Tigers channel last year’s winning ways
RICHMOND will cast its mind back to last year’s premiership glory as inspiration for a mental edge over Collingwood in tonight’s colossal premiership final battle at the MCG.
And there is “no doubt” that Dustin Martin will be running at full capacity, according to a flag teammate. All-Australian small forward Shane Edwards said Richmond would not ignore what it achieved last year in breaking a 35-year premiership drought when attempting to book its place in a second- consecutive
“It would be hard not to look back on what happened last year – it’s an advantage we have over Collingwood, that we were there last year,” he said. “So we can reflect back individually as well – we know what the moments are going to be like.
“That’s something individually we’re going to look at … to see how you prepared and how you came out last year.”
He said “butterflies” were still evident and that the game would be decided by which team could stay the course. grand final tonight.
“They’re a system-based team and so are we, so it’s who sticks to their structure the longest and who keeps the intensity up for the longest,” he said. “We can be stronger in some areas, they can be stronger in some areas, but whoever is stronger for the longest amount of time will win the game.”
Brownlow medallist Martin took part in yesterday’s light open session at Punt Road, which lasted for about 20 minutes in front of hundreds of supporters.
Martin, 27, has been battling what coach Damien Hardwick this week described as a “significant corkie” that had bled into his knee, with the club opting against having it drained.
But Edwards said he had no worries about Martin’s ability to have an impact tonight against the Magpies.
“He’s all right,” Edwards said. “He just had a corkie. He trained fine today, so he’s raring to go. No doubt (about him).”
Martin was the only player to train in compression tights, fuelling speculation that he might have been hiding some strapping on his thigh or knee.