There’s a certain air around games like these. Late in the season, dead rubbers between teams who were never going to be there at the pointy end and teams with unfulfilled aspirations. As a neutral, the only thing I knew going in was that the game was never likely to be truly over as these are two teams with unconventional approaches to offence – the Tigers can’t score, and often times the Saints seem unwilling.
The Tigers’ stilted offence has been as much a story of their season as the injuries, because at times they look like a half decent team, and they certainly haven’t had the lows to equal West Coast or North Melbourne at times throughout their rebuilds. They are just so thoroughly incapable of scoring, to a man, that sometimes their games stop looking like football at all and start looking like weird training drills where you have to keep throwing yourselves against the break until eventually a ball spills through and the number on the scoreboard goes up by six.
As you might have gathered, the story of this game is ultimately one of futility. Sometimes dead rubbers can be fun – someone has a weird breakout game, or a team tries a lineup or a role or something they might go on to use in the following season.
No such luck today.
Sam Banks looked most likely, with 11 disposals in the first quarter and 17 for the half, but finished on 25 in what ultimately felt like a missed opportunity to really seize his day. His ability to rack up touches on the wing felt like a good omen for Ralphsmith and McIntosh, who have at times impressed this season with pure gut running if not execution, but they only managed to combine for 13 disposals in a disappointing outing.
The futility was so pervasive that the teams combined for a whopping 61 tackles. Almost a 20 year low. Paddy Dow and Jack Steele had five each, no Tiger had more than three. There’s a world where these teams are allowed to play their football and give a shit, but that’s not what we saw at Marvel Stadium today.
For mine, that starts at the top. The game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate, partly due to Richmond’s inability to convert and partly because St. Kilda’s game plan seems to hinge on not wanting to put a team away. There was a period in the fourth where Graham, Prestia, Campbell, Bauer all scored behinds from gettable areas for Richmond, and (theoretically) had they nailed all four they would’ve been within a goal. Butterfly effect and all that, obviously, but the game was still technically alive for much longer than it probably should’ve been.
I don’t understand what Ross Lyon was doing with Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Jack Sinclair. Sure, Sinclair led all Saints for disposals (29) but only four of them came in the forward half. Of Wanganeen-Milera’s 23, just one was in the forward half. These are two of the most reliable run and carry backs in the league, fellas with big booming kicks that can drive counter-attacks and lead to repeat inside 50 entries. Instead, Nas was being used as a tall defender and not given the license to open carry the ball that makes him so much of a threat.
Was Ross just trying to sharpen their defensive tools against a genuinely toothless Richmond team? There’s some value to be had there, sure, but not as much as you could gain by letting these blokes- two genuine cornerstones of this team hopefully for years to come – see just how much damage they could do if you gave them the license to do what you know they’re good at.
The same is true for Tim Membrey. Two first half goals and a license to do whatever he wanted to poor Ben Miller. I rate Miller enough, he’s a good/excellent one-on-one defender (see: kept Charlie Curnow quiet) and there’s definitely upside there, but Membrey used his wiles and experience to just crush him. Any time Membrey had the ball in live play and Miller was on him, the goal was open if he wanted it. Once again, I find myself wondering why Ross doesn’t just do the thing that ensures maximum scoreboard return and see just how much you can do with your list.
Speaking of players and opportunities (and taking them), Cooper Sharman and Paddy Dow. Paddy won the battle of the Dows (comfortably) and looked genuinely handy as a big midfielder, with 22 disposals, six marks, and a goal. Not a bad day out. Sharman did what third talls need to do, which is take the opportunities you get when they arrive. He’s not quite generating them himself, but when they see him as the best option and use him, he’s becoming a reliable forward asset for a team with a few of them.
Ok. Positives for Richmond.
Genuinely think they could’ve won here, if they knew how to kick any goals at all. They’re the lowest scoring team in the comp by 114 points, which works out to just about a goal a game worse than West Coast, on average. Although I mentioned Ralphsmith and McIntosh’s low disposal efforts, I don’t think either had a particularly bad game – two of Ralphsmith’s four kicks were goals, for example – and they gave effort, ran all day, and stodged up the contests to hurt St. Kilda’s ball movement. All valuable contributions.
At this point of the season, every Richmond game feels at least partly like an audition for an interstate club, with any or all of Daniel Rioli, Shai Bolton, Liam Baker all allegedly seeking moves. Daniel Rioli’s game here wouldn’t have hurt his chances, leading all comers with 36 touches, a team-high three tackles, and 188 more metres gained than anyone else on the field. Plus a couple of slick moves that integrate nicely into the highlights package, like a spin out of three defenders on the wing. Did it lead to a goal? No. Did it lead to a chance? Probably not. But such is the beauty of the highlights package.
Something I have genuinely enjoyed watching from Richmond this season is Toby Nankervis. He rucks in the same way most people box, and while there’s a line between rucking and senseless violence, he toes it pretty well. As games go on, he just starts bodying people and slowly wearing them down until he’s won the physical battle, and when he’s won the physical battle it’s a complete domination from there.
As above, it rarely leads to anything, but he is as successful as it as many of his teammates are at anything else. Against Rowan Marshall, however, he got worked. They won the same amount of hitouts, sure, but Marshall beat him up there. At the start of the fourth, Nankervis looked rattled and like he was erring towards the aforementioned senseless violence. Not to mention, Marshall also scored three goals of his own, as well as a shot on goal that led to a rushed behind and one he just totally fucked up. A genuinely dominant performance.
Samson Ryan is probably not an AFL player. You can understand why a team might persist with him, because even an adequate AFL level footballer with his frame is an excellent asset to have, but when you’re getting messages from Richmond supporters genuinely wondering if he’s the worst player in the league it’s probably time to cut your losses. The thing about that is that even if you do cut your losses, what do you end up with?
As I began this piece asking what the point of these dead rubbers is, I’d close it doing the same – Richmond helped bolster the trade value of some of their key cogs, most tellingly Rioli, but they didn’t gain the other possible benefit of learning more about their team for the next season. St. Kilda continued to do what they do under Ross Lyon, which is keep a team at arms length and then they either win or get reeled in, all the while not learning anything about their squad either.
A confounding game of football.
