Getting Griggy With It

If you want a player that sums up the Hardwick Era to date, you don't need to look any further than Shaun Grigg. Often criticised, rarely given credit when it's earned, looks like a fish out of water when we can't get our style going but when he's on, the team is on. And, oh yeah, something about Moneyball.

Grigg went head to head with Scott Pendlebury this afternoon and beat him senseless. That's right, Grigg beat Pendlebury on a TKO, and that was the ballgame. When our guns got going late in the game Pendles couldn't, and that was the difference. Plenty of other water went under the bridge, but if Pendles gets off the chain and registers his usual 30 possessions that's worth plenty more to them than  the five points we won by in the end.

Today's result just rams home how fickle the industry and us as fans are. After everything went south against North last weekend it was hard to see a win anywhere on the radar, Dimma and Cotchin were being questioned by media and fans alike, Ty was on the outer and team selection was underwhelming. Fast forward a week and we've just knocked off Collingwood, Port and Essendon look gettable, Cotchin has put in one of the great individual Richmond quarters of the last decade, Ty is kicking clutch goals and we've just played Elton, McIntosh, Ellis, McBean and Menadue with eight games between them before today.

And without a single word of a lie, as I was typing this Spotify just threw up Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds which is probably the most fitting song there could possibly be.

I don't particularly buy into the one team has it over another angle, especially when you've had as big a turnover of players as we have in a relatively short amount of time. We hadn't beaten Collingwood since 2007 because Collingwood has been better than us in that time, often much better. A few hours later Menadue, McBean, Elton, Hunt, McIntosh and Corey Ellis have never played in a losing Richmond team against Collingwood, and that's all that really matters right now.

What was really interesting away from the field was Nick Maxwell, who is annoyingly a really good boundary commentator, talking about how Collingwood has got themselves up for games against us since 2009 when Kingy and Hislop declared WW3 and they brained us by 93 points. There are some really killer highlights in that clip, my favourites are Cousins walking over and standing behind the umpire, Nahas not really knowing what to do, Hislop with one of the great jumper punches of the modern age on Maxwell and Lids taking on two of them at once so unsuccessfully that for a brief moment it looks like two Collingwood players are boxing on against each other. Weren't they the good old days?

Back at the ranch, Cotchin today was the player and leader we know he can and desperately want him to be. He's got a habit of blowing out the cobwebs after either the team or he has been in the spotlight, so hopefully he can back it up again because that fourth quarter was other worldly. Including this piece of wizardry when he pick pocketed Seedsman who was threatening to send Collingwood forward. An underrated part of that clip is Ty dumping Nathan Brown over the line, hot on the heels of dumping Dane Swan over the same line. Neither was dirty but Ty just likes letting players know he's around and there is nothing wrong with that.

They're going to come up against much better teams than Collingwood before the season is done, but it was refreshing to see a much more mobile structure right across the ground.

Up forward, McBean and Vickery move quickly enough to be turn and transition back at goal where some of our other forwards (Griff) can get lost. That lets Riewoldt roam wherever he pleases when he's feeling it like he was today. Add in Brett Deledio, and off a sudden that's a setup that will get you 15 goals more often than not.

Down back, Elton is big and quick enough to potentially take on the gorillas in the long term and free up Rance, I'm not all that sure about anyone manning Travis Cloke in their second game but given the euphoria of a win that's not worth delving into right now. Grimes seems to have thrown off the handbreak in the last few weeks and trust his hamstrings again, today was back to the very best of his closing speed  and run and dash off half back. Maybe next year when we get his brother for a fourth round draft pick from Melbourne they'll set up as the most awkward defensive duo sense the Kellaway brothers.

In the middle we moved freely and directly for four quarters for the first time all year. Even in the first quarter when everything looked worse than Frank Lowy handing over a trophy, it was execution going forward rather than how we were actually trying to do. Brandon Ellis forgot how to kick for half an hour and we made Collingwood look good by gifting them easy goals in transition. 'Lowering the eyes' is one of the most overdone and tortured sayings in AFL, and at the risk of never being invited to be a part of Channel 7's commentary team we do it too much. For a few weeks we had over thought entries inside 50, looking for the perfect option for so long that we'd ignored three or four OK options. When you've got Jack Riewoldt playing, kicking to an OK option is, well, OK. Jack makes things happen just through his presence, and by getting it in quickly after quarter time they were able to create some chaos among Collingwood's half reasonable backline.

Somehow I've just gone and finished a paragraph that was supposed to be about our midfield by banging on about how good Jack is.

Of the kids: I want to see Corey Ellis in the 22 for good, that ground ball he delivered to Grigg on the wing was of a quality well above his pay grade. McBean didn't dominate the stat sheet but held his own and I really like the way he brings the ball to the front if he's not going to mark it, he and Ty will drive a few sides spare roaming the flanks over the next couple of years. We had plenty worse than Elton, and he looked more at ease than Astbury has since coming back from injury. Though Menadue didn't get a stack of it when he came on, he was in the right spots and probably learned more from that half hour than he would have in four VFL games, but he is built like David Bourke and I suspect we may not see him again until 2016 but I'm OK with that if Ellis and McIntosh are playing.

All in all, it was a dash of 2013's freedom footy with a shake of 2014's tempo. If they play like that for the rest of the year then they'll win more than they lose.

One final shout out to Stevie Morris, who despite not having a huge clue about how to play forward is making things happen. He hits the ball so hard and quick that he often forces it forward just through his presence. Sure, he scared the bejesus out of you, I, McIntosh and a cat when he played on with someone right next to him, but it ended up OK in the end. I'm not as anti the whole experiment as I was a few weeks ago but still keen for us to draft at least 43 forward pockets in November.

And how good to hear Bucks throw the toys out of the cot because Travis gets a few free kicks paid against him?

Changes for next week

In: Conca and Edwards
Out: Hunt and Menadue

Not that Hunt was all that bad but I'm pretty keen to get Conca back in the side. He gives them the dash Hunt is adding and is a little cleaner by foot. Menadue will be back one day, but at the moment I can't see him playing in the same team as Titch.

The votes

5: Shaun Grigg
4: Trent Cotchin
3: Jack Riewoldt
2: Brett Deledio
1: Dylan Grimes

Unlucky: Everyone, but especially Maric, Brandon Ellis, Houli and Rance.

Leaderboards

The Benny:

11: Shaun Grigg and Trent Cotchin

10: Shane Edwards, Jack Riewoldt and Bachar Houli
8: Anthony Miles
7: Jack Riewoldt and Dustin Martin
6: Alex Rance and Nick Vlastuin
5: Taylor Hunt
4: Brandon Ellis
3: Kamdyn McIntosh, Chris Newman, Ben Griffiths and Jake Batchelor
2: Sam Lloyd and Brett Deledio
1: Ivan Maric and Dylan Grimes

Blair Hartley Appreciation Award:

11: Shaun Grigg

10: Bachar Houli
8: Anthony Miles
5: Taylor Hunt
1: Ivan Maric

Anthony Banik Best First Year Player:

3: Kamdyn McIntosh


Joel Bowden's Golden Left Boot:

11: Shaun Grigg

10: Bachar Houli
3: Jake Batchelor

Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal:

No votes yet.