Greene is a special talent.
Because as good as we think GWS are improving, there’s still massive improvement needed to get their forward half game aligned to Richmond or Port Adelaide.
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GWS probably won’t do it – but Ward might just be the man who can change the fortunes of their forward half game.
I just love competitors in the forward line and the one thing I do know about Ward is he’s ruthless in his competitiveness.
I know if I was standing in that forward 50 alongside him, I’d feel a lot more comfortable with him being alongside me.
And I couldn’t say I’d be feeling all that comfortable if I was an opposition defender.
He makes things happen.
Originally published as Mick McGuane: How Richmond has turned its season around