A legitimate question about Richmond’s legitimacy is to answer the next four matches, where the club faces Sydney, Port Adelaide, Carlton and Geelong.
This is not a discount for last month’s football for the Tigers. More than the results, the style in which the team is playing is the most encouraging.
Manic pressure has become the name of the game for fast, free-flowing footy. Creating a forward-half turnover, a signature feature of the top Tiger Footy, a key feature in recent matches, where the last fortnight Richmond saw 32 tackles out of 50.
Confidence has increased since the Eagles were destroyed, but the Tigers still have to grind through some tough patches to sit out six wins after ten matches.
And while they have managed themselves well, especially without the occasional key players, Damien Hardwick and his playing group know that the real season is about to begin.
Richmond remains in the top eight with a healthy percentage, despite not coming close to beating his teammates in the top half of the ladder. That’s right, only Carlton, St. Kilda and Melbourne have faced off, but it has left the Tigers in a place without a fair measure of stick to compare with.
Never be afraid though, because fixturing gives us what we need at the time of the really big question.
Not only do we see some of their truly decent opposition, but we also see four completely different styles in the game.
Swan offers a more competitive, but straightforward play style. Callum Mills, Luke Parker and James Robtom aim to suffocate the opponent in the middle, Corey Warner wants to move the ball forward at any cost, and if there is a better, more direct kick than Nick Blake in the league, his name is Jordan Dawson. .
Jordan Dawson (Photo by Queen Rooney / Getty Images)
They don’t take many easy chances in the 50s and they break even in the worst of releases, but the pressure comes on them and they can turn the ball around.
Port Adelaide has something to prove and would like to greatly increase their competitive marking and aerial advantage in the 50’s with Charlie Dixon. Ball movements are very fast when they are leaking and sensitive though.
Who would have thought that the blues would be a standard-setter in 2022? Okay, maybe they should have done something more believable, but they have answered all the challengers so far and a really tough matchup.
They have more ball than anyone else, they defend the ball better and have elite talent in all areas of the field. They also concede the least tackle in the league at 50, as under pressure they always find a cheap, unrivaled mark on the edge of the defensive 50.
Yet we know that they are gone in the second half and enough to hold on. Some call it a real display of strength, others say it could be their downfall. The Tigers showed their ability in the second half against Hawthorne.
Then there is the Geelong team which is probably the most strategically well-rounded in the league, Melbourne aside. They have defensive plans in mind and have developed an offensive style that can blow undoubted teams out of the water.
But their speed comes from the ball movement, not the pace. Tighten the screws and hold the space between the player and the cat. They concede the fourth-most tackles out of 50 per game.
It defines the season for Richmond in many ways, at least not because of expectations vs. reality.
In this block of football, they will play a team that they have to beat, a team that is probably too strong, and two teams in the same place to go round.
Some believe Richmond is a team that is more likely to be knocked out of the top eight by the end of the season. Others hold the remnants of the dynasty and think something is being made.
(Photo by Queen Rooney / Getty Images)
The challenges are compounded by the absence of in-form Tom J. Lynch, who played a key role in changing Richmond’s form. At his best he was arguably the league’s best key forward, but his absence left Jack Reeldt as the only player in that position.
Noah Balter’s return to defense was cut short due to injury – he is expected to play in three by-matches, but it remains to be seen.
Why Lambert’s influence is not noticed by many, but he is the drain that keeps everything running smoothly in the Tiger machine.
Dustin Martin’s return is a weapon to increase morale and attack which demands attention. Shy Bolton is playing the most damaging footy in the league and Toby Nankarvis is the symbol of a Richmond captain who has elite numbers to back up.
It’s rare that the chances of a first-year key position slipped into the final 22 of the final 22 from the start, but Josh Gibkas did.
Of the 39 key defenders in at least 20 one-on-one appearances this season, Gibbos is fourth with the least losses, losing just 14.7 percent of the time. Seriously, how good is the baby?
There are absences, but there are also players who are taking their games to another level in Tigerland, which makes next month so important.
Richmond will face some matches that will provide real challenges that, if navigated adequately, will give us conclusive proof of where this team stands in the 2022 Grand Scheme.
There can be no unrivaled performance, although we rarely see it from this group.
After playing Geelong, the Tigers are on both sides of the West Coast and North Melbourne, a tough sun trip.
They must lose the port. They will have to lose two of the other three teams to justify their legitimacy.
This is difficult but possible and there is no better way to test a gameplan than to test it against four completely different strategies.
Within a month, we’ll be asking questions with exactly the same title.
Let’s take a look at what this version of the Tigers is actually made of.