In R10 Freo v Richmond, in the first quarter, Richmond scored 8 goals from just 12 inside 50's.
(half way through the 2nd quarter, they had 10 goals from 15 inside 50's).
Richmond on average, usually take about 4 inside 50's per goal. That is, you would expect for 10 goals, they would take about 40 inside 50's.
Richmond's last 5 goals in R10, came from 21 inside 50's, which is about their normal goal efficiency.
If you have a close look at Richmond's first quarter and how they got their goals, it will become evident it was a mixed bag of a great deal of things going right.
Their first three goals came shortly after poor umpiring decisions by one Dean Margetts and the fourth after a dodgy push in the back against Fyfe (but surprisingly this time not by DM).
Another goal was from Vickery after Johno was pushed in the back (the Hammy snap one) while executing a clearance kick from the defensive 50. Griffiths returned the ball to a Vickery lead while a lame Johno just watched his man take an uncontested mark.
Sutcliffe turnovers, fumbles or free kicks were involved in three of Richmond's first quarter goals.
Three of Richmond's first quarter goals were also from quite difficult quick snaps.
Four of them were from set shots from very accurate foot passes to leading forwards (various parts of the forward 50).
Goals came from a variety of running and quick transition from Richmond's defence, from centre clearance and down the corridor, from i50 bombs and crumbing, from boundary line short possession style football, from turnovers inside and just outside their forward 50 and from quick snaps.
Apart from this "freak" quarter from Richmond, the goal efficiency (i50s/goals) of all our other opposition in the past 5 games has been quite poor. It's not unusual for teams to restrict the damage when playing the top sides, by flooding the defensive 50's and forcing stoppages. The match statistics (high hit outs, high stoppages, high tackles, lower inside 50s, lower goals, low Contested marks, etc...) support the theory that scoring has been very difficult ... most likely due to the wet/dewy/slippery ball conditions and the defensive tactics employed by both coaches.
That is, I'm not a big believer that Freo are in a form slump or teams have us worked out.
Likewise, I wasn't concerned for Pav's form when last week, I saw him involved in 7 of Freo's 12 goals. This week he gets 3 individual goals and the Pav critics will be silenced. Go figure!
