AFL 2016 season review: Wretched year leaves Richmond starting from scratchRohan Connolly
The Age
3 September 2016Finishing position 2016 – 13th, 8 wins 14 losses (79.5%)
Finishing position 2015 – 7th, 15 wins 7 losses (123.1%)
Players used: 41 – The Tigers used the most players of any team in the AFL this season.
Debutants: 8 (Daniel Rioli – Round 1 v Carlton; Jayden Short – Round 2 v Collingwood; Jason Castagna – Round 6 v Port Adelaide; Nathan Broad – Round 14 v Brisbane; Oleg Markov – Round 16 v Western Bulldogs; Adam Marcon – Round 19 v GWS; Callum Moore – Round 22 v St Kilda; Mabior Chol – Round 23 v Sydney)
Retiring/delisted: Troy Chaplin (ret), Reece McKenzie (ret), Adam Marcon (del), Liam McBean (del).
Richmond had a couple of mid-season retirements, veteran defender Troy Chaplin giving it away three-quarters of the way through the season, while Reece McKenzie announced his retirement midway through the year after battling mental health issues.
On Wednesday, the Tigers announced they were delisting tall forward Liam McBean and mature-age rookie Adam Marcon, while Ty Vickery, on his way out of Punt Road, has reportedly been offered a deal by Hawthorn.
McBean had spent four years on the list for only five senior games and Marcon played his only two games late in the season, but was dropped after round 20 despite having picked up 22 touches and kicked a goal against Collingwood.
Small forward Ben Lennon, contracted for next season, is also expected to depart, frustrated by the lack of opportunities. Lennon played only three games in 2016 after having showed some promise late last year.
Outlook for 2017: Based on results this season, you'd have to say pretty grim. Based on a bigger picture, some parts of the wreckage are salvageable, but it's all far, far from the heights to which Richmond were aspiring before this disastrous football year began.
While the best clubs are able to regenerate lists while staying competitive, the Tigers' list may require too much of an overhaul for even the top eight to look an achievable target next year.
For every decent young talent to emerge, and Richmond did debut eight players at least, it seems there's a plodder or two weighing the team's progress down.
The Tigers topped up again last off-season with three more players from other clubs – Chris Yarran, Andrew Moore and Jacob Townsend. The return was nine games between them, Yarran in particular a major "bust". But that took the total from other AFL clubs to 10.
The limited success of that strategy would make the addition of someone such as Travis Cloke now a risky proposition indeed, though there's no doubt a key forward is high on the priority list with Vickery leaving and Ben Griffiths, who signed a new two-year deal on Friday, still struggling to make himself a focal point.
Surely, Richmond have to hit the drafts particularly hard, and place a premium on players with decent skills by hand and foot. Because that's been an issue for much of the three-decades-and-a-bit now the Tigers have largely struggled to keep pace with the other big clubs, even in the more successful periods.
The addition of Dion Prestia from Gold Coast should help in that regard. But do the Tigers still have anywhere near enough quality in midfield? And all over the park, for that matter?
And how good is the youth that's already there? It's debatable. Coach Damien Hardwick referred repeatedly during the season to Richmond's stockpile of talent. But we didn't see much of it until the season was long gone. Of those eight debutants, five didn't get a chance until Round 14 or later.
Two younger faces Richmond can build with at least appear to be Rioli and Short.
Rioli showed some very encouraging flashes in his 18 games and averaged around one goal per game, while Short slotted pretty comfortably into a role at half-back. The other transition taking place, perhaps surprisingly, was the late blooming of Shaun Hampson, who took over the No.1 ruck role from Ivan Maric and made it his own.
But Hardwick will need to be a lot less conservative with his selection choices next year if he is to survive an eighth season in the job. And that goes for the gameplan, too, which has never looked like anything in particular since 2013.
It was then Richmond were playing their most dynamic football. But an overreaction to that year's elimination final loss to Carlton saw the Tigers attempt to pursue a slower and more deliberate game of keepings-off. They didn't have the skills to pull it off, and now things have regressed to the point no one can accurately say what Richmond are trying to do.
That is a coaching issue. And you can add it to problems with recruiting, junior development, and now, it seems, board stability, with the incumbent powerbrokers facing their first serious challenges from outside in a long time.
One thing is for certain. Whether the administrative status quo remains, or there is another Richmond power struggle, whoever takes the club forward into 2017, not to mention their senior coach, needs to be prepared to undertake some serious on-field change.
The existing formula hasn't worked. And this wretched year should have underlined that in its current shape, it's a team and list with a very limited outlook.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-2016-season-review-wretched-year-leaves-richmond-starting-from-scratch-20160902-gr7od9.html
