The Tigers go down to the tune of 24 points against the Giants at the MCG.
On what looked like a nice winter day for footy, it was a bit disappointing to see so many empty seats in the crowd. Loved the Giants banner though. That would ruffle a few feathers surely.
The first quarter got off to a hot start when both sides banged on a couple of quick goals. The Tigers ran out of the blocks, kicking the first two goals, until the Giants’ bounce off half-back and use of ball by hands, gave them a lot of looks at goal. The Tigers probably left some goals out there due to their lack of polish going inside 50. They also didn’t finish well in front of goal as well as they would have liked. On the other hand, the handball receive game of the Giants shone, and due to the lack of pressure from Richmond at times, GWS were able to transition the ball well and get a good field position on the ground. The home side was lucky to only be down by 5 points at the quarter-time siren.
When Toby kicked the first of the second quarter, he just had that look about him that you knew he was on. When the Giants looked like they would run away with it, Richmond responded with some brilliance from Bolton. When they transitioned the ball, they looked to always go quick and direct, but they lacked polish going inside 50. At times, the Giants made them go wide by setting up the ground well and blocking the corridor. In saying that though, Richmond still managed to keep things close. Each time the Giants responded, the Tigers would find an answer, which provided a pretty close contest. I loved how Thomas and McMullin both linked up for consecutive goal assists, with the latter being on the receiving end of a clever outside-of-the-boot dart to line up for goal right on top of the square.
The first goal of the second half came from some tremendous work from Nankervis, who pushed Briggs out of the way at a boundary throw-in. He grabbed the ball with both hands and quickly threw it onto the boot. The grab from Koschitze was equally as good. However, not even the dominance of Nankervis could stop the class of the Giants. When Hogan danced around Brown and Miller and snapped off the boot, you sensed that it was going to take something special for Richmond to win. It’s safe to say that the visitors owned most of the third term. They started to punish Richmond on the scoreboard, going into the last quarter 31 points up.
Both teams had activated their subs to begin the last quarter of the game. Coniglio, unfortunately, just can’t get a clean run at it injury-wise, with what seemed to be a shoulder incident, sitting him out. Hogan again just kept fronting up, he helped push the lead out to 36 points. This margin was almost halved as Steely Green gave the Tigers some hope, managing to get on the end of a couple. But despite the Tigers fighting hard till the end and making it an exciting finish, the Giants just did what they had to and responded like they had done all day.
STEELY BY NAME, STEELY BY NATURE
It was certainly interesting comparing both sides playing tonight. Although GWS are a much more talented side, Richmond matches up well against them. Both sides are at different ends of the ladder, but there are some similarities in the list demographic in terms of age and the amount of games played amongst some players.
I think for Richmond, where they are on the ladder, they’ll be looking forward to the off-season and certainly looking for signs from some of the young players heading into the future. And while there are some uncertainties around some of the senior players, Tigers fans will be excited about what they saw from young Steely Green.
Stationed up forward, Steely was able to provide enough pressure to keep the ball locked in when he could. He also found himself as a target up forward, finishing with 3 goals to his name. What was impressive about his goals was that he was able to read the play further upfield and get into some dangerous spots up forward. Two of his three goals came from sitting under the flight of the ball, without any fear of oncoming traffic and no regard for his safety. The two goals he kicked in the last quarter were enough to give the Tigers some life and kick off a mini-comeback.
In the game that was dominated by Green of the Tom variety, and Greene the captain, Steely certainly had his say. With a name like that and an attitude to match, I can see him becoming a cult hero for the Tiger faithful for years to come.
BLOODY LUCKY TO HAVE BUCKLEY
You can throw a blanket on about a handful of players that were more influential than Buckley was, but I want to give him a special shoutout.
When it was announced that Sam Taylor would be spending weeks on the sidelines, it would’ve been easy to assume that the Giants season would hang on Taylor’s availability. They sat just outside of the top 8 at the time, most of the players were out of form and they had some tough matches to come, where you weren’t too confident they’d come out with a win.
Since Taylor’s been out, I’ve been impressed with how Buckley has stepped up and put his hand up to be the man for that back six. Although they lost games to Sydney and Adelaide with Taylor out, they’d be happy with how they’ve gone since then with important wins against Carlton and Richmond.
I thought Buckley did an awesome job, playing mostly on Koschitzke. But it wasn’t how he played on his direct opponent it was more about how he was able to help his other defenders and being able to support them in the air.
It’ll give him, the coaching staff and his teammates confidence that he’s able to fill a role and execute it to the benefit of his team.
NANK THE TANK v SHITTING BRIGGS
Up until half-time, there wasn’t much that split the big men. They both had really good moments.
I thought early on, Nankervis probably had the better of Briggs and tried stretching him defensively, but couldn’t quite make him pay on the scoreboard. Briggs became alert to what Nank was trying to do and responded well by working hard around the ground and providing lots of pressure when he could.
It’s a joy watching big men like Briggs and the Nank play aggressively and throw their bodies around. You wouldn’t want to get crunched in a tackle by either of them, as it would be a struggle to get back up. Both big men had their equal share in hitouts, but I thought Nankervis gave his midfield better service, except they weren’t always able to capitalize.
Early in the third quarter, Nankervis was one of the reasons why the Tigers were still in it and his side was lucky the margin wasn’t bigger than what it was. He looked to be running Briggs into the ground with his strength and size until Briggs went to the bench for a breather and Riccardi got thrown into the mix.
From then on, and for lots of the last quarter, Briggs stood up by started getting more of the ball and continued laying big tackles. The pressure that he put on certainly helped his team win the ball back often. Then when he kicked the goal late in the last quarter to make the margin a bridge too far for the Tigers, it was then that I thought that Briggs won the battle of the big men.
