Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch says Adelaide was done by first bounce after power stance, Dustin Martin the greatest Tiger of all time
Former Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins says Crows players were told by Collective Minds that if they adopted the Power Stance, they would ‘go all the way’ to a premiership. It didn’t turn out like that.
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Former Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins says the Crows were “conned” into adopting the ”Power Stance” that was lampooned after Richmond dismantled them in the 2017 Grand Final.
Responding to comments from Tiger assistant coach Justin Leppitsch on the Herald Sun’s SACKED podcast that the move showed an aura of invincibility that was impossible to live up to, Jenkins said some of the team simply didn’t believe in it.
The tactic, which the Crows used throughout the finals series, was later revealed to have come from contentious leadership group Collective Minds, which was working with Adelaide at the time.
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“We were conned by Collective Minds,” Jenkins, now at Geelong, said on SEN.
“Collective Minds told us that if we did it, we would go all the way. It didn’t affect our game at all because we did it in the other two finals and we blew GWS and Geelong away.
“It was just a little bit of foolishness and probably a bit naive on our behalf to think it would have an impact on the game.
“It’s quite funny. If you look up at a wide shot of the 22 players, some of the boys are really half committed to the ‘Power Stance’ … not keen on it.”
Jenkins said he tried to be as far away from coach Don Pyke and captain Taylor Walker, so he wouldn’t be seen in the photographs.
Leppitsch told the Sacked podcast the power stance, in hindsight, was a recipe for disaster.
“Every team has an identity and you think about the team I played for, Brisbane,” he said.
“Its identity was a big, hard contested-footy beast and Hawthorn were a beautifully skilled, good kicking team.
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“Richmond is more about everything being OK.
“You can make mistakes and as long as you are competitive and get the ball going forward you are pretty good.
“So Adelaide adopted the power stance and I think when you adopt anything when you are powerful, the minute you burst that bubble what is next?
“And that’s an interesting one. You have adopted a dominant stance but the minute you aren’t (what happens?).
“Talk about the Essendon era and Leigh Matthews’ ‘If It Bleeds You Can Kill it’. Whenever you pop that dominant bubble, and you see they do bleed what is next?
“It can be a dangerous one to play. We all want to be the dominant side, we all want to be Serena Williams, there smashing everyone.
“But they were so scared going into the game we almost beat them at the first bounce and that approach can also have its negative (effects) if someone bursts the bubble which we did that day.”
Former Adelaide coach and Graham Cornes didn’t share Leppitsch’s view.
Cornes posted on Twitter that the stance “probably wasn’t a factor” in the Crows’ loss.
“Interesting but didn’t Adelaide kick the first two goals and lead at quarter time?” he tweeted.
“Have to be careful when you try to rewrite history. Pressure, tactics and total team footy after quarter time did win it for Richmond but the “stance” probably wasn’t a factor.”
Interesting but didn’t Adelaide kick the first two goals and lead at quarter time? Have to be careful when you try to rewrite history. Pressure, tactics and total team footy after quarter time did win it for Richmond but the “stance†probably wasn’t a factor https://t.co/IXhW6Dn9Ft
— Graham Cornes (@Cornesy12) May 22, 2020
PRELIM FINAL LOSS
Justin Leppitsch was far from shocked the Tigers were knocked out 2018 finals despite finishing the season on top of the ladder.
In fact, the assistant coach could almost see it coming.
“Nothing surprises me at all. (The) 2018 (season) was the first year of my whole time in football I had finished on top of the ladder so I had never rated it.
“The beauty of 2018 is it taught us at Richmond more about how to prepare for a finals series than ever before.
“Talk about a horse race and the guys out front getting picked off. We were that (horse).
“We were getting picked off. The Doggies, who didn’t have a great year, (almost) picked us off in round 23 and we probably wished they had.
“It might have been the best thing that happened to us.
“We were vulnerable. We had Kane Lambert and Dusty going into the game not fit and Collingwood were red hot.”
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IS DUSTY RICHMOND’S GREATEST?
Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch says Dustin Martin is already the greatest Tiger player of all time after his stunning premiership-winning purple patch.
And he says Jack Riewoldt’s belief he would never have success at Richmond unwittingly triggered the transformation that helped Richmond achieve its 2017 drought-breaking premiership.
He lauded Martin, who has four more seasons on his contract after 2020, as Dylan Grimes but with the “tattoos” given his caring and genuine nature.
The Herald Sun last month ranked Martin the best player of the modern era (1987 onwards) ahead of Matthew Richardson but Francis Bourke, Kevin Bartlett and Royce Hart all played before that time.
Leppitsch told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast he had seen Martin close up from his first year and was still amazed by what he could achieve in footy.
“He is probably there already to be honest from the last four years,” he said of the best-of-all-time mantle at Richmond.
“I find it really challenging to compare the modern day athletes to guys past but you watch the people in the 1970s, they are not even close to the athletes we have nowadays.
“You can only compare your era and obviously he would be Richmond’s best but even compared to the past, in what they had I think he is in the top couple anyway.”
“(When I first saw him) he was weird, he had the same hair but eight times the height. It was spiky and I remember he had so much gel in it and the gel was dripping down his face, I was like, ‘Mate, get it off’.
“He was the same as he is now where he doesn’t speak a lot and doesn’t communicate a lot but he was a weird one to read.
“But the longer you know Dustin, he is a real heartfelt guy. (He) really cares about his teammates and footy club. If you had just seen him and didn’t see the tattoos and know who he was, you would think he is another Dylan Grimes.
“But because of the image he has got and when (he) sticks the finger up now and again, that sort of adds to the image. He is definitely not that rough nut that you would assume he would be.”
And he says Martin gave himself up as staying at Richmond midway through the 2017 season when he admitted he couldn’t play for a smaller club.
“Dusty nearly gave himself up in 2017 when he was out of contract and all the circus was going on, because I remember we were playing a game at one of the suburban-type venues, and he looked around and he said imagine playing here every week and I thought, ‘Oh., you better not tell the hierarchy that’”.
SELFLESS JACK
Justin Leppitsch believes that when he returned to Richmond for his second stint at the end of 2016, Jack Riewoldt was finally ready to play the selfless tackling game that became the club’s trademark.
“I will never forget the first time with Jack. You know what Jack’s like: ‘That’s it, we are no good, I am just here for the kids, I want to lead and leave a legacy for them’.
“So he didn’t think the changes we had made with Brett (Deledio) leaving and Ty Vickery, he thought maybe it meant we would go backwards as a club.
“He thought on the ladder we wouldn’t go well but maybe he could provide for the team and the minute he changed his focus, guess what happens?
“You become a better team. And it became an amazing lesson for him. So now he’s like that as a person.
“Everything he does is for team and he realised that success is when he focuses on the guys around him and not himself. It was a great turning point for him as well.”
Originally published as Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch says Adelaide was done by first bounce after power stance, Dustin Martin the greatest Tiger of all time
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