One of the guys who is in a Tigers e-mail loop with me at work is putting together a one-a-day player critique starting at #1 and working through the player list. It's a pretty good read so I thought I would share it with you.
Part 12 in the series….
12 - Matthew Richardson
Position: Tall Forward
Age: Turns 28 a couple of weeks before round 1
Height: 197
Weight: 103
Career Games: 157
Career Goals: 482
Draft History: Like Bowden was selected as Father-Son when it was a "Free Hit". Taken in the 92 draft with other Father-Sons in Dustin Fletcher & Luke Darcy (amongst others).
2002 Averages: 13 Games, 9.7 Kicks, 7 Marks, 2 Handballs, 2.8 Goals, 0.5 Tackles, 0.08 Rebounds, 3 Inside 50s, 0.08 Clearance, 2.7 Clangers Stat of interest: While only 3 rebounds out of Defensive 50 isn't a huge shock, only 6 clearances is interesting for the same period. Suppose it's true, at a stop-start situation he's rarely ever around.
2002 Summary: Get's dropped for abusing team-mates, misses 9 games in total, leads the goal kicking with only 36 goals, mixes the amazingly good with the amazingly bad and the sometimes freaky and amazingly finishes 2nd in the B&F. Started exceptionally well in Round 1 but then add that to shockers against Geelong, Carlton, and Collingwood second time around, which he then followed with 6 exceptionally good, more team-oriented games to end the season with, including absolute sensational games against Hawthorn & Melbourne where he did live up the tag "Match-Winner".
Previously: All Australian twice, 2 other B&F runner-ups to add to his one in 2002, leading goal kicker 7 out of his 10 seasons only missing out in his debut year and his two big injury years (1995 & 2000). Career high of 91 goals in 1996 when still just 21 after recovering from a Knee injury Consistently averaged 7-8 marks per game over his career, never a real huge possession winner, usually around the 12-13 mark but career best of 16 in 1999 when at times he was unstoppable.
Ability: 8.5 - No doubt a great talent, great athlete but maybe a bit short on in some natural football ability, slow to dispose of the ball, not a great reader of the game.
Offence: 8.5 - Has a much better conversion rate than he's given credit for (don't know numbers of Out on Full), but tendency to miss the sitter and snag the impossible with an awkward kicking style.
Defence: 2 - Defence - huh, what's that?
Hardness: 6 - Tough one to mark him on - do you consider him "hard"? He certainly can be fearless in the air, almost reckless. No drama's in splitting a pack open, is a big solid boy who will bounce off guys, exceptionally strong in a contest so I had to rate him as above average, but lay a tackle or work hard in close? Not really, although he's not that good at either.
Speed: 7 - Has above average speed for an AFL - which probably officially puts him close to "Freak" category for a 197cm player in this sport.
Stamina: 7 - See above for speed.
Delivery: 3.5. Richo rarely actually delivers the football so it's a bit of a moot point. "Clangers" include handballs and kicks and not sure what he's breakdown is, but last season his total disposals were 126 kicks, 26 handballs. Now he's kicked 36.21 which leaves only 69 non-scoring kicks. Of those, not sure whether his out of bounds on the full are recorded as "Clangers" or Free's against, but he had 35 Clangers, 21 frees against to stack up against those numbers. Safe to say he probably a lot of those 69 were going nowhere near a team-mate. He's not good at it and one of the arguments about him playing up field is he's not a good field kick, he can be a thumping kick of the footy, but who knows where the damn thing will end up. Hand to foot is a dicier proposition than a Bagdad holiday.
Air: 9.5 - Contested marking is (IMHO) the hardest skill in Australian Rules Footy and Richo does it as well as anyone that I can remember playing. Be very rare to see him drop the ball. He may not have the greatest technique and I've heard people criticise him for that, but the end result is sensational and in the end, what really counts.
Ground: 4.5 - rating him a bit below average is rating him high for a big man, but I think his ability to pick the footy off the ground is underestimated a bit. It has improved, even though he'll often still find himself off balance with the ball below his knees. Great athleticism and speed to give him some space helps but also in one on one contests can be very hard to beat at ground level, if he keeps his balance.
