It would be premature to label Richmond's season a success, even after two impressive wins on the trot. At an even 4-4 after being bested by the likes of Adelaide and St Kilda, the expected resurgence of the Tigers, still featuring much of the nucleus that won them three premierships, has been held off for at least the middle of the season.
But perhaps that's not where we should be focusing our attention.
Richmond's 2021 fell apart after a brutal loss to West Coast at Optus Stadium, wrecked by targeted injuries to key lines. For much of the year, the Tigers rolled Mabior Chol and Callum Coleman-Jones through the ruck, two key forwards forced into the role by injuries to Ivan Soldo and Toby Nankervis.
Knee surgery to Tom Lynch came at a poor time, forcing talismanic veteran Jack Riewoldt into a dominant role that the then-32-year-old lacked the youthful spry for, while Dustin Martin, Dion Prestia, Trent Cotchin and Kane Lambert forced untried midfielders into the furnace.
All teams have injuries, true, but Richmond couldn't take a trick, and eventually wrote the year off as a bad joke and tumbled outside of the eight.
What they gained out of 2021 though, much like the famously disappointing 2016 season that set up their premiership run, has been crucial to the club's future. Namely, Josh Gibcus, but also the entire host of defenders uncovered by the Tigers that has then adjusted their set-up, line by line
Gibcus, the ninth selection in the 2021 National Draft, was expected to be protected somewhat by incoming veteran Robbie Tarrant this season, with the Tigers taken aback by the premature retirement of David Astbury.
Instead, after their rookie consistently out-pointed Riewoldt at training over the pre-season, the pleasantly surprised Richmond match committee punted Gibcus' magnet into the back pocket, where it has not moved since Round 1, aside from managing the teenager out of a trip to Adelaide after he cramped severely the week before against Bulldogs.
"'Gib''s been on fire," said midfielder Jack Graham when asked on Thursday.
"You forget that he's a first-year player. He's come in and played his role, and that's all we ask."
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In the past fortnight, Gibcus has gone from important defensive cog in a developmental phase, to a high-marking, sure-handed intercepting weapon. His game against Melbourne, where he stood Ben Brown for much of the evening, was magnificent in a losing effort, with a season-high 18 disposals, 12 marks and seven rebound 50s.
He repeated the dose somewhat in Richmond's drubbing of West Coast with 12 touches, six marks and eight intercepts.
He doesn't need a break, either, having found himself totally comfortable with the pace of the game within just a few games of AFL football. Gibcus has gone from playing managed minutes in the first month of the season to playing over 90% of the match on-field in his last three matches.
Keen-eyed Tiger supporters will note that Gibcus' right leg is a weapon too, with a kick finding Shai Bolton in his second game particularly notable. Paired with the similarly precocious Noah Balta, Richmond have two freakish marking defenders who can punt the pigskin some distance:
Commentator gives a very accurate pfft here pic.twitter.com/HhVhl2zkCB
— Jack Davies (@jvckdavies) March 27, 2022
I mean, come on.
Gibcus will miss Richmond's game against Hawthorn this weekend after entering the AFL's health and safety protocols, but in a reversal of what many expected in the pre-season, Tarrant won't be brought in for the teenager to add mettle, but to ensure that the Tigers don't miss Gibcus. He might be straight out again next week.
It doesn't stop with Gibcus, either. Balta and Liam Baker have been thrown back again after starting the year in the forward line, while the emergence of Daniel Rioli as the heir to Bachar Houli's half-back flank has been another happy surprise. After his football stagnated in 2020, Rioli was injected into the backline in an attempt to re-start the once-exhilarating forward pocket's career.
And hasn't it just. Rioli's ability to accumulate the football, coupled with his outstanding defensive presence learned from years as a high-pressure forward, has manifested in a multi-tool half-back who can played both as a rebounder and a stopper. Against Melbourne, Rioli held the enigmatic Kysaiah Pickett to nine touches and 0.2, while picking up 17 touches, 467 metres gained and a rare goal.
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It's not to say that Rioli has out-performed Houli, but he has looked totally comfortable in the backline, and is using the ball better than he has over the course of his career. 86.5% disposal efficiency off half-back is nothing to turn your nose up at.
The result of this building from the back has done more for the Tigers than the simple discovery of Gibcus and Rioli (and to a lesser extent, Balta and Baker) as AFL-ready backmen. It has unleashed Jayden Short into the midfield, with the Jack Dyer Medal-winning half-back looking just as good, if not better, off the back of the centre bounce. Short has gone from having never attended a centre bounce in his career to featuring in over half of those contests in the last fortnight of action, in which he has averaged 29 disposals, seven marks, 7.5 inside 50's and 4.5 clearances.
With the form of Nathan Broad worth a mention, Short's role as a rebounder hasn't been as desperately needed by the Tigers, who have now a few more defensive toys to play with. Using Short's penetrating kicking - he leads the AFL in metres gained per game and kicks per game this year - Richmond's inside 50 entries have been deeper, giving Tom Lynch a better chance to leap and mark. Short's move to the middle has resulted in hauls of 7.5 and 6.1 for the full-forward (with more than a few shots missing everything, it must be said). I don't think that's a coincidence.
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What does the emergence of these three players - Gibcus, Rioli and Short - mean for Richmond? Bluntly, that they'll win more games this year than they did last. To look deeper, the Tigers now have solved their defensive depth issue. Hugo Ralphsmith, Rhyan Mansell and Ben Miller have looked capable in their limited appearances this year, while the triple premiership-winning trio of Grimes, Vlastuin and Broad are just as good as ever.
Noah Balta's form as a defender is much better than when he plays forward and Tarrant, despite being earmarked as a key pick-up, couldn't get a look-in last week despite returning from management. 2021 first-round pick Tom Brown is waiting in the wings, while wingman Sam Banks has impressed in his rookie year at VFL level and could feasibly feature as a half-back.
The cupboard is full in the backline, which means that Richmond can afford to tinker as they have with Short. Building from the backline at Tigerland is not a new concept: they did so with aplomb in their finals run from 2013-2015, using Troy Chaplin as Alex Rance's mentor while Astbury, Grimes and Vlastuin developed quietly in the background.
Triple-flag forward Jason Castagna started at half-back, as did Shane Edwards. The Tigers are known for their defence-first focus: it makes sense to give players an apprenticeship down back before they venture to the midfield and forward line. Securing a defensive system before anything else worked in 2017, where the Tigers favoured pressure over coherency on their way to a drought-breaking flag.
Richmond have again secured their defensive bookends. The rest of the team may need more time, with a midfield still working to establish life after Cotchin and a forward line with little height behind Riewoldt and Lynch, hence the trial of Balta out of the goalsquare.
They probably won't feature beyond the first few weeks of September with this team. But through uncanny, timely development of a few key players, they've secured a future, and won't have to bottom out to rebuild as their list ages.
We've seen this work before at Tigerland - why not again?
