With life at home proving a struggle, Richmond are banking on a road trip to re-energise as their AFL season sits on a knife-edge.
The Tigers’ 29-point loss to Essendon at the MCG again showed up flaws in a side tipped to make the top eight, clearly packed with talent, but proving a great enigma when it comes to big-stage matches.
When the game was in the balance, Essendon’s best players stood up.
Richmond’s went quiet.
Now sitting at 5-4, their away clash with West Coast next week has season-defining written all over it.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick admits the match appears vital for his side on all fronts against an Eagles outfit in a similar spot in the pecking order after battering the GWS Giants at the weekend.
“It’s an important game. They won by 100, they’ve got some players back, it’s going to be a huge challenge for our blokes,” Hardwick said.
“We play the ground reasonably well.
“We look forward to regrouping, and sometimes the best thing for you is to get away, work our game, get a couple of things up and going, get the group tight and make sure we play some good footy over there.”
Hardwick admitted the Tigers needed to sharpen up their ball movement – their midfield belted by Essendon and turnovers in the second and third quarters proving costly.
The Tigers’ best two players were defenders Troy Chaplin and Alex Rance – and despite praising their heroics, Hardwick admitted it was never a good sign for a team when their defenders were starring.
“Our offense killed our defence. If we moved the ball the way we’re supposed to move it, they don’t get those scoring opportunities,” Hardwick said.
“Our back-six generally held tight, which is good, but we’ve still got to move the ball forward and try and score ourselves, and that’s what let us down badly.”