One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on December 23, 2008, 01:44:23 AM
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Ben's challenge is to keep Tigers fans on side
Herald-Sun | December 23, 2008
VICTORIAN opening batsman Nick Jewell couldn't help but notice the commotion at the Punt Rd Oval last week as he headed to the MCG.
As the car park filled and security guards manned the barricades, he rang his father, Tony, to let him know that Ben Cousins hysteria had well and truly arrived at Richmond.
He also made the wry observation that a Tigers' summer training run would attract far more spectators than the Victorian cricketers, who were about to put Western Australia to the sword across the other side of Yarra Park.
Of course, Tony Jewell needs no introduction to the madness of Richmond.
He's lived and breathed it for most of his life, as a player, coach, director and supporter.
After more than 25 years of abject failure, apathy should reign at Punt Rd.
Yet few AFL clubs are able to match the emotional energy that pours from its fan base.
It can be uplifting and inspirational. It can also be divisive and destructive.
In either form, it is a force to be reckoned with.
Right now the place is on a high. The club has taken the plunge on Cousins. The supporters are delirious.
They begged the administration to give the boy one more chance and promised to dig deep into their pockets if it did.
He is seen as a natural fit in a developing midfield, although it's clear his dubious celebrity was the attraction for some fans.
The administration proudly acknowledges it listened to the collective voice of the fans.
But you sense it was a fear of what they may have done if Cousins was ignored that motivated the club to act.
Such is the volatility of Tigerland where, historically, the committee has shared the reactive mentality of the fans.
These days the board generally appears more benign and measured, yet it can still occasionally reek of instability.
Recent examples were president Gary March's public questioning of coach Terry Wallace in September and the need to reprimand director Tony Free over his review of the football department.
It leads to an obvious question about whether Richmond is a good fit for Cousins as he tries to prove he's more than a recovering drug addict who once won a Brownlow Medal.
Richmond's handling of his recruitment had all the co-ordination of a new-born giraffe.
It wobbled unsteadily in all directions, before people power won the day.
It might have been a feel-good exercise in the end, but it exposed again the inherent weaknesses in the club.
It is not the way it would have been done at, say,
Geelong or Essendon, where the boards generally function with detachment and certainty and avoid the perception of
disarray and disunity emanating from Punt Rd last week.
Indeed, there are other clubs more likely to offer the cohesive, stable environment that Cousins needs right now. But, as we know, none were interested.
The media concentration on his recovery program, taking in everything from his drug-testing regime to his after-dark associates, will be extreme.
I sense Richmond is going to be mightily challenged by the demands this will create.
The greatest pressure, though, will come from a fan base now living and breathing the great Cousins comeback, and inadvertently creating unrealistic expectations.
Experience tells us that those supporters who have embraced him so warmly in December could be baying for his blood by mid-July.
If nothing else, it's another incentive for Cousins to make the most of his last chance.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24835012-11088,00.html
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I would have put money on it being Damian Barrett having another potshot.
Turns out it is Trevor Grant this time.
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I must admit though, he has a point
Too often our board is ruled by the vocal minority
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perhaps we imagined the shenanigans at Essendon with Sheeds demise and Bomber's uncertain future 2 years ago, geez these reporters have short memories.
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Grants nackers must be smaller than Barrets because,correct me if i'm wrong
but this guy has tried to disguise his hatred of the RFC by hiding behind a state of exageratted
political correctness.
What a group of jobbers!
LMAO@ The Hun being the new Truth.
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I think the board took in to account the wishes of the Tiger Fans but the decision was not made exclusively based on some sort of fear. This recruitment choice was made because the board, players, coach and supporters all believed it was a good move, albeit for different reasons, for the club as a whole.
I think we, as supporters, have been our own worst enemies for decades, creating unrealistic expectations of success and being far too impatient with our players, administration and moreso our coaches. This is why we have built up such as reputation of 'eatting our own' and why fools like Trevor Grant can legitimately refer to the past to support his arguments. But I believe we have changed.
Yes we still sometimes react emotionally as a mob when we are frustrated and disappointed but we are far more patient and supportive of what our club is attempting to do of late. We can see that we need to put in the hard yards to rebuild and that we can not realistically expect immediate success any longer. We can not just buy players to create a team we need to create a team from the draft which has meant getting rid of average players, playing young players and as a result finishing down the bottom of the ladder and drafting good players.
We wanted Cousins because we knew that we we getting him for practically nothing and that anything he could give us was bonus. If he gets injured or goes on a bender the Tigers will be seen as a humanitian club who gave him a chance when no one else would. On the other hand, if he succeeds then we will make a lot of other clubs, reporters and opposition supporter look silly.
I think Cousins has already justified his inclusion just with the positive media attention, membership and merchandise sale increase and general positive club morale.
If Cousins does succeed, come mid-July it might be reporters like Trevor looking silly and opposition supporters baying for blood from their own clubs for not choosing him. Lets hope this is the case.
Stripes
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I must admit though, he has a point
Too often our board is ruled by the vocal minority
It certainly didn't sound like a minority that was booing Danny Frawley at a certain Rich vs Adel game in which we were 10 goals down at half time.
I'll never forget that night, everyone I could hear wanted Frawley gone...... the board didn't listen anyway.
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I must admit though, he has a point
Too often our board is ruled by the vocal minority
It certainly didn't sound like a minority that was booing Danny Frawley at a certain Rich vs Adel game in which we were 10 goals down at half time.
I'll never forget that night, everyone I could hear wanted Frawley gone...... the board didn't listen anyway.
The Frawley incident merely showed us what fraction of our supporter base is mentally frigid.
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I can smell fear of Richmond in the media lol :yep
perhaps we imagined the shenanigans at Essendon with Sheeds demise and Bomber's uncertain future 2 years ago, geez these reporters have short memories.
Laughable using Essendon as an example of stability isn't it :wallywink. Les Patterson their president dumps Sheeds because they thought Voss was available when he wasn't, before making an absolute fool of himself at a doorstop interview outside Windy Hill denying any decision. Bomber members then throw Epis off the board after Sheeds bags him mercilessly in his book and in the press.
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If he gets injured or goes on a bender the Tigers will be seen as a humanitian club who gave him a chance when no one else would. On the other hand, if he succeeds then we will make a lot of other clubs, reporters and opposition supporter look silly.
Excellent post Stripes. :bow
But this extract of one paragraph sums it all up beautifully. Doesnt matter which way cousins goes as long as the "feral tiger crowd" support him in whatever way they can, the club will be seen to have done the correct thing.