I HAD an interesting discussion with a Richmond supporter earlier this week.
This fan wasn't interested in the gulf that exists between football's haves and the have nots. He just wanted to know how Richmond could possibly be so bad for so long.
How, in the era of the salary cap and national draft, could his beloved Tigers constantly miss the finals.
He reminded me that they had played in only two finals series since the 1982 Grand Final ... the competition's worst strike rate.
I answered that in the past three decades the Tigers had not managed to get the club's whole structure right.
Richmond has had 13 coaches since it lost the 1982 Grand Final to Carlton, which shows there is far more to a club's success than blaming the coach.
It's an understatement to say stability has not been a Richmond strong point.
Changes at board, administration and coaching levels have far outweighed the great wins.
A board has to set the club's direction and make the key appointments and hopefully generate revenue.
But the board also has to keep its emotions in check and make rational decisions in tough times. This is where the Richmond board has struggled.
As important as the board is, it's the club's chief executive or general manager who controls the day to day operations.
It's possible to have - as it was in my time as Sydney coach - a chief executive who is primarily responsible for the commercial side of your business. A savvy business-oriented leader who can leave the football department to a strong football person. In my mind that's a winning combination.
For Richmond to improve, chief executive Brendon Gale and general manager of football, Craig Cameron, must understand their own roles and trust in each other to carry them out.
Brendon's main role is to shore up sponsorships, members and drive the revenue needed to be a powerhouse.
One thing he has overseen that I will never agree with is selling home games. I disagree that a club should grab the short-term revenue and the team should beat Gold Coast and Port anyway.
The core business is to win games of football. If that happens everything else will look after itself.
Meanwhile, Cameron should be responsible for running the football department, providing a conduit between the coach and the CEO and the coach and the board.
Arguably his most important role is to shield his coach from any distractions, leaving Damien Hardwick to focus solely on the important coaching issues.
One clear area that has stopped Richmond from being successful, particularly recently, is recruiting.
Every club has hits and misses, but the mistakes can be catastrophic.
Richmond's most glaring miss came in the 2004-05 national drafts, when it had seven top 25 picks: Brett Deledio (1), Richard Tambling (4), Danny Meyer (12), Adam Pattinson (16), Dean Polo (20), Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls (
and Cleve Hughes (24).
Only Deledio remains at the club.
To add further pain, in 2004 Hawthorn took three players with picks 2, 5 and 7: Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis.
Without having had any insight to Richmond's inner sanctum over the past 30 years it is impossible to pinpoint exactly why this club has struggled more than most. However, from the outside it does appear that the club has never managed to assemble the right key personnel all at the one time.
Football is still about quality people understanding their roles and working in harmony to win a premiership.
If the Tigers now have those roles filled then that elusive success shouldn't be too far away.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/paul-roos-says-tigers-need-to-pull-together/story-fn7si1vl-1226114051422
