Richmond and Geelong will face off on Saturday night in the 2020 AFL Grand Final and comments made by Cats coach Chris Scott back in March are now being put back into focus.
When asked what he thought of Richmond, in regards to their placement among the great teams of the 21st century and their shot at a third flag, Scott felt they sat behind a few in the pecking order.
“Every team in the competition has deficiencies and I don’t think we’re in an era, Richmond are a really good team and I think West Coast is going to be really strong this year, but with the greatest respect to (Richmond), they’re not Hawthorn in their multiple premierships in a row (era),” Scott told AFL Media in March.
“I don’t think they’re Geelong or St Kilda or Collingwood through that 2009-2010 period, I think it’s a lot more even than that.”
Tim Watson and Garry Lyon listened to the comments on SEN Breakfast this morning and discussed whether the Tigers would use them for motivation.
Watson: “That (comment was made in March), do you think he paid Richmond the respect they deserve even in March? Or do you reckon that was about right earlier this year?”
Lyon: “They had two premierships in the bag … he changed his tune last Saturday night. He called them a great team. Now they have a chance to become an all-time great team.”
Watson: “If you were Damien Hardwick, would you use that?”
Lyon: “Probably.”
Watson: “You would have to, wouldn’t you?”
Lyon: “You’d probably just have it in the background.”
Watson: “It’s not the most important thing in the lead up to this game in terms if your planning or your preparation, but you would just throw it out there for some sort of emotional charge for the players to maybe remember deep in the final quarter.”