AFL: Teams will take note of how Collingwood tackled Richmond
Nathan Buckley knows how to beat Richmond, and Collingwood have started to set the template for taking down the Tigers.
Nathan Buckley knows how to beat Richmond, and Collingwood have started to set the template for taking down the Tigers.
Buckley and counterpart Damien Hardwick joked in the vacant MCG carpark on Thursday night that they would bin their game reviews of the five-goal deadlock. But expect Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson to forensically examine the first 30 minutes of the match when his players prepare to take on Richmond next week.
The key to taking down Richmond is ball control, although that’s easier said than done against a club hunting a third premiership in four years.
Teams that can frustrate the Tigers by directing the speed and tempo for most of the game stand the best chance of knocking them over.
At quarter-time on Thursday night the Magpies led disposals 88-64, uncontested marks 21-11, centre clearances 4-1 and the scoreboard 25-1.
Midfielder Steele Sidebottom said at half-time the focus was to deny Richmond access to the corridor.
Buckley wanted to avoid a ballistic game of ping pong, and at the first break 15 Tigers had failed to register more than two kicks.
Collingwood’s backline is tighter than piano wire. It was a key takeaway from the Pies’ round one smashing of the Western Bulldogs, and they’ve now backed that up.
It is a backline that absorbs pressure like a sponge and after two matches it has conceded a miserly 70 points. That’s fewer than nine teams, despite playing one extra match.
Darcy Moore has now totally nullified Aaron Naughton and Jack Riewoldt and the chemistry with which they work the ball out of danger seems unbreakable.
The Tigers’ back six was equally as stingy on Thursday, and it’s clear no goals are going to come easy against these premiership contenders this season.
But while the organisation, structure and system teams now display in the back half is sexy to coaches, Kevin Bartlett reckons it’s an eyesore to supporters.
“Richmond and Collingwood arguably the two best sides in the competition showed that Australian rules football as a spectacle is in serious trouble and has been for a number of years,” Bartlett tweeted. “It’s time to take our heads out of the sand and stop kidding ourselves.”
The argument for slashing interchange rotations appeared to take a hit on Thursday night. Wasn’t the logic that tired footballers would equate to less congestion? Wasn’t the concept based on the idea that when players ran out of puff their defensive running would fall away first?
Well, on Thursday night players on both teams were so exhausted they could barely kick 40m by the end.
“Ever since we’ve reduced rotations, scoring’s gone down,” Hardwick said on Thursday night. “You can reduce them again, but you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to give the game time to work it out.”
And on that fatigue factor, good luck to the Western Bulldogs. The AFL has restarted the Dogs’ season with three games in 12 days, including a trip to Sydney.
HERALD SUN
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