Fremantle were coming into this game looking for a massive percentage booster. The Tigers, without Broad, Lynch, and Nankervis, were absolutely ripe for the picking. In true Dockery fashion, there was a cyclone on the horizon, potentially posing a bigger in for the Tigers than anything they could imagine.
All Freo needed was 60mm of rain dumping on their new run and gun, handball-style game and giving the Tigers a chance to turn it into a contested scrap; the dream conditions for any team walking into a game they’re not expected to win.
However, what perhaps signalled some metaphorical shift in the Dockers becoming a serious threat, those cyclonic predictions dwindled to an inconvenient breeze with enough rain to wash away any excuse Freo may have had for underperforming.
Still, we should not write Richmond off so early. Unlike some players who don a sashed guernsey, these guys wear their colours with pride, and have a bit of heart about the way they play. Like the Tigers of old, they’re… well… they’re not very good – but they won’t and don’t accept being the “percentage booster” team. They took it up to the Blues, they’d fully expect they could take it up to the purple – even with all their outs.
It wasn’t a pretty game. At times, it was a frustrating, almost silly impersonation of football as the players played dry footy when it was wet and wet footy when it wasn’t.
Here’s what I saw
First quarter
In recent years, first quarters have not been Freo’s friend. They’ve liked to ease into the game, often to their own detriment. This year, it has been an obvious focus for the club, scoring 14 goals by quarter time across their first two games.
Old habits are hard to break, it seems.
Richmond didn’t bring anything particularly special to start this game, but looked a lot more switched on than their purple counterparts. The Dockers probably controlled territory, but looked very lethargic at times, with players like Andrew Brayshaw taking an eternity to turn around when getting the ball at half-back. Isiah Dudley had a bit of life, but they did not adapt to the game at all. Richmond, on the other hand, while not being amazing, at least had the semblance of a game plan. SamLalor looked highly interested, Tim Taranto was trying hard, and Tyler Sonsie was extremely impressive with four clearances.
Don’t pass in the forward line
Nothing annoys me more than watching players pass a ball when they could have had a shot at goal themselves, especially when it ends badly. Freo seem one of the biggest culprits, but it’s an epidemic across the league. Richmond’s first goal, coming in the second quarter, was on the back of this. Switkowski, with ball in hand, 40 metres out from a simple shot, does the “unselfish” act of centring the ball to Josh Treacy. Naturally, the kick wasn’t as perfect it needed to be, a turnover ensures, and within five seconds Taranto is lining up for goal.
In the third quarter, Luke Jackson denied himself a goal of the year nomination. Streaming out of the centre, running to 45, he handballed badly to Murphy Reid who fumbled and got tackled. Immediate turnover.
Surely having a shot and missing is more beneficial to your team than turning it over 45m from goal with an open corridor behind you.
In fact, not wanting to turn the ball over was a theme for the Dockers. They played the game as if they were scared to make a mistake, scared to turn the ball over. They tried to think their way through every situation. Naturally, this level of overthinking created a level of indecisiveness that the Tigers feasted on. The men from Richmond came over hungry for a fight, and seriously brought their pressure game. Each half a second the Dockers took to possess the footy allowed another tackle, another inevitable turnover, and a quick transition into Richmond’s forward line.
They can play some dumb footy at times, Freo, and their dumbest footy happens when they try to play smart footy. Nothing exemplified this more than Karl Worner running through the middle of the ground with five or six teammates sprinting past him to the forward line. None were a particularly good option for a handball, so he waited, waited, waited, and got pinged. Mate, stop hanging around waiting for the game plan to work and just boot it to the place all your players have got to.
Taranto the workhorse
Taranto may not be the classiest, flashiest player, but he’s the guy you want in a game like this and I thought he was the standout for the Tigers. His ability to shark Sean Darcy’s taps was brilliant and then the way he distributed by hand to the right player before pushing forward and impacting the scoreboard was all kinds of exceptional. When he couldn’t get his hand son it, he was a tackling machine, not just laying half-arsed tackles that barely bother anyone except the stats guy – his ten tackles generally stuck and caused turnovers. When you’re a young team, you need experience to stand up. He faded late, but by then there was nothing stopping the Dockers.
Cyclone Treacy
Cyclone Narelle may have not bothered to turn up, but there was no lack of Cyclone Treacy.
If there’s a better mark in the game at the moment, it wouldn’t be by any noticeable margin. Treacy has everything you want in a big forward, the number one being a player who can impose himself on the game.
And impose himself he did. He finished with 4.3 and 12 marks, but he also pressures, tackles, and chases like a small forward.
A tale of two halves
There was a strange moment in the third when I looked at the scoreboard, half expecting Richmond to have a lead, and it read 55-34 Freo’s way. I suddenly realised, without them doing much different, the Dockers had taken control of the game and we’re building a handy lead. It’s something that speaks of their development as a club; good clubs can play poorly but suddenly switch on and build a small lead quickly before you know it. Could these Dockers be turning into a good side? They still weren’t playing pretty footy, but that 20 point lead became a thirty point lead within a matter of minutes.
Freo put aside their stupid, overthinking footy and played more instinctually. As the game progressed, their big players seemed to get bigger: Patrick Voss started to impose himself, Darcy clunked one in the forward line, Jye Amiss found some form, and Jackson popped up everywhere. Through the middle, Shai Bolton took control (32 disposals) and Caleb Serong had the ball on a string (30 with two goals). Down back Brennan Cox and Alex Pearce were intercepting at will.
The Tigers lack polish, they lack endurance, they lack players – but they don’t lack heart.
To the Tigers’ credit, I don’t think the score line reflected their efforts. Richmond have some great young players coming through – Luke Trainor tried bloody hard all day down back; Sonsie was prolific early, Sam Grlj uses it pretty well, and I can see why Lalor is getting early comparisons to Dusty. They did not, at one stage, pack it in.
Yes, Freo got on top and by the end, and finished with 35 shots on goal – by the scoreboard alone you’d be fair to assume the Tigers played like witches hats. But they didn’t. Yes, they faded late, but they continued to try to take the game on, they tried to keep applying the pressure that kept them in the game in the first half, and they took risks.
I think there was a moment by Mykelti Lefau that was metaphoric of their team: he grabbed the ball in the middle, broke past two tackles and dashed his full distance, just to put it on the chest of Pearce. All effort, no polish. They took it to the better side and may have been soundly beaten, but I don’t think they can say they left anything out there.
Final word
At the end of the day, the Dockers will bank the 4 points, but will feel they left a bit out there. Bad kicking, a slow start, and some bizarre ball movement probably cost them a few percent on the ladder. The Tigers will walk away knowing they were soundly beaten but happy with their efforts early; they’ll have an honest appraisal and say that this is just where they’re at, at the moment. They made it as scrappy as they could for as long as they could – but there’s a reason these two clubs are at opposite ends of the ladder – the Dockers just had more winners, more class, and more answers.
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