Richmond hits the Friday night stage this week for the Dreamtime at the ‘G clash with Essendon.
Here are some burning questions that could determine the result of the game. CLICK HERE to buy tickets to Dreamtime at the 'G!
Who wins the first quarter?
Both Richmond and Essendon are coming off slow starts in their previous games, making the first quarter on Friday night crucial.
The Tigers were down 33-12 at quarter-time against the Saints, losing the inside-50 count 22-3. Meanwhile at the MCG, the Dockers led the Bombers 34-9 at the first change.
Speaking on AFL 360 on Monday, coach Adem Yze acknowledged the need for a better start this week, and he doubled down when speaking to the media on Thursday.
“You’re constantly reviewing how we’re training or whether it was the way we prepared our players. That’s on me, and that’s on our staff and coaching staff,” Yze said.
“We always review that, if we don’t start well, you’re always looking in the mirror and making sure we get them prepared and get them ready to hit the ground running in the first minute of the game.
“We’ve done that, we’ve had to train a little bit lighter this week [due to a five-day break], but make sure that mentally we’re ready and prepared.
“We understand what’s coming, we’ve just got to make sure that we initiate everything at the start, and we’ve got to start better than what we did last week.”
Which Tigers will thrive on the big stage?
There’s no denying that as Richmond goes through its exciting journey of regenerating its list, stages like Friday night hold greater importance.
Yze admitted the playing group is fully embracing the big occasion Friday night presents, as it will only help fast-track the development of the Tigers' youngsters.
"We don't want to shy away from the fact that while we're going through this rebuild, big games like this, we have to build them up as if they're finals games," Yze said.
"For Noah Roberts-Thomson to play in front of a big crowd, and Tom Burton, when we do see the end of that, and we start getting games into our players, and we get back to finals, this will be a stepping stone for that.
"It's going to be a finals-like atmosphere, and we need our players to get ready for that. It's all part of it. It's all part of belonging on an AFL field and dealing with the stress and anxiety of playing in front of a big crowd."
Seeing which Richmond players step up and shine will be an exciting prospect for the Tiger Army on Friday night.
Can the Tigers clean up defensive turnovers?
Speaking after last week’s loss, key defender Ben Miller highlighted a key area of the game the Tigers will need to address against the Bombers.
“Our turnovers in our defensive half…putting ourselves under a little bit of pressure, probably when we didn't need to,” Miller said.
“That'll be something to work on going forward. We'll definitely take some learnings.”
Richmond has been able to piece together some impressive passages of play from the defensive half to the forward half over the past few weeks, and doing it more consistently and efficiently on Friday night will be an important element of the clash.
