Another break in round of escapes
DAMIEN Hardwick has kept his cool all season.
To his credit, the Richmond coach has shown understanding each time his side has mucked up late in a game and surrendered a lead.
But at three-quarter time yesterday against Carlton, “Dimma” would have been entitled to blow his lid.
Richmond had the ball camped in its forward line for enough of the game yesterday to have these four premiership points stitched up much earlier on. But in what has become a recurring theme for the yellow and black this season, another inaccurate day in front of the sticks kept the door ajar for Carlton at the last change, with the Blues trailing by only 13 points.
To that point, Richmond had booted two goals and eight behinds from set shots.
Enter Dustin Martin. Hemmed in tight on the boundary 60m out, Martin evaded three separate attempted tackles form Kade Simpson and Patrick Cripps and produced a piece of magic that lifted his side out of the doldrums in one of the most error-riddled games we’ve seen this year.
How many times has he sparked Richmond this year?
With some space, Martin whipped out a perfect handpass to Dion Prestia who, on the burst inside 50m, hit up Dan Butler in one of the cleanest pieces of play for the day.
From the next centre bounce, skipper Trent Cotchin found Jack Riewoldt with a wobbly clearance kick, sealing back-to-back goals to ice the 26-point win at the MCG. Phew, Hardwick said up in the box. Certainly, it wasn’t pretty until Martin stepped in.
Martin had a modest first half, but he was the difference after the main change to finish with 14 score involvements in his 30 possessions.
That’s another three Brownlow votes and a healthy boost to his contract price, you would think.
The Tigers just cannot afford to let this man go.
They were relieved to triumph in a relatively close one, the Tigers, keeping the club in touch with the top four.
But fresh challenges have surfaced too, and that’s not just the extra goalkicking practice that will surely top the coaches’ whiteboards this week.
Richmond had plenty of delivery forward but suffered from the absence of a genuine second key forward-ruck yesterday. Hardwick said last week it had to be addressed in list management terms.
Toby Nankervis has been one of the pick-ups of the year, but he was beaten by Matthew Kreuzer yesterday and seems to be running low on steam. It underlines the importance of Ben Griffiths’ comeback from serious concussion issues.