Richmond defender Dylan Grimes spent some time in front of the media at Punt Road Oval on Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s Toyota AFL Grand Final.

The 28-year-old spoke about the GIANTS’ forwards, how Richmond are aiming to stop the GIANTS’ midfield, what it was like watching the GIANTS’ preliminary final win over Collingwood and what he thinks of GIANTS tagger Matt de Boer. 

On Greene and Cameron
Toby Greene is due to return to the GIANTS’ side for the Grand Final and with Jeremy Cameron in fine form - kicking three goals against the Magpies - Grimes and his fellow defenders have their work cut out for them.

Grimes gave little away when it comes to who might play on Greene and Cameron.

“They’re both in pretty good form, aren’t they? I think Greene has been playing a bit more midfield of late and Jeremy is obviously in terrific form up forward so we’re not exactly sure which way it will fall yet, but it really depends on what they throw at us.

“The strength of our back seven this year has been our versatility and changing of opponents, so we’ve got our structure that we’ll go in with. How they play we’ll sort of adjust accordingly.” 

On the GIANTS’ Being Labelled Underdogs
A number of pundits are tipping a Richmond win on the weekend, while others are simply calling the GIANTS the underdogs in the contest. Grimes didn’t agree.

“To be honest it feels like in some ways we’ve got that tag. Both teams have beaten good teams of late and both teams are in really good form.

“Whoever is favourite I don’t think it’s going to that relevant when the ball gets bounced because it’s going to be an arm wrestle, I can promise you that.

On the GIANTS’ Ability to Win the Contested Ball
Despite losing the hitout count against Collingwood last Saturday, the GIANTS dominated the clearances and contested ball count. Grimes said Richmond’s midfield are more than equipped to deal with the threat of the GIANTS’ on-ball brigade.

“We’re coming it with confidence knowing our midfielders have played roles where they’ve been on top and below.

“Geelong last week had a terrific midfield, in fact you’d say they probably have one of the best midfields in the competition, and we were able to nullify that and win clearances.

“In the end for us I think the focuses are very much on us at this stage. What can we do and what can we control and at this stage?

“They are talented and we’ll have to keep an eye on them.”

On Watching the GIANTS’ Preliminary Final Win
Grimes said he and his teammates watched the GIANTS beat Collingwood last weekend and they took plenty from the win. 

“I guess that fight and that resilience to fight out a game that was really up for grabs late. They showed real maturity and that was particularly impressive.

“Those finals footy games when it’s wet where the pressure is on for four quarters and it’s a highly contested highly physical game you look at that and think, to be able to get a win in those conditions is a testament to those guys.

“It’s a challenging thing and it really comes down to will and adherence to structure. I think they did both of those things really well.” 

On Matt De Boer
There’s an air of mystery around who GIANTS tagger Matt de Boer will go to on Saturday afternoon. After shutting down Dustin Martin in round three, de Boer could be ready for another battle with the Brownlow Medallist, but he could head to Richmond captain Trent Cotchin or former Sun Dion Prestia.

“First and foremost, we back our players to fulfil their role whether they’ve got a player sitting on them or not.

“We always given them first opportunity to work through that and I think that’s important to say that we trust our players to execute that role even if there’s that kind of physical pressure on them.

“After the game gets going there’s things that Dustin can do all over the place and I think he’s probably one of the hardest players to match up on and tag.

“I’d hate to have that role but yeah, as a team you certainly want to protect your teammates but having said that you’re so firmly focused on what your role is for the team.

“Dusty’s a mature player now he’s had a lot of tags before and Cothin and Dion have all been tagged a lot, we’re confident that they’ll be able to work through it.”