Former Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch believes Melbourne is more prepared than ever to take on the reigning premiers.
The two teams will meet on Saturday night, with the undefeated Demons hosting the Tigers in a highly-anticipated affair.
Leppitsch, a key part of Richmond’s three premierships, explained how the club prepared for Melbourne in recent years.
“Melbourne was very much a team, to use a term, you manage and exploit,” Leppitsch told SEN’s Whateley.
“So, you’d manage the inside of the game, you’re probably going to lose clearances to Melbourne in the past because they had such dominant grunt mids, but the outside of their game was just not quite there.”
However, Leppitsch believes the changes they’ve made this year will make them a much tougher side for Richmond to exploit.
“But this is where Melbourne has changed (this year) they are a different team. They look different in front of the ball, they look more solid behind the ball, they set the ground up so much better than they used to,” the Lions great added.
“The backs at Richmond would really know that the Melbourne forwards would get too high up the ground and they’d drop off them and you can picture a Nick Vlastuin intercept marking and then they’re back out the other way.
“Melbourne set up the ground so much better and that’s going to be harder for the Richmond guys.
“In their last three outings, Melbourne have had 12 shots, 15 shots and 12 shots, the last three times they’ve played Richmond at this ground. They just can’t score against Richmond.
“Melbourne is averaging 26 shots this year, so it’s not just their defence, but their ability to score consistently has been there across the first five weeks.
“That’s the arm wrestle I’m looking forward to. Whether they can keep Richmond’s defence accountable and make sure they can’t get any intercepts and go back the other way, which they’ve proven they’ve been able to do over the first five weeks.
“They’re as ready as they’ve ever been (for the challenge of Richmond). They’ll definitely make it harder for Richmond because they’ve still got those inside mids that should get on top in that part of the game.
“Richmond haven’t ever been elite gold standard in that part of the game. They’ve more been on the outer ring than the inner ring with their focus. They should win that inner ring battle (Melbourne), but they’re so much better at that spread to get from the inner ring to the outer ring, they’re so much better this year Melbourne and their defensive setup is more solid than it has ever been.”
Richmond has won their last five match-ups with Melbourne, including by 27 points in Round 5 of 2020.
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