Injury: 3.5 - Well below average and I think his injury problems are well documented. A lot to do with the way he plays the game and the speed he plays it at.
Part 12 in the series….
12 - Matthew Richardson
Position: Tall Forward
Age: Turns 28 a couple of weeks before round 1
Height: 197
Weight: 103
Career Games: 157
Career Goals: 482
Draft History: Like Bowden was selected as Father-Son when it was a "Free Hit". Taken in the 92 draft with other Father-Sons in Dustin Fletcher & Luke Darcy (amongst others).
2002 Averages: 13 Games, 9.7 Kicks, 7 Marks, 2 Handballs, 2.8 Goals, 0.5 Tackles, 0.08 Rebounds, 3 Inside 50s, 0.08 Clearance, 2.7 Clangers Stat of interest: While only 3 rebounds out of Defensive 50 isn't a huge shock, only 6 clearances is interesting for the same period. Suppose it's true, at a stop-start situation he's rarely ever around.
2002 Summary: Get's dropped for abusing team-mates, misses 9 games in total, leads the goal kicking with only 36 goals, mixes the amazingly good with the amazingly bad and the sometimes freaky and amazingly finishes 2nd in the B&F. Started exceptionally well in Round 1 but then add that to shockers against Geelong, Carlton, and Collingwood second time around, which he then followed with 6 exceptionally good, more team-oriented games to end the season with, including absolute sensational games against Hawthorn & Melbourne where he did live up the tag "Match-Winner".
Previously: All Australian twice, 2 other B&F runner-ups to add to his one in 2002, leading goal kicker 7 out of his 10 seasons only missing out in his debut year and his two big injury years (1995 & 2000). Career high of 91 goals in 1996 when still just 21 after recovering from a Knee injury Consistently averaged 7-8 marks per game over his career, never a real huge possession winner, usually around the 12-13 mark but career best of 16 in 1999 when at times he was unstoppable.
Ability: 8.5 - No doubt a great talent, great athlete but maybe a bit short on in some natural football ability, slow to dispose of the ball, not a great reader of the game.
Offence: 8.5 - Has a much better conversion rate than he's given credit for (don't know numbers of Out on Full), but tendency to miss the sitter and snag the impossible with an awkward kicking style.
Defence: 2 - Defence - huh, what's that?
Hardness: 6 - Tough one to mark him on - do you consider him "hard"? He certainly can be fearless in the air, almost reckless. No drama's in splitting a pack open, is a big solid boy who will bounce off guys, exceptionally strong in a contest so I had to rate him as above average, but lay a tackle or work hard in close? Not really, although he's not that good at either.
Speed: 7 - Has above average speed for an AFL - which probably officially puts him close to "Freak" category for a 197cm player in this sport.
Stamina: 7 - See above for speed.
Delivery: 3.5. Richo rarely actually delivers the football so it's a bit of a moot point. "Clangers" include handballs and kicks and not sure what he's breakdown is, but last season his total disposals were 126 kicks, 26 handballs. Now he's kicked 36.21 which leaves only 69 non-scoring kicks. Of those, not sure whether his out of bounds on the full are recorded as "Clangers" or Free's against, but he had 35 Clangers, 21 frees against to stack up against those numbers. Safe to say he probably a lot of those 69 were going nowhere near a team-mate. He's not good at it and one of the arguments about him playing up field is he's not a good field kick, he can be a thumping kick of the footy, but who knows where the damn thing will end up. Hand to foot is a dicier proposition than a Bagdad holiday.
Air: 9.5 - Contested marking is (IMHO) the hardest skill in Australian Rules Footy and Richo does it as well as anyone that I can remember playing. Be very rare to see him drop the ball. He may not have the greatest technique and I've heard people criticise him for that, but the end result is sensational and in the end, what really counts.
Ground: 4.5 - rating him a bit below average is rating him high for a big man, but I think his ability to pick the footy off the ground is underestimated a bit. It has improved, even though he'll often still find himself off balance with the ball below his knees. Great athleticism and speed to give him some space helps but also in one on one contests can be very hard to beat at ground level, if he keeps his balance.
Injury: 3.5 - Well below average and I think his injury problems are well documented. A lot to do with the way he plays the game and the speed he plays it at.
