A Saturday afternoon matchup at Marvel saw the bottom two teams go head to head. Both came into this one having sung their song just twice so far this season. Both had similar percentages at the start of the round, and both are in a rebuilding stage with North seemingly constantly rebuilding and Richmond finishing lower on the ladder each season since their 2020 flag.
North were able to come into this one at pretty much full strength, missing perhaps only Zac Fisher from their best 22, while Richmond’s struggles with injury this season have been well documented coming in without Lynch, Lefau, Judson Clarke, Gibcus, Grimes and Jack Ross. With Samson Ryan out of the side, it left Koschitzke as the main tall up forward, while Tom Brown has been swung from defence to forward over the last few weeks with some success,
Whoever won this game would most likely lose pick 1, it’s the tpye of game that last season would have been dubbed the “Harley Reid cup”, but with no clear number 1 pick at this stage of the season, perhaps pick 1 is not as important as other seasons? I guess time will tell.
The game itself was riddled with errors throughout, with the occasional glimpse of brilliance. Despite that, it was a pretty entertaining watch, and there was a lot to like for both teams as they come to the end of what has no doubt felt like a very long season. Ultimately, North would walk away with a 13-point win and some good performances from their key players. Here’s how it all played out:
The game:
Richmond brought the heat early in this one, particularly inside forward 50, and North seemed ill-prepared to deal with it. Two minutes in saw young Steely Green rewarded for some excellent defensive work with a shot on goal that he duly converted and was well deserved for the work he had put in to earn the shot.
With North piss-farting around with handballs in their D50, Steely attempted to tackle McKercher as he took possession. McKercher was able to shrug him off, and convinced he was in the clear he ambled up the field looking for a target, but Steely was having none of it! He recovered from the initial shrug off to run McKercher down from behind where he was pinged for holding the ball. It was a great bit of work from a young player in his first season and was great to see. It also typified Richmond for much of the first quarter.
No marks inside 50 to quarter time seems an unusual stat considering the sheer weight of inside 50’s Richmond had in the first quarter, but it seemed to be working for them. They were racking up shots on goal at will, but were largely unable to finish their work. When Mansell kicked Richmond’s second goal for the game about 13 minutes in, the commentators noted that 45 of North’s 48 possessions to that stage were in their defensive half.
It took until 16 minutes into the first quarter for North to have their first shot on goal via Larkey (which was rushed through for a behind) and it seemed like from then on, North were able to get their kick-mark game going. There were a few turnovers via risky kicks to try and open up the corridor, but as the game got going so did North and the skills of some of their players came to the forefront. Like so many young teams before them, Richmond were just unable to keep up the same manic defensive pressure as the game wore on, and all of sudden North defenders and midfielders were finding space to lead into for their teammates to hit them up.
LDU and Sheezel started to control the midfield and get their team on the front foot, they would combine for 16 score involvements for the day which is not a bad effort when you consider North had 20 scores! Larkey began to find space in the forward 50 (two of his five goals came from virtually uncontested marks) Corr, Comben, and Archer began to intercept across the half back line as North piled on five goals to three in the second quarter.
Richmond were not going away though, and managed the first two goals of the third, before the Roos really put the foot down to kick four unanswered goals going into three quarter time. And from there they really had the game on their terms and never looked like losing.
Colby McKercher
McKercher racked up 15 disposals in the first quarter, and while the commentators marvelled, in truth I was a little disappointed.
North tried to get the ball into his hands at every opportunity, and I was more than surprised when I snuck a look at his disposal efficiency towards the end of the first quarter to see it was around 84%.
Of his 15 disposals, several were kickouts from a behind, and often the kick out would be short to a player in the pocket, at which point he would run around behind the bloke with the ball for the handball receive – the old cheapie, if you will – to then just kick long down the line to a contest that North would not win. By my count, at least seven of his disposals ended this way in the first quarter – I’m no maths genius, but how you can call that over 80% efficiency is beyond me.
It certainly was not all McKercher’s fault – you can point to Richmond’s manic pressure, or perhaps North players not working hard enough early to provide an option further afield, but any of the North defenders could have executed the same kicks he ended up executing (with the exception of Jaidyn Stephenson who had a mare with his kicking today) and I felt like the obsession with giving him the ball in D50 actually stifled North’s exits and made it a bit easier for Richmond to apply that ferocious pressure.
While I have no doubt this kid will be a star, and we’ll be seeing his elite kicking skills on display throughout what I expect to be a long career, I don’t think North needed to be looking for him at every opportunity today, and perhaps you could take a bit of pressure/responsibility off of a young kid this early in his career.
Luke Davies-Uniacke
LDU really lifted in this one after slow start (though he was not alone there), at one point almost taking the slow start personally and putting the whole team on his back. 8 clearances (equal game high), 33 disposals (game high) of which 14 were contested (game high) to go with three goals (second only to Larkey) was an almighty game from the North star, as the younger players in the midfield continue to grow around him we should see even more of this sort of stuff from LDU.
