After Fremantle lodged a giant stick in the spokes of Richmond’s bandwagon, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick admitted his AFL team had failed a finals-like test.
The Dockers stunned Richmond by 12 points at the MCG on Saturday, revelling in miserable, drizzly conditions and a physical, heavily contested game style.
The Tigers’ 12.6 (78) to 9.12 (66) loss was a far different match to the basketball-like goalfeast the previous week against St Kilda, which Richmond won to reset the bar towards finals.
But Hardwick believed his side’s failure to use the ball well enough against the Dockers and cope with the tricky weather conditions showed there was still plenty of work to do for his side.
“Last week was a finals-like intensity. This week was a finals-like intensity of a different matter,” Hardwick said.
“We ticked off last week, we didn’t this week.
“Two different game styles, two different atmospheres, two different intensity levels.
“One in close, last week was a free-flowing game. We failed today’s test.
“They outplayed us and outhunted us.”
Tigers skipper Chris Newman said the next test for his side was how they rebounded from the defeat, with their next match away to newcomers Greater Western Sydney ahead of the bye.
Richmond then take on top four hopefuls Adelaide in round 14, needing to convert their current 5-6 win-loss record into the 13 wins they’re likely to need to make the finals.
“The only thing we can do now is brush ourselves off, address what we need to and move on to GWS,” Newman said.