That was a good win, needed to never drop their heads and play it out right to the end, and did so, earning a tough win.
Geelong, they are a much better team than their ladder position indicates. They set up well, position very well, create outlets, run through packs to get the ball and are effective at stifling their opposition. Thought we were lucky to be ahead at half time and looked back to see how Geelong could possibly be on only 2.5 wins. They have lost their last few second halves, but going on today's game they don't run out of puff and they played the game out right to the end. Were a bit unlucky to lose, but in the end it was our team who deservedly prevailed.
As Ferguson said, we changed a few things after the first quarter and although it is hard to see the specifics when the game is always played across on the Western side of the ground, it was clear that we were more effective at stifling their game. It was very difficult to get our game going and Geelong continued to intercept and slow down our ball movement. We got better at winning the disputed ball which made a difference.
The one thing that Richmond certainly need to work on is the fumbling and dropped marks. I hope it has something to do with so many games in quick succession and a few wet (very wet!) games in a row. We need to work on skills. They are gathering the ball fairly well and the marking is just ok, but have to stop the fumbles.
The umpiring was, well, pretty obviously one sided. They would pick out soft frees for Geelong constantly and we got a couple but nowhere near as many. At the ground you could see the usual practice of basically awarding about a third of frees which were there, and it is this which makes everything so inconsistent. There were a few real howlers. A Geelong goal, I think it was in the third quarter, from a free kick, followed a passage of play where there were 2 clear indiscretions from Geelong players, not paid, followed by 1 Richmond indiscretion, paid, which resulted in a goal. It is that sort of BS which really gets up the fans' noses, you pay the 50/50 frees one way, you should pay them the other. They really are so incompetent.
Speaking of incompetence, anyone listen to half the coach's interview after the game? I only listened to half of it as the other half (the questions) could not be heard. I cannot believe that the AFL are so dumb they can't have a microphone for the reporter asking the questions. You can't hear them at all. Same goes for coach's interviews after men's games. FFS it isn't like this issue has not been solved elsewhere, just about any vaguely competent organisation knows that in a press conference you have a mike for the questions. But, the AFL are not vaguely competent so I am expecting too much.
DS