Another disappointing start for the Tigers

By – JACKSON CLARK

After an impressive preseason you cannot blame Richmond supporters from being disheartened after the Tigers’ momentum came to a shuddering halt in the first round of the season. The 44-point loss to Carlton is far from catastrophic but it was certainly an anticlimactic way to start the season – something that loyal Tiger supporters like myself are too used to.

Plenty of times during and just after the match I was absolutely livid about our performance but I forced myself to find positives out of the match. I guess that is the only way to stop us Tigers supporters from going completely insane. Trent Cotchin and our other top-line footballers can match it with the best but most of the Tigers’ second and third tier players are simply not up to standard.

The Richmond forward-line could not function well enough to capitalise on scoring opportunities created from the midfielders. The tall forwards, in the recently re-signed Ty Vickery and Coleman medallist Jack Riewoldt, had little impact. The duo lead the competition in marks in the forward fifty last season but made the ball look like a bar of soap on this night. Melbourne delistees Brad Miller and Addam Maric never looked like firing and did not offer much defensively.

Basic skill errors are still a major concern for the Tigers when rebounding from the back half. Jayden Post did not have his best game and Alex Rance tried hard as always but let himself down with his disposal. Some of these errors are unforgivable at the top level and more often than not directly result in goals to the opposition. Speaking of the opposition, it was a clinical performance from the Blues. The side rebounded from a poor pre-season and proved to Richmond that they are ahead in experience and composure. With several stars set to return to the Carlton outfit, a top four berth should be expected.

A big loss to Carlton in front of a huge crowd in the opening round is something that Richmond supporters have become all too familiar with. Although I have learnt to go into the match with lowered expectations, the loss still hurt. Fortunately it is a long season, so not all hope is loss for the Tigers supporter starved of success.

Twitter @JClark182

 

About Jackson Clark

Born and bred in Darwin, Northern Territory, I am a young, aspiring football writer that lives and breathes the game of Australian Football. I'm also a keen player and coach.

Comments

  1. Ben Footner says

    Carlton is a potential top 4 outfit this year. Still plenty of games left in the season and I thought Richmond at least looked likely at times, unlike previous years where they’ve looked terrible from the first bounce.

    I still think Richmond are a possibility for the bottom half of the 8 this year.

  2. I’m not a Tigers supporter and I’m disappointed!

    Thought last night was a great chance for them to get a good start to the season AND I wasted a tip on them. &%$ ^%$^@ @&^%

  3. Impressed with the endeavour of first gamer Morris, who showed more attack on the ball than many of his seasoned colleagues, although his pure stats don’t bear it out.

    Post extremely worrying, doesn’t seem to have the football smarts.

    Grigg and Houli showed experience, but need to be involved more.

    Easy shots missed in first quarter inexcusable, basic skill errors when under no pressure lets a good team like the Blues off the hook.

    Kruezer fighteningly good, quick and great below his knees for a bloke that size. Murphy impressive, although Waite still does foolish things for a bloke of his ability.

    Really disappointing for the Tigers. Blues must love having round 1 against us, big crowd and percentage booster. Only issue is they really can’t gauge owo they are going as they have only beaten a bottom 8 side.

    Serves us right for daring to dream after NAB Cup games, all too familiar result.

  4. Very fair summary, Jackson. You said you were forced to find some positives from the match, but somehow couldn’t find any to mention in the article. “Kicked straight” was about all I could come up with. Trent Cotchin is a very clean and stylish footballer to watch. He seemed to have that far away look in his eyes after the game. “Why am I wasting my talents on this lot?” or “What is Gubby Allen’s phone number?” come to mind. “Such is life” as that former Tiger midfielder recently chested.

  5. Lessons learned from last night’s match:

    1) It may be bad form to whinge about injuries when you lose, but gloating about depth when you win is Black Caviar-esque.

    2) It turns out Mr and Mrs Gilchrist, Mr and Mrs Hills, Mr and Mrs Sandler, Mr and Mrs Ant and the writers of the Bible were all WRONG, and whoever wrote the scripts to a certain massively over-rated 60s Yank comedy starring John Astin were right: ‘Adam’ has two D’s. Now if only the Marick/Maritch family could agree on how to pronounce their last name….

    3) Good thing this game was the real deal. Otherwise this week’s ‘Bernie Vince’s Boxers’ story might be all about Richmond’s ‘outrageous insult etc etc…’ in not wearing black armbands as Carlton did. In which case, about halfway through Saturday someone would have mentioned that Mitch Robinson was wearing two BAs and therefore it was most likely the Carlton boys were in solidarity with him.

    4) All week the ABC boys have been telling us how ‘primed and ready’ we are for the season to start. However true that may be, it seems nobody was quite ‘primed and ready’ enough to risk the first 2012 onslaught of angry Richmond fans – hence no post-match talkback In no way should that observation be construed as a complaint.

    5) Nothing like a win on Friday (or even Thursday) night to set up the weekend.

  6. Pete

    I know what you mean. Before last night’s game, I was coming equal first in the office tipping!

    Sean

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