HUNGER GAMES
Do Tigers have the appetite to fill their bellies with another flag?
CAN one measure hunger?
It is the obvious question for a club that finished last season on a 12-game streak culminating in an 89-point Grand Final triumph.
“I think you can,” Richmond assistant coach Craig McRae told the Herald Sun.
“Early in the pre-season you look at time-trials and skinfolds. They’re all measurable things.
“We’ve got a lot of guys with premiership experience and that can create motivation to get back there.
“Once we get the competitive juices running in the season that’ll be the biggest test. Time will tell, but hopefully we’re as hungry as ever.”
McRae is well qualified to answer. Only two teams this century have won backto-back flags — Brisbane Lions from 2001-03 and Hawthorn from 2013-15 — and McRae was a star small forward in the Lions’ dynasty.
The feat even eluded Geelong during its 2007-11 golden era.
Richmond was on track in 2018. The Tigers finished the season two wins and 15 per cent clear on top of the ladder.
But inside the Punt Rd walls they feared they had peaked too early, and Collingwood giant Mason Cox brought those fears to life in the preliminary final.
“It’s a difficult one. At the same time (in 2018) the VFL sort of came to a grinding halt,” said McRae, who was the TIgers’ VFL coach from 2016-19.
“Reflecting back on it I think it sort of helped last year having those injuries at the start, because then we had guys back that were a little bit fresher. We had our best team available when it mattered most.
“You need a lot of luck to win premierships.”
The Tigers fed games to Jack Ross, Sydney Stack, Liam Baker, Noah Balta and Shai Bolton ahead of time as the likes of Trent Cotchin, Jack Riewoldt and David Astbury missed games through injury and Dylan Grimes and Dustin Martin through suspension.
Suddenly, the pressure for Round 1 spots at Tigerland is enormous — “we’ve got nearly every magnet available” — with Bachar Houli (calf) and Brandon Ellis (Gold Coast) the only Grand Final heroes missing.
Few know the next generation like McRae.
What about 2018 firstround pick Riley CollierDawkins, who is awaiting his AFL debut?
“He had a breakout game in the VFL grand final and looks like he’s matured over the pre-season. He may get opportunities that he didn’t get last year,” McRae said.
Collier-Dawkins had 15 disposals, two goals, six tackles and 109 SuperCoach points in the VFL decider. Stack?
“We’ve trialled Stacky across all the lines. He’s a quality player that we want to get in our team in any role,” McRae said.
“We’re just trying to find what his best fit is at the minute. He played back against the Pies in Marsh 1. That’s where he may start the season but flexibility is one of his strengths.” Balta?
“He’s capable of playing on a real tall Mason Cox
type or that bigger key-position player. But he’s also got the ability to go into the ruck,” McRae said.
“He got a taste of it last year and it looks like he’s continuing to grow.
“Shai Bolton had a terrific season last year; can he back that up? And I like the look of Callum ColemanJones, having coached him in the VFL, as a developing ruckman.”
And then there’s Grand Final star Marlion Pickett.
“The way he’s presented at pre-season he looks really hungry,” McRae said.
In charge of the attack in 2020, McRae expects Dustin Martin to retain the 57-43 per cent split between midfield and forward.
In 2017 that premiership game plan was also based around forward pressure. Last year it was more about slick ball movement. What’s the 2020 plan? “We’re searching for the best of both worlds. We want to be a high-pressure team across the whole ground, as well as inside 50m,” McRae said.
“It’s just getting harder and harder to be able to deliver on both (but) we want to really be a high-transition ball-moving team as well.”