At halftime Adam Yze mentioned he chatted to his midfield group about keeping more of an eye on LDU, but it didn’t work. He did as he pleased today and should easily secure the 3 brownlow votes out of this one. He is just so powerful and hard to tackle when he tucks the ball under his arm and gets motoring, and today was able to impact the scoreboard as well with a career high 3 goals. With Sheezel quite early, LDU’s performance was even more important to get North going.
The Joeys and the Cubs:
With both clubs “rebuilding” albeit within different timeframes, I just wanted to highlight a few of the young players from each team that really impressed me.
Comben was brilliant today, soldiering on despite being clearly hurt. Everytime he hit the deck it took him awhile to get back up – almost as long as it takes me to get off the couch if I sit the wrong way for five minutes! Never the less, he soldiered on and impacted contest after contest.
Archer had a breakout game. While he has been given some big jobs in the last few weeks and has done them well, today he was able to impact a little more going the other way with 20 possessions, eight of which were intercepts. He also took a couple of great grabs and looks to really be growing into the rugged defender North would’ve hoped for.
Duursma lit up the crowd with a mark of the year contender, and although he was otherwise pretty quiet, as he learns more about this caper he will be a nightmare matchup for opposition defenders with his ability in the air and also at ground level. While it was a great mark, I still think Bobby Hill’s might be the winner so far this season (and no that’s no just my Collingwood bias talking).
Tom Brown is showing something up forward for Richmond, and though he may not be the long term solution there, this learning curve will only serve him well if he finds himself back in defence regularly.
Steely Green looked lively early and was unfortunate to be subbed out with an ankle injury. His speed and forward pressure were important and hopefully the injury is not too bad as he is exciting to watch.
Seth Campbell was also good for Richmond today and while he only had the 15 disposals, nine of them turned into scores (second only to Baker for the match) showing that he is one of those players who doesn’t need to touch it regularly to have an impact.
The departing (?) Tigers:
I had coffee with a Richmond supporter mate this morning, and as often happens, we got to chatting about footy. He seemed to believe that Dusty, Baker, Rioli and Bolton will find themselves no longer at Richmond next season, and he was actually all for it. And after today I maybe have to agree with him.
Dusty has maybe played on a year too long. Based on his most recent performances (today included) I don’t see him playing on at all next year. My Richmond supporter mate went as far as to say he believes Dusty is now a distraction the club no longer needs and while he will always be loved for what he has done for them over the journey, the time is right for him and the club to part ways.
Bolton is a frustrating figure. Head Mongrel HB often refers to Bobby Hill at the Pies as being more sizzle than steak, and while I don’t necessarily disagree, I think Shai is in the same boat. The bloke is reportedly on massive wages, and he strikes me as more of the icing on top of an already baked cake. When he has genuine stars around him, in a team that is going well, Bolton is able to float in and out of games and provide moments of brilliance, but he will never be the type of player to take a young struggling team on his back and set the tone for a game. With rumors of Freo being interested, he would probably fit in there very well with their established midfield stars allowing him the play that half forward role where he is so dangerous.
Rioli and Baker would be sorely missed by the Tigers if they were to move on, but the draft picks Richmond could command for Rioli would really allow them to attack the draft, and while Baker is a good player, you wouldn’t want to overpay him to get him to stay with where the club is at.
If all these guys leave, some of them will command decent picks back to Richmond in exchange, and while the draft is always something of a lottery, if they were able to enter what is seen as a pretty even draft with five or more picks inside 30 they would only benefit in the long term. The wages coming off their books would also allow them to attack free agency pretty hard over the coming years to top up their list.
Other Bits:
Did you guys know that Nick Larkey doesn’t miss the goals from inside 30 metres? If I didn’t know before today, I certainly know now after the commentators scarcely mentioned it every 10 minutes! Sheesh.
Nank v Xerri was a very interesting watch. I couldn’t pick a winner of the two today, they were both very good at what they did and both so similar in their game styles, maybe the chocolates just go to Xerri due to a couple of pieces of very good tapwork between himself and LDU.
Where is Jaidyn Stephenson? He had to endure the Bronx cheers from his own fans after actually hitting a target by foot in the 2nd quarter. The bloke is more afraid of contact than Josh Rachele and still doesn’t seem to have a settled position. I remember the Pies tried him at halfback before they exited him from the club – does he get another contract at North the way he is going?
Also loved that Balta was able to take a pretty decent hanger after being the step ladder for Duursma earlier in the game, perhaps a bit of poetic justice for the big fella.
And that’ll do me. I think pick 1 probably matters more to Richmond than North, just by virtue of North already having so many high draft picks in their team. While the season may be effectively over for Richmond, there is definitely cause for excitement in the future with the draft hand they will likely hold. Likewise North fans who have seen some good performances from young players this season, who should only get better with another preseason under their belt.
