Richmond showed immense fight and effort against Geelong at IKON Park last Friday night, before being overrun in the second half and falling by 34 points.

Coach Jarrad Donders assessed the performance, recognising the side fell short in winning contested possession, an area he looks to improve upon come Round 9's battle with Adelaide on Saturday night.

“Quite evidently, contested possession and post-clearance contested possession was disappointing. I think we were minus eight at half-time,” Donders told the media post-match.

“That really blew out in the second half, and we are not satisfied with that part of our game, and that really sets up our attack, essentially, so when we aren’t winning that area of our game, it’s going to let us down in the other areas.”

Geelong finished the game with 27 more contested possessions than Richmond, despite the Tigers dominating the hit-outs 22-11.

Donders admitted his team needs to do a better job at identifying when it’s the right moment to play fast and maximise their opportunities.

“There is still a bit of development within our group around the live play side of the game and when to move the ball quick vs when to slow it down,” he said.

“It definitely wasn’t a coaching message to slow the ball down tonight, so it’s a continuous improvement for our program. We will be working pretty thoroughly on that throughout the week.”

Co-captain Gabby Seymour echoed Donders’ thoughts, calling for stronger effort around winning contested balls.

“I think we have to win the contested ball, especially that ground ball and post-clearance contested possession. That really stood out to me,” Seymour told Richmond Media.

“Adelaide is another strong contest side, and respect to them, so it’s an area of our game that we have to keep on continuing to grow.”

Seymour held high praise for her co-captain Ellie McKenzie, who, since returning from injury, has found career-best form, averaging career highs in disposals (21.5), total clearances (4.3) and tackles (4.8).

“Ellie really set the tone for us. It has been so awesome having her out there the last couple of games and really having her leadership out there,” Seymour said.

Richmond faces Adelaide at IKON Park this Saturday night from 7:15pm. Get tickets HERE.