Richmond CEO Brendon Gale says Tigers’ season is still aliveHerald-Sun
April 28, 2014 4:50PMRICHMOND chief executive Brendon Gale says the Tigers aren’t waving the white flag, despite a horror start to the season which was highlighted with their thrashing by Hawthorn on Sunday.
Gale, who played 244 games for the Tigers, says the players must produce bold football and not fear the taking the game on.
Richmond was touted as top-four contender with this season’s favourable draw and Gale said the season wasn’t lost, but the side must find form quickly.
He said the observation that Richmond is playing safe football and needs to play bolder football is probably right.
“I think that’s probably a factor of confidence and not wanting to take the game on, and I think at times the players have played as though they are concerned about the result,” he said.
“But we have to take the game on and we have another team this week who is a very, very good outfit and I think it’s a fantastic test of being bold and taking chances and taking the game on.”
With their finals prospects under threat, the Tigers face Geelong on the rebound after Port Adelaide stopped the Cats’ unbeaten run on the weekend.
“We were absolutely entitled to assume that we can make finals this year and there are no white flags here,” Gale said.
“I mean this season is alive and so are we.
“Our performances aren’t where we want them to be and we are working hard to identify what the causes are and we will address them and be better for it.”
Gale defended the club’s recruitment of recycled players and said the addition of two new teams to the competition had made it difficult for sides on the rise to rebuild their teams in what he described as the most competitive era in the code’s history.
"We haven't been able to benefit from the draft, as the draft was originally intended," Gale said of recent drafts compromised by the glut of picks handed to expansion sides.
But he said the Tigers should have been able to cover the losses of Alex Rance, Brett Deledio and Ivan Maric and the major impact of those three injuries showed the club needed to do more work on its list.
“With some key personnel out, it’s probably impacted our performances more than was expected,” he said.
“We are a relatively inexperienced side still with those players out and at times we’ve lacked composure and execution and that’s had an impact on our confidence.
“Our ball movement has been not where we want it to be but we are getting right under the hood and I know the coach are working diligently in trying to find out what they are doing well and what they aren’t doing well.
“There are a lot of explanations but we make no excuses.”
Damien Hardwick believes his sides poor start meant there was no way back against a quality side like Hawthorn
Gale was speaking at the launch of the club’s partnership with the Cardinia Shire Council and local property developer Parklea, which will see the club and its players have a bigger presence in the area, including occasional open training sessions at Beaconsfield and school visits by players.
Traditionally a Hawthorn zone, the Tigers have identified the area as one of Australia’s most significant growth corridors and has targeted it for new members.
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