AFL 2020: Tiger forward Tom Lynch says broken hand not a reason for no goals
With just 11 goals in eight games Richmond forward Tom Lynch concedes he needs to get better. And it isn’t because of recent surgery to repair his broken hand.
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Richmond forward Tom Lynch concedes he’s “out of touch” but dismissed any suggestion recent surgery to repair a broken hand was playing any part in his lack of goalscoring.
Lynch, who is preparing to play his first game on a Wednesday “probably since primary school”, didn’t kick a goal in last week’s loss to GWS and has just 11 goals in eight games this season.
He broke his hand against Melbourne in Round 5, which required surgery. But he played the next week and hasn’t missed a game.
Lynch, who booted 63 goals for the Tigers last year, said the Tigers needed to work on their forward “connection”. But he conceded he needed to be better against the Western Bulldogs this week.
“The hand is fine. It’s feeling a lot better than it was a couple of weeks ago. It’s not an issue. I’m just not marking that well at the moment,” he said on Monday.
“Personally I just think I am out of touch at the moment. It’s a bit of a funny year at the moment, there’s not many key forwards playing that well.”
A bag of seven goals from West Coast spearhead Josh Kennedy on Sunday was easily the best return of any key forward this season.
Sydney small forward Tom Papley is leading the Coleman Medal with 19 goals, and four small forwards are in the top six.
AFL great Wayne Carey last week said the current crop of key forwards was “just no good”.
Lynch said shorter quarters may be impacting their output.
“Maybe the shorter quarters, the game hasn’t been opening up as much,” he said.
“I don’t know if it’s flooding (defensive) tactics, but when it’s a slow play there has always been numbers inside forward 50. I don’t think it’s massive change this year, I just think key forwards aren’t playing that well.”
“He’s playing a new role and we really like the look of him through there.†💯https://t.co/aUFXiQCFAD
— Richmond FC ðŸ¯ðŸ† (@Richmond_FC) July 27, 2020
Wednesday’s clash is the first of four in 20 days for the Tigers, and Lynch said he hoped to play all of them.
“We’d rather be playing than training all the time. We did a lot of training over the isolation period so we are wrapt to be playing games,” he said.
“I’d be hoping to play every game. I’m keen to play. I don’t think we’ll be managing too many players. If you are right to go, you’re right to go.
Flooding at their Queensland hotel across the weekend forced the Tigers to spend Sunday moving fitness equipment from the waterlogged basement.
“We have got treadmills and a bit of a gym set up down there. We had to get everything out of there, get crates to get the gym equipment up off the ground,” Lynch said.
“It was a day off and we were all woken at 7 o’clock in the morning. There was a bit of chaos there, but it was all fine.”
Richmond captain Trent Cotchin is expected to return from his hamstring injury against the Bulldogs, having missed the past three games.
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Originally published as AFL 2020: Tiger forward Tom Lynch says broken hand not a reason for no goals