Robbo's commentary in the today's Herald-Sun:
Powerhouses no moreQUICK question: Of Richmond, St Kilda, Carlton, GWS, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, which club is further away from challenging for the top four?
Answer: It isn’t St Kilda, the Bulldogs, the Demons or the Giants.
Right now, it’s best to be challenging or developing and Richmond and Carlton are in-between, in a kind of no man’s land.
They lack leaders and they lack talent, and there’s not a hell of a lot pushing up from underneath.
The Tigers aren’t alone. The wheels have fallen off Essendon, whose game plan has been widely scrutinised.
Carlton is three to four years behind the Bulldogs, Demons and the Saints in terms of building a list.
The Demons are behind the Saints and Bulldogs in terms of development — and all of them are behind Greater Western Sydney.
The Saints have 25 players aged between 18 and 23 and the Bulldogs have 27.
Worryingly, the Tiger have just 19. Carlton has 17.
One weekend doesn’t make a season, but in pivotal games the Tigers and Blues failed miserably.
http://www.news.com.au/national/richmond-carlton-behind-likes-of-western-bulldogs-gws-st-kilda-writes-mark-robinson/story-e6frfkp9-1227349477989-----------------------------------------------------------
Dislike 3. Dustin Martin: Got a clip from the coach in the nicest possible environment — the press conference — so you’d imagine it was worse behind closed doors. Thirty disposals for just two inside 50s is not good or creative enough. Where is this team going?
Dislike 4. Well, we’ll tell you: Tigers coach Damien Hardwick must be having sleepless nights. He trains them and trains them, works on skills, works on playing as a team and then has to watch his team butcher the ball. Turnovers are king for the opposition and on Saturday North Melbourne scored 91 points of their 110 points from either forcing turnovers or waiting for Richmond players to turn over the ball themselves. It’s an amazing stat in today’s football.
http://www.news.com.au/national/callan-ward-drew-petrie-dustin-martin-and-essendon-among-round-6-likes-and-dislikes/story-e6frfkp9-1227349922978