Benny Round 13 v Sydney at the MCG

The Predictability Factor

Last time I was handed the keys to TTBB was after the most unlikely of Richmond performances as we peeled off a three quarter time deficit, running rampant in the last quarter against Melbourne. This time is seemingly straight out of the Richmond-Hardwick playbook, and the handback of what most clubs would deem a match winning lead.

Unfortunately a lack of time this week means there won’t be any huge amount of analysis in this post, if you are after that then head over to The Roar for Cam Rose’s article about the Groundhog Day situation we find ourselves in.

What I will say is the sense of inevitability at the G on Sunday was all encompassing. We played some great footy in the first 45 minutes before Sydney worked us out, but once Lloyd turned the footy over and they scored late in the second quarter it seemed like we’d seen this movie before, more than a few times, and knew exactly how it was going to end.

From a glass half full approach, these things used to happen in a 20 minute burst (hello North Melbourne games) but Sydney took three quarters to achieve what we all knew was going to happen. Is that progress?

Sydney worked us out mid-stream and planned accordingly. I’m not the first person to observe forward structure is lacking, Jack is doing too much overtime and we need a second target. That Sydney team is big enough, ugly enough and have been around the traps long enough to adapt and force us to go up the wing, knowing that we didn’t have the get out option.

Things look like they might be a little bit different against Carlton on Sunday if we play Maric Snr, Ivvy isn’t going to be the great circuit breaker of our time but he should structure us up going forward and mean that it isn’t Jack or bust.

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My votes

5: Alex Rance – Sydney is my favourite Rance game of the year because it’s the one time we get to see him go full defensive against Buddy. I love Buddy, I will always love Buddy, but my goodness it was great to see Rance beat him senseless.

4: Trent Cotchin – All the attention is on Dusty but the captain is putting together a fine body of work in 2017 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s leading the B&F. He ran himself into the ground in the last quarter to try and push back against the tide, unfortunatley he wasn’t able to overwhelm the Swans midfield on his own.

3: David Astbury – Not all that long ago we used to watch Astbury waiting for the worst and now he has learned from the best. The chatter will keep asking him for go forward but there is no way in my mind you split up that duo.

2: Josh Caddy – I assume when we pitched to Caddy the brief wasn’t ‘come to Richmond and play some kind of quasi CHF role’, other than Jack he was the only one who could hold the ball in a contest.

1: Shai Bolton – Little bit chuffed I get to give the first TTBB vote to Shai. He set us alight in the first quarter and it won’t be the last time. We got Bolton with the compensation pick for Vickery and in ten minutes he kicked as many goals as Ty has managed all year. Strap yourself in, he is going to be so much fun to watch.

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