Mid-season report: After a sluggish start, will the Tigers roar?

This was always to be an all-in year for Richmond. The arrival of two ready-to-go midfield recruits in Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper was designed to complement the older players and hopefully squeeze out another premiership, while bringing on the younger players underneath.

The theory was sound, but it hasn’t worked out in practice. Yet. After a sluggish start they are sitting just out of the eight and could yet sneak into the finals.

The reasons for the slow start are many and varied, but the most significant is personnel – Tom Lynch has played four games, co-captain Toby Nankervis missed a handful, and emerging key backman Josh Gibcus hasn’t played at all.

Lynch is arguably the best full-forward in the game, so the structural ripple effect is greater than just the goals lost. Of course all teams have injuries, but for Richmond it felt like everything had to go right – and it didn’t.

Who’s hot

Not many for the entirety of the season. Tim Taranto has probably edged ahead of Liam Baker now to be leading the Jack Dyer Medal. Baker has been consistently in the best week in, week out yet somehow remains under-rated. Despite much of the early commentary centring on Jacob Hopper and Taranto, and jumping early to conclusions about the trades, Taranto has been very good and Hopper largely injured. Taranto has been particularly impressive and is getting better the longer he plays in Richmond’s system. The Tigers’ territory based, contested ball game style tends to suit him.

Dion Prestia has been good at times if not hot, while Jayden Short, like Baker, just turns up every week and plays well. He is also one of the best outside-50 shots at goal in the competition.

Who needs to lift

Allowing for age, you can’t nominate Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin because they are in the final games of their careers and giving as much as you can expect. Cotchin was also excellent in his 300th game.

Dustin Martin remains the club’s most talented and best player, but he is coming from a way back after serious injury and time away. He was very good in a couple of rounds but he’s had those periods where he’s missed the goals he wouldn’t have in his pomp. Can he regularly find his best again at his age?

Shai Bolton started the season poorly, then picked up and is now playing much better. Hopper started well and had some good games before dropping off and then getting injured.

Coach’s box

Coach’s performance? Which one? Damien Hardwick perhaps judged his own performance by the fact he decided to depart mid-season, saying he felt he was “done, cooked”. He felt he had tried 1000 ways to get his message through and didn’t have the energy for 1001. We will leave judgment to the three-time premiership coach. That said, it was hard to prosecute a game plan when you are missing such a structurally important part as Lynch, and to a lesser extent Gibcus.

Andrew McQualter as caretaker has not tried to reinvent the Richmond coaching wheel; he is a different voice with the same message. This is not an abandonment of the way Richmond plays, but a different voice finding ways to get them to play that way better.

The road ahead

Round 15 Bye
Round 16 v Brisbane Lions at the Gabba
Round 17 v Sydney at MCG
Round 18 v West Coast at Optus Stadium
Round 19 v Hawthorn at MCG
Round 20 v Melbourne at MCG
Round 21 v Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium
Round 22 v St Kilda at Marvel Stadium
Round 23 v North Melbourne at MCG
Round 24 v Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval

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