One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: WilliamPowell on May 18, 2014, 10:03:55 PM
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Mark Robinson says mentally-fragile Richmond being let down by talls who lack bite
MARK ROBINSON
HERALD SUN MAY 18, 2014 7:00PM SHARE
RICHMOND wasn’t soft on Saturday — they were sloppy and by the end utterly despondent against a team that played the Tommy Hafey way.
And that, Tigers, was shameful.
Pre-game comments about being relentless and tough and resilient ultimately paved the way for a Melbourne victory.
Coach Paul Roos was brilliantly provoking in his pre-match talk to the players. This was not about Richmond, he said, this was about Melbourne respecting Hafey’s legacy.
It was brilliant reverse psychology coaching.
If Roos is coach of the year at the moment, and he should be, then the Tigers are the plonkers of the year.
Is there another team so mentally fragile?
They sit in 16th position and are arguably the worst team in the competition behind an injury-ravaged Brisbane.
It’s a stunning fall for a team that won 15 games last year and for a coach who was given a contract extension until the end of the 2016 season.
Question marks hang over Punt Rd as dark and foreboding as a London pea souper, and it’s not so much about the team, but the individuals.
Put it bluntly, Richmond’s talls stink.
Ruckman Shaun Hampson can win hit-outs, but can’t mark the ball. He took his one and only mark on the half-back line on Saturday and the crowd gave him a bronx cheer.
He’s played seven game this year and taken nine marks. He’s taken two marks in past four matches. It’s just not good enough.
This is about Saturday and about the whole of the season.
stuff Troy Chaplin is 28-years-old and is playing like he’s 38. He was poor below his knees against the Demons and suddenly looks slow.
He had Cameron Pedersen and Max Gawn as opponents. They took five marks against him.
Ben Griffiths has played 26 games in five years. He doesn’t find the ball as much as he should and when he does, he can be game-changing.
His seven tackles against the Demons showed he had the work ethic, but 0.3 from set shots is not acceptable for a player with considerable talent and depth in his right foot.
He has played defence in his career, but as a forward he has only 8.10 to his name.
Tyrone Vickery is the whipping boy and, sorry, but he deserves it. I don’t know what his position is any more. And he’s going to hate to seeing some of his efforts overhead in the team review.
We mark the guns harder and although Jack Riewoldt has 17 goals for the season, it still amounts to less than two a game. Clearly, he is burnt by the delivery at times, but the simple fact is Riewoldt has to get more ball.
There are others. Shane Edwards has played 137 games of football. His improvement has stopped.
Shaun Grigg laid six tackles on Saturday. The week before it was five. Before that it was zero, zero, two, two, two and two. It should be minimum five every week for a mid, even for a running mid as Grigg is.
And being an outsider, he must kick goals when the opportunity rises. On Saturday he kicked 0.3
The team itself is a shell of 2013.
On Saturday, the Tigers weren’t tough enough for long enough.
They landed 29 tackles to 20 in the first quarter and virtually squared the contested ball.
After quarter-time, the Demons won the contested ball by 15 and took 19 contested marks to nine. Nineteen! No wonder coach Damien Hardwick lamented his team’s inability to win the one-on-ones.
After Saturday, it’s too easy to throw around words such as soft and insipid and pathetic at Richmond.
The fact is, they had a crack, but they’re not a good football team.
TAME, LAME TIGERS — YELLOW AND BACK
Ben Griffiths
Troy Chaplin
Shaun Hampson
Tyrone Vickery
Shane Edwards
Shaun Grigg
Jack Riewoldt
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/mark-robinson-says-mentallyfragile-richmond-being-let-down-by-talls-who-lack-bite/story-fni5f0at-1226921852965
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Whackety, whack, whack ;D
:clapping
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And he's let afew of the hook just quietly but nevertheless a good article from Robbo :clapping
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it was like listening to you Ramps when i read that.
Honestly those players are the ones we speak of week in week out.
Griffiths aside, the others mentioned are a disgrace to the jumper this year.
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Looks like Slobbo's been "researching" on the forums again.
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Looks like Slobbo's been "researching" on the forums again.
Well at least he uses good sources ;D
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We've only played 8 games. 17 goals would be over 2 a game last I checked. :whistle
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Is Robbo available to coach?
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If u think he needs to read forums to be ble to see what's going on, ur kiddng.
They're so poo a dead baby could see it
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Robbo is a idiot. That is all.
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Aside from the fact that he takes sheer delight in telling it like it is, whereas the truth makes us all bleed, the only part of the article I take issue with is his ridiculous assertion that Roos coached like Tommy Hafey. Rubbish. Hafey's sides were built on attack, attack, attack, kicking long and direct, the way the game should be played. Roos is and will always be about defence, attrition, congestion and robbing the contest of any one on one highlights. Which makes him like at least a dozen other coaches running around in the AFL unfortunately, turning our once great and unique game into one long, continuous rolling rugby maul. I am over it.
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Blobbbbbboooooo
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Is there another team so mentally fragile?
No
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Is there another team so mentally fragile?
No
x2
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Plop plop plop
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(https://smileyshack.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/sbathroom_toilet_pooping_100-1001.gif?w=50&h=50)
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The skata cycle....plop, plop, plop
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I tried to keep relatively calm after yesterday's debacle and in the meantime have attempted to take in the various posts and trying at the same time form some sort of personal view on what has gone wrong. In a nutshell it's almost the perfect storm, a number of ill timed events which in combination with human errors has left us with the calamity we currently have.
Compromised drafts occurring during DH's realm together with stop gap "moneyball" additions as people have been referring to it. In combination we basically have a squad that is high in deficiency with a marked plateau in development meaning we are treading water and all other teams are swimming on by.
Any solution is painful, play kids now and we lose convincingly, keep playing the hacks and we lose but we still are reasonably competitive. DH and his football department have to now make the decision as to how the future unfolds, I believe no pain no gain.
I think we need to blood the kids whether ready or not, send a clear message to the has beens that you earn a game at the RFC you are not gifted games. Then at end of year the knives need to come out and we need to bring in skill and more skill plus pace and more pace, unless a prospective recruit has both attributes then they should not be considered.
Today's game is fast and precise, we don't have a team that competes in this environment, we must change or accept we will be cellar dwellers for many seasons to come.
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Loz I think you're right to a point but I would rather play the kids in patches until they earn their spots. So bring a few in this week but not a handful. Too many kids together would do nothing to protect or improve their games or team structure/cohesion. I Would bring in Miles and McBean/Elton this week and see how they go. Bringing in kids like McIntosh, Williams, Helbig etc who clearly don't deserve it at this stage (and would damage their confidence and development as a result) would achieve nothing.
Hampson should get one more week and then play the year out in the VFL. I'd love to see Banfield and Darrou thus year too if the opportunity presents.
Some people rate Thomas highly but I would take Miles over he any day of the year given his age and consistent performance this year.
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Its our lack of pace/run/crap midfield that is our biggest issue
If this club wants to turn things around over the next few years that has to be the number one priority.
If we recruit say 10 players in the offseason up to 7 of them have to be midfielders and half forward types with pace.
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Have the hacks in the current first 22 "earnt" the right to keep their spots no matter what?
Sometimes you've got to just chuck the kids in a the deep end and see what they're really made of. We're not a Top 4 side that can afford to just sit blokes in the reserves for years, waiting for retirements/injuries or for them to have 10 bog's in a row before they get a call up.
Hardwick won't bring in the kids because then it will look we're starting another rebuild and a concession that he's failed.