In this week's Game Plan, Swans defensive coach Stuart Dew talks about how the team plan to get over last week's heartbreak and tackle the Tigers at the MCG...
Despite the disappointing loss last weekend to the Bombers, the boys have bounced back really quickly. They came out on Wednesday and trained really well and were ready and willing to look at the reasons why we lost the game.
We have mentioned this week that we let ourselves down with our execution, but we really couldn’t question the effort of the guys. We put ourselves in a position to win the game with a solid four quarter effort but unfortunately we couldn’t get the result, which was disappointing.
The Tigers are a good young, up-and-coming side. It is always a danger game when you come up against a side in their position. We often see teams in the top-eight get beaten by teams below them on the ladder at this stage of the season, because they just have nothing to lose and come in with a strong attitude. We need to be prepared for that, and be prepared for Richmond’s best.
Up forward the Tigers are led by Jack Riewoldt. He is a player that can seem to have a quiet game but still kick four goals. He’s obviously their leading goal kicker, but he has got some good support this year. Tyrone Vickery has stepped up, Dustin Martin kicks goals when he is up forward and then there is the smaller guys like Jake King and Robin Nahas. One of their big strengths is their accuracy. They don’t need many inside 50s to kick their goals because they seem to make their opportunities count. Our guys will be looking to restrict the time and space they give to the Richmond forwards.
We have been fortunate that we have had a pretty settled backline this season, who have all managed to string game time together. Alex Johnson has obviously been the big surprise packet, but Nick Smith has had a really good year too. He gets the opposition's most dangerous small forward, and could get a number of players this weekend with Jake King, Robin Nahas or even Shane Edwards, who has come back into the Richmond side. He will have his hands full against the Tigers and we’d love to have a couple of him, as he really does blanket the opposition’s best smaller players.
We haven’t played at the MCG since way back in round one and I think our boys are excited to get out there on Sunday. It’s the home of footy and where all the big games are played. If you don’t get excited about playing on the MCG, no matter when you are playing there or who you are playing, then there is something wrong with you. We are looking forward to it.
We need the four points this weekend, there is no doubt about that. We want to cement our place in the top-eight and the best way is to walk away with the four points on Sunday and then reassess. We need this win to get the ball-rolling.
