Who do we blame? (Herald-Sun)

[one-eyed]

Who do we blame? 
Captain Blood, Richmond Tigers
Herald-Sun blog
Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 05:27pm 

After halftime today I watched a team of timid, toothless players who don’t deserve to be called Tigers.

The last 45 minutes against the Crows were as bad as anything we’ve served up in the past five years. It was horrible, non-competitive rubbish.

So, who do we blame?

I tell you who we don’t blame - the Adelaide supporters sitting behind the Punt Rd goals, but that’s who many of the Richmond fans seemed to take out their anger and frustration on as the margin blew out in the final quarter. The Crow fans were enjoying their win - and wouldn’t we if the boot was on the other foot? - and weren’t rubbing it in too much. So, sorry guys.

But at least those Tiger fans were showing some sort of passion. Some pain at losing. Again. At the light at the end of the tunnel flickering out, again.

Where is that passion among the players?

Who is going to make a stand when the tide starts turning against us - when it really counts? Who has any physical presence on the ground at all? Far too often we were beaten in one-on-one contests, tackles were shrugged and players didn’t put their heads over the ball.

Look at our big men - when was the last time Troy Simmonds bowled someone over? Or took a strong mark in defence? Graham Polak teases, but that’s it. Jay Shulz gets his 20-odd possessions every week, but how can you play in defence against a team that has 59 inside 50s and lay one tackle for the day?

Nathan Foley has a crack, so does Shane Tuck. But neither seem to have much on-field presence. Jake King is willing to get in the face of the opposition, but his achilles heel is the other fatal flaw of his team: execution of basic skills.

We have been turning over the ball for years, but the payback damage now is worse than ever; well-drilled sides like Sydney and Adelaide will make us pay every time.

And some of our worst offenders are on the half-back line. A running, attacking half-back is one of the most important positions in today’s footy and we don’t have one. Worse, the turnovers are usually about 80m from the opposition goal when all our defenders are out of position.

King has a go, but his kicking is unreliable. Jordan McMahon was recruited to play that role, and he (if the radio commentators got it right) leads the club in clangers. Chris Newman is the only reliable kick but he doesn’t break lines too often. We need Andrew Raines back pronto.

Trent Cotchin, Nathan Brown and Brett Deledio linking up through the middle in the first half was great to watch, but you could tell we looked flat at the restart after halftime. We were smashed in clearances and just about every other stat category but somehow stayed with the Crows until 20 minutes into the term - then the floodgates opened. Our confidence evaporated and we stopped running. We stopped running to offer an option, we stopped running to pick up opponents.

It makes you wish you barracked for North Melbourne. Even with half their team out, and after a bad start against the premiership favourites, they never give up.

So who’s to blame for all this?

Terry Wallace got the match-ups right in the first half but was clearly out-coached after the main break. We turned our season around by moving Richo to a wing and giving some kids a go up forward, and by dropping Joel Bowden and Kayne Pettifer; Joel only came back after being told he would never play in defence again.

Today Joel was back in defence playing the loose man, exactly the role he was told to abandon. Richo was back in the goalsquare, and Petts was running around doing not much. But at least Richo was flying early, so what does Plough do - move him to a wing. I don’t get it.

Does the coaching staff have any control over skill errors and player confidence? Or are they, and recruiters, at fault for picking players who are not up to AFL standard?

If we can’t beat Melbourne next week, the answer to that could become very clear very quickly

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/afl/fanforce/index.php/heraldsun/comments/who_do_we_blame

[jackstar]

Might be the end of Terry Wallet next week.
 Thank god

[Tigermonk]

gee that was a good read & so very right in your face spot on
Wallace should go even if we have a small win next week over Melbourne
Niel Craig made a few moves & in 40 minutes we turned to poo & Wallace went back to old habits & went down screaming

[jackstar]

Rumour is that the management of the dome are installing ""spitting shields"" next week, lol

[Tigermonk]

criminal playing a Richmond vs Melbourne game at the Dome
both club should forfiet the game in protest against the AFL & save us poor supporters of a ugly football game which we will probably lose. Some of our players will get rest they need to overcome injury before our coach savages thier careers
whats the go on the spit shields jack, are you the leader of the spitters 

[Hellenic Tiger]

Its not the players who get chosen to put on the guernsey week in week out ultimately. Sure they may not have the physical attributes the skills the mindset the heart the toughness the tenacity the will to win. Many on the list may have a few of the aforementioned characteristics some may have less some more. Some are naturally gifted but time and time again when certain or most individualls bar a small number of few continually fall short yet continually either get selected or promoted after they have been dropped whilst we have untried kids bafflingly running around in the Coburg 2nds or not being promoted into AFL senior footy then the coaching staff the selectors and the recruiters are the ones who should be held accountable.
If someone from within a league club comes to you offers you a six figure sum of money and offers you a contract to play footy which for all intents and purposes is more than you will get in most cases from your 9-5 job pushing papers and pens and going to weekly team meetings in bs boardrooms then more than likely you won't say no. We can fault players for their deficiencies and such and their integrity in and around the club but only up to a point in time as if the retention of these so called rabbits continues as well as their re selection in times of need then of course they will play. Financial security for players is paramount to them. It sets them up for life they won't say I am not good enough at this level drop me. The buck unfortunantely stops with those in charge at selection on Thursday night the Head Coach and the recruiters and just like the sword was sharpened for Walls Gieschen Spud in the not too distant past the same applies to Wallace and his cohorts and his mate Miller with regard to players skills mental toughness hardness abilities to maintain long term intencity and will to win regardless of situation. Previous culture becomes a fabric of the club in terms of results and players on field and off field conduct and with young kids they all need a kick up the but to be nurtured and put on the correct path and get them into the right frame of mind.
Sometimes you may find a diamond in the rough in individulas like Richo and Foley but that is 2 out of a list of 42 where the majority of others are happy to get their pay cheque much like in the same way as the spindoctoring coach and officials. Is it a case of too many Chiefs and not enough Indians or a more remarkable case of what the coach puts in to the team he will get out of the team most of the time? Whatever it is it has failed abysmally and Terry and Miller are the ones who will have most of the onus and finger pointing in their direction when all the dust has settled and rightly so.

[bushranger]

I put the blame on a set of two shoulders, wallace and Johnson. They are supposed to be our leaders then bloody well lead us. Stop blaming every other person around for our short falls. If you can't lead then get out of the way and let people who ain't affraid of getting hurt lead us.
Too many excuses now for both these so its time for them to pack up and go. And if they bring back that poorest excuse of a captain this year we really are scrapping the bottom of the barrel. The barrel should be between our toothless leaders eyes.
I'm proud to say I'm a Richmond Member and supporter but its getting harder each week to hold my head up to this crap we are getting year in and year out. 

[Lozza]

The scariest thing from RFC supporters viewpoint is injury wise we have probably had the best start to a season ever. Have we seen the results from this, NO, Terry Wallace each year has put our poor efforts down to lack of a strong list, well now we supposedly have one, and i say supposedly, and we still cant seem to match it with teams who are themselves missing players.

Adelaide's standout in the last few games has been Brett Burton, with him missing suddenly others stand up and cover for the loss. If we say lost Richo we would struggle immensly. Why don't we have someone coming through and kicking 6 goals or more. In fact when was the last time we actually had a dominant forward kicking over 6 goals? When was the last time we actually had a forward tall who could kick straight, probably not since Michael Roach. Most of the top sides have a player or players in their line up who can take a game by the scruff of the neck and lift the over players. Richo unfortunately cannot be everywhere at the same time. no one else in the lineup is