Matthew Lloyd has again thrown heat at Richmond’s Tom Lynch.
The Essendon champion provided a withering assessment of the forward in his first year with the Tigers in 2019, labelling him a “liability”, before Lynch went on to kick 63 goals in a premiership year.
In the wake of Saturday night’s 34-point defeat at the hands of Melbourne, Lynch was again the subject of discussion after he was kept goalless.
Coincidentally, Lloyd’s previous criticism of Lynch came after a down performance in the side’s heavy Round 7 loss to the Western Bulldogs almost two years ago.
The Tigers face the Dogs in Round 7 this Friday night at the MCG.
“‘Lynchy’ would want to improve,” Lloyd said on Sportsday.
“Not going that well.”
Prompting Gerard Healy to ask: “Is it ball movement or is it congestion?”
Lloyd replied: “I know I’ve got in trouble before.
“I think he still doesn’t move as well as he could so he’s got to be that aggressive with his body work to put his man off the line of the ball because he doesn’t get back on the ball like some other forwards would.”
Healy joked: “So the Tigers are certainties on the weekend because Lloydy’s cooked Lynch again?”
Sam McClure chimed in, suggesting that the 28-year-old could perhaps be carrying some sort of injury issue which has somewhat restricted his output to 10 goals in six games and just eight marks in the past three weeks.
“It looks to me like he’s carrying something, to be honest,” he said.
“I’m not giving him any excuse because you go out there, you’re fair game, but to me it looks like he’s hampered by something.”
Lloyd, who expects the Tigers to lose to the Dogs this weekend, also questioned the recent form of developing young defender Noah Balta.
“Noah Balta’s probably not going as well he has. He’s backed off a bit,” he added.
“Never write off the Tigers but the Dogs, I’m backing them in on Friday night.”
Richmond has lost three of its past four outings and currently sit seventh on the ladder ahead of the clash with the 6-0 Bulldogs who occupy top spot.