NOT MUCH THAT MANSELL CAN’T HANDLE
Another exciting player Tigers fans can look forward to seeing for years to come is Rhyan Mansell.
The Tasmanian product has been one of the only good stories to come out of Tigerland. He worked tirelessly all day to provide a target for the Tigers going inside 50. The 24-year-old is only 180cm tall but plays much taller than his height suggests. He’s just a smart footballer, that gives unconditional effort and bobs up at the right time.
Playing on some tough opponents, he was able to get some good leading patterns going and get on the end of a couple of goals in the first half. Every player and fan would love to have a player like him. He’s a smart footballer who has great awareness, and good game sense and plays within his limitations.
I hope the Tigers can build a forward line around him, Steely Green and Samson Ryan because there’s something there and they all give you lots to work with. Even though Mansell faded a bit in the second half, the coaching staff will be encouraged about what they saw in the first half and hope he can produce it regularly.
LEG-DRIVERS PREVAIL, ALWAYS
Watching the broadcast, I couldn’t help but notice the stark difference between both midfielders.
Both sides had their fair share of bulls and ball-winners running through the midfield. Funnily enough, for the Giants, the two mids who had a big say in this encounter, probably don’t get as much exposure as AFL mids if Taranto and Hopper were still at the Giants. You can probably guess by now that I’m talking about Tom Green and Finn Callaghan.
I thought those two were the clear differences between both sides. Both their games bring me to what I have believed in for a very long time now, and it’s that every team needs a mid (or two) that is a leg-driver.
Now, some of you are probably asking what I mean by this. It’s pretty self-explanatory. A leg-driver is someone who can win or receive the ball and use their core strength to break tackles or shrug off opponents, and drive their legs out of traffic to get the ball to the outside.
These two exposed the Richmond midfield for how one-paced they are and even though Taranto, Prestia and Hopper won a fair share of the ball, they didn’t quite have the explosiveness or the speed to gain a few more metres with the ball in hand. It also felt at times that most of their disposals were rushed, due to the great pressure the Giants provided without the ball. Hence why some of their disposals weren’t as damaging. Especially for Taranto and Hopper.
Green wasn’t particularly much cleaner with his disposal efficiency, but he was able to find more time and space due to driving the legs. Callaghan on the other hand was exceptional in this regard. Every time he had the ball, he’d quickly burst out of traffic and use his hands or feet to get it to a teammate in a better position. Both of them combined for 58 disposals, 11 tackles and 729 metres gained. Compared that to Taranto, Hopper and Prestia who had 82 disposals between the three of them but only 677 metres gained. And yes I know, metres gained isn’t a key indicator of performance or necessarily relates to performance, but it does show how much more purchase the Giants pair got for each disposal.
With the Tigers having a bounty of first and second-round picks on the table for the National Draft, apart from key position talent, this is an area they need to look into.
THE OTHER TIDBITS…
The Tigers’ back six was under the pump for lots of the game. Ben Miller had a game he’d rather forget, getting beaten comprehensively. There were some positives though for some of that back six. I thought Balta just kept on fronting up and worked tirelessly all day. Short and Rioli provided lots of run and dash but probably let their direct opponents kick some easy goals.
On the other hand, the Giants’ forward line was super efficient up forward and very energetic. I haven’t yet given Greene and Hogan their flowers, but both were super influential. Greene was probably the best on the ground for me, with his eye-catching 4 goal performance. Hogan looks on track to kick 50 goals for the season. The younger players impressed me the most though. Young Jones, McMullin and Thomas all have a future in the AFL and impressed me with how they all bobbed up.
I think the Tigers have one in Samson Ryan. It takes some time for the big men to develop and grow into their bodies to become well-rounded footballers, but the signs are there. He bobbed up for a goal when he needed to, and lowered his eyes to set up a teammate for a goal. My Richmond friend who was watching the game, said he reminds him of a young Brodie Grundy and I can see some similarities. I hope Adem Yze persists with him.
Whitfield again proves that you need to put some time into him because he’s too good of a ball user to be given time and space. He’s the key reason why the Giants had that pop and bounce off half-back and were able to hurt the Tigers in transition. He also had 12 marks for the game, showing that his opponent didn’t match up on him as well as they should’ve. When he has that much space, good luck catching him.
The whole back-six of the Giants performed well. Himmelberg and Idun did their thing. Ash was good in his return and Fonti has something there where you feel like he’ll be a player to watch in the future.
And lastly, I also would like to compliment Bolton on his game. I thought he tried hard at times, especially when he went into the midfield. He gave Richmond a bit of a point of difference in the midfield and also kicked a couple of good goals.
IN SUMMARY
All in all, it was a great game to watch. There were parts in the first quarter and most of the third quarter where I thought the Giants by how much.
Credit to Richmond, they showed a lot of fight. Most of the senior players played well, although some of them would be embarrassed by their lack of pressure.
Too many times GWS players were able to waltz through without a finger laid on them. Richmond’s defensive system broke down at times and too many Giants were left unopposed.
Apologies if there are some players I didn’t mention. Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to I can’t touch on everyone.
What’s next for both teams now?
With six games to go for the rest of the season, Yze will be looking for little signs in his players, especially those in contract limbo and all the 25 years and under, to determine what his future side could look like.
Richmond will face off against Port Adelaide in Adelaide, who will have some sore bodies going into that game. If they can dish up a lot of the good stuff they dished up today, it’ll certainly be a close one.
GWS host the Suns next week and will look to add another win. If results go their way and they continue to win, they could find themselves knocking on the door of the top four.