TIGERS PRIMED
RICHMOND defender Nick Vlastuin says the Tigers are primed for their qualifying final clash with Brisbane at the Gabba.
The Tigers haven’t played at the Gabba since Round 4, 2017, but Vlastuin said he and his teammates were relishing the prospect of an away trip after seven consecutive games at the MCG.
“We haven’t played there for two or three years I think, so it’s going to be interesting,” Vlastuin said.
“But it’s always good fun getting away with the boys and then we kind of had just locked away the ’G for (seven) weeks.
“So it’s probably good to just get out of Melbourne and it’s always fun travelling with the boys. You’re forced to spend more time together, which is always fun.
Before their Round 23 clash, which Richmond won by 27 points, the Tigers hadn’t faced Brisbane since Round 4, 2018.
“We both got our first look at each other first hand to see how it stacks up against our system,” Vlastuin said.
“So we looked at some of the things they did really well and we’ll try and combat that. And they’ll look at what we did really well and they’ll try and combat that.
“So it’s going to be pretty interesting how different they play and what the coaches come up for us — how we want to change our ball movement and stuff like that a little bit as well.”
Vlastuin said Richmond would be focusing heavily on their contested ball after being “touched up” in that area in Round 23, with Brisbane winning contested possessions 145-131, clearances 48-32 and tackles 72-47.
“We’re never going to know until we run out but they kind of touched us up in contested possessions,” he said. “That goes a long way to winning most games, so we’re going to have a big focus on that over the next week or two at training.”
Vlastuin has enjoyed a fine season and was arguably unlucky to miss out on AllAustralian selection in a year where the Tigers had to readjust after Alex Rance suffered a season-ending knee injury in Round 1.
He said in Rance’s absence, every Tigers defender had “stepped up that little bit” but All-Australians Bachar Houli and Dylan Grimes had been particularly impressive.