Nathan Buckley has praised Richmond after the weekend of AAMI Community Series action, suggesting their hunger for success remains.
The Tigers beat Hawthorn by 25 points in Devonport in their final tune up before the 2022 season kicks off next week.
Damien Hardwick’s side was irrepressible early on, kicking seven goals in the opening quarter courtesy of slick ball movement, as well as their renowned hunt and pressure which helped deliver three premierhips in the past five seasons.
Former Collingwood coach Buckley spoke highly of the way the Tigers played, outlining some of the areas in which they shone against a developing Hawks outfit.
“I thought Richmond,” Buckley said on SEN Breakfast when asked if there was one team that stood out.
“The way they went about it, some of the positional shifts.
“I thought the Tigers were the big winners.
“I don’t think they were playing much, to be honest. Hawthorn have got a lot of work to do and they are a young group that are going to come through.
“I really like the way the Tigers are setting up and they only recently had a lot of success. I still think they’re a really hungry unit.”
Hardwick has made a couple of positional moves this pre-season, including Noah Balta shifting from his role as a key defender to the forward line.
The 22-year-old kicked three goals, took seven marks, had five inside 50s and 10 score involvements in an accomplished performance in a forward line also featuring Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch.
Garry Lyon was full of praise for Balta’s move, describing it as the “biggest story” of the weekend.
“I thought he (Balta) was the biggest one of the weekend and I saw about 70 per cent of the footy played,” said Lyon.
“Going forward to back is a soda compared with going back to forward. If you can get a back to forward as we saw with Balta, I thought that was the biggest story of the weekend.
“(He was) crazy good.”
Buckley added: “He is enormously athletic. He was really good as a defender, came on in the last 18 months.
“That will be a watch.”
The addition of Balta makes it a potentially top-heavy attack, considering one of Toby Nankervis or Ivan Soldo could also spend time deep, but Buckley believes the Tigers have enough balance with their dexterous smalls, including Jason Castagna.
He added: “That’s some real height there. Whether they can run with all those guys?
“Castagna’s been a player who has played in the middle (at times). He’s given them pressure but he’s also given them a little bit of aerial. He struggles to finish off his work, but in their system he brings heat that they can’t do without.
“I think aerial is just going to be an even more important part of the game as team defences improve.
“If Balta, Lynch and Riewoldt, plus a ruckman, are down the line for Richmond and they’ve got ground level players to speed up from or (apply) pressure - and that’s largely what they built their premierships on - it’s going to be pretty damaging.”
Liam Baker, who is a two-time premiership defender, returned to the forward line late last season and was again busy in attack on Saturday, even spending time through the middle.
Buckley lauded the hard-nosed 24-year-old while indicating that he believes the Tigers could return to contend in 2022 with players like him in full flight.
“The other one that went from back to forward was Baker,” Buckley said further.
“I think what they’ve identified is we’ve always done this on our hunt and pressure, raise the fight, and he’s one of the best (at that). He cut his teeth as a small forward, went to the wing, went back and played really good footy.
“They clearly need his hunt and pressure in the front half.
“There was a five-minute period where he laid three tackles and I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be good for them’.
“I reckon they’re going to be real good again.”
The Tigers will open the new campaign with a Thursday night clash with Carlton at the MCG on March 17.
