Rawlings media conference - philosophical after defeat

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Rawlings philosophical after defeat
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen 9:34 PM Sun 28 June, 2009

INTERIM Richmond coach Jade Rawlings looked anything but shattered after his team was smashed by one of the form teams in the competition in St Kilda on Sunday evening at Docklands.

The Tigers lost by 56 points after keeping the Saints goalless for the first quarter – the only time the ladder leaders have had that done to them in a term this year.

The Saints then made the game their own through the middle terms – keeping the Tigers scoreless in both quarters – before the Tigers outscored them again in the last.

Rawlings said that at quarter-time, he was pretty happy with the way it was all going, including the form of debutant Jarrod Silvester.

"I'm thinking 'we're going alright, aren't we?' And we missed a few chances too, we kicked 2.3," he said with a wry grin after the game.

"It just looked like we were ready for the contest – I said to the group that you don't come back against a team like St Kilda if we let them jump.

"We hit the ground running, we missed some chances, unfortunately, but we still went in with a lead, and that slowly dissipated.

"It got to a point where ... I wouldn't say it got to a procession, but certainly they were able to clear the ball much easier, their footskills ... I didn't think Silvester had a chance on a few. (Justin) Koschitzke's a good player, but I thought it was a good contest across the course of the night."

Rawlings admitted it was impossible to shut down the stellar St Kilda midfield, which made life incredibly hard for his backmen.

"They've got that many kickers – who do you go with? (Brendon) Goddard, (Nick) Dal Santo, (Luke) Ball, (Leigh) Montagna, (Jason) Gram – he got out tonight big-time.

"They've got some options to go through there, and you have to really work out who you put the energy into, how hard do you lock down on them, do you take them on with backing yourself in?

"It's an argument I'm sure every club has coming up against St Kilda."

Rawlings said he wasn't disheartened by the result, saying games like this taught you things about players.

"It's disappointing – we're competitive people in this industry, and you want to go in and win,” he said.

"I genuinely came here in the car this arvo thinking that if we get a couple of things right, we jump out of the blocks and hang in there when it gets tough, we win.

"But disheartening? I just think that as long as we're seen to be giving players opportunities, and finding more answers out about these players in tough situations ... I said to the players that this would be the most finals-like atmosphere they'll get more than likely up to this stage of the year, although we played Geelong at Geelong earlier in the year, which is pretty tough.

"I'm not going to be disheartened by it – we're on an 11-week campaign to see where we come out at the end of that.

"Whoever's lucky enough to coach this footy club moving forward, hopefully they've got a group that's progressed over the second half of the year while I'm lucky enough to be in the chair."

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/79574/default.aspx

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Richmond coach Jade Rawlings keeps chin up
Sam Edmund | June 29, 2009

INTERIM Richmond coach Jade Rawlings refused to be demoralised after his team was slaughtered by St Kilda.

Rawlings vowed to stick to an 11-week campaign to improve the Tigers' performance.

Richmond, belted by 56 points at Etihad Stadium, was kept scoreless for a staggering 77 minutes against the rampaging Saints.

The Tigers did not register a single score from the 13-minute mark of the first quarter to the four-minute mark of the last quarter.

But Rawlings, in just his second game in charge, said he would stick to looking at the bigger picture.

"I'm not going to be disheartened about it," Rawlings said.

"We're on an 11-week campaign to be able to see where we come out at the end of that and whoever is lucky enough to coach this footy club moving forward, hopefully they get a group that's progressed over the second half of the year while I'm lucky enough to be in the chair.

"It's disappointing. We're competitive people in this industry and you want to win.

"I genuinely came here in the car this afternoon thinking, 'Yep, we get a couple of things right, we jump out of the blocks and we hang in there when it gets tough, we win'.

"I just think that as long as we're seen to be giving players opportunities we're finding more answers out about these players in tough situations.

"I said to the players that this would be the most finals-like atmosphere they'll get, more than likely, for the rest of the year. So to be able to measure ourselves against it (is good)."

After keeping St Kilda goalless at the first change for the first time this year, Richmond crumbled under pressure.

It was out-tackled 77-60, lost the clearances 30-23 and lost the inside-50s 53-27.

And the Tigers' skill and decision making were as bad as they have ever been.

"Our ball-handling . . . we just couldn't get a grasp of it," Rawlings said.

"Just when the pressure went up we weren't able to be clean and that's like a red rag to a bull with the Saints. Once they saw that we were getting a bit fumbly they went harder at us and closed us down."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25704553-19771,00.html

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A bit more from Jade in today's Age...

Richmond's Jade Rawlings described St Kilda as "a well-oiled machine" after his first demoralising defeat as the club's caretaker coach.

The Tigers endured a 77-minute horror patch in which they failed to score against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, from 13 minutes into the first term until four minutes into the last.

But Rawlings said he saw some promising signs after Richmond won two of the game's four quarters.

"They were at the height of their game, they've got a group of players who have played for a long time together and are fully aware of what their requirements are at any certain situation of the game and we're still a little way off that," he said.

"It wasn't so much a where-we're-at type of measurement today but we were really keen to see how we'd stack up against a good opposition and we got found out in a lot of areas in two quarters of footy."

He said the Tigers' ball-handling for the second and third quarters was dismal and St Kilda was like "red rags to a bull".

As the undefeated Saints watched their opponents fumbling, they went harder, he said, which crushed his players' confidence.

"Our play-ons, which we think we're reasonably good at, in the second and third quarter we had 10 which gave us no chance to threaten or even get inside 50," Rawlings said.

"In the last quarter we had 18. We've said to the group even if it's a mark across half-back then let's get the ball moving and challenge their defence and it's amazing what can happen and we ended up out-scoring them in the last quarter and we threatened again in the first quarter and out-scored them but they pretty much out-scored us in the second and third.

"But we showed in facets, which it's unfortunate that it was only for a half, that we can match it. But that void in the second and third quarters showed how big a gap there is and where we want to strive to be."

Rawlings said a 56-point loss was disappointing. "We're on an 11-week campaign to be able to see where we come out at the end of that and whoever's lucky enough to coach this footy club moving forward. Hopefully they've got a group that's progressed over this second half of the year whilst I'm lucky enough to be in the chair."

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/maguire-in-the-frame/2009/06/28/1246127433846.html