Richmond coach Adem Yze says the Tigers’ tackle count in Thursday night’s loss to Melbourne was “way too low”. 

In the 20-point defeat, Richmond laid 42 tackles, something Yze highlighted when speaking to the media post-game. 

“Our pressure wasn’t to standard,” Yze said.

“In the first half I thought we put up a reasonable fight, I thought we could have been further in front. 

“A few of our skill execution and decision making out of our backend, a couple of undisciplined acts, a 50-metre penalty goal and a reverse free kick, things you can’t defend…bit frustrating. 

“When you look at the tackle numbers, it was way too low and it’s not to standard and it’s not us. We gave up way too many uncontested marks, we sagged off a little bit, which they took our pressure away by doing that with the ball.” 

The Demons booted six goals to the Tigers’ one in what proved to be the decisive third quarter, with Yze explaining what went wrong in that term. 

“In the third quarter our spirit and energy dropped, our communication dropped, and we lost our way around stoppage,” Yze said.

“Their (Melbourne’s) centre bounce in the third quarter really took the game away from us. 

“Their pressure was through the roof and, credit to them, their third quarter would’ve been some of the best footy they’ve played.”

However, there were once again positive signs from the young Richmond outfit, including kicking the last four goals of the game and never giving up. 

“We know what the occasion is. We know the responsibility we’ve got to play in this game and how privileged we are,” Yze said. 

“We owed it to our fans to finish the right way, and to their credit, we kicked four or five goals in the last quarter. It was nice to finish off with a bit of spirit.”