Richmond
Coach – Damien Hardwick
2021 –
Points For – 11th
Points Against – 8th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
- Dylan Grimes
=2. Jack Graham
=2. Liam Baker
4 . Shai Bolton
5 . Jack Riewoldt
2021 Rising Star Noms
Nil
Ins – Robbie Tarrant, Josh Gibcus, Tom Brown, Tyler Sonsie, Samuel Banks, Judson Clarke,
Outs – David Astbury, Mabior Chol, Callum Coleman-Jones, Noah Cumberland, Derek Eddmolesse-Smith, Ryan Garthwaite, Bachar Houli, Patrick Naish,
My Prediction
Richmond is the latest in a series of clubs who have done their best to rebuild on the run and have one last shot at glory. I don’t think their ladder position was an accident last year and the list of outs includes a couple of important players and a bit of depth.
The backline loses Astbury and adds Tarrant. It’s probably an upgrade and it will be interesting to see how he works in their system. Balta is coming up there and will be running their backline once they realise that Vlastuin isn’t the player they think he is and only plays three quality games a year. Short gives reasonable run off half back but they will miss Houli and it will be interesting to see who they put back their. I suspect they may run with Baker but he also isn’t as good as they think he is.
The midfield is still going to be pretty reliant on Dusty who has dropped a fair bit of weight as well as possibly a kidney. Cotchin looked like he was almost done last year so will be interesting to see how giving up the captaincy changes things. They need Graham, Bolton, and the young brigade to improve and raise their game.
The forward line was just ok last year. Lynch struggled with injury and Reiwoldt struggled with being a massive tool who has had to resist the urge for five years to make it all about him. Rioli is doing his best to bust the myth that just having the surname is enough, he has looked very average. They need more from their smalls.
The rucks are rubbish. Nankervis and Soldo is the worst ruck pairing since whatever they rolled out during any of their premierships. The coach is proven, I still get the feeling something isnt quite right since the Mrs Hardwick debacle but time will play that out.
I’m gambling on Richmond improving slightly but not enough to be a threat to the premiership. Their best 22 is still a very good team but I am not sure how often we will see it let alone the impact Dusty taking over the captaincy after a pretty tumultuous 4 months. I think they may make the eight but… I also think they may finish ninth and the world will be a better place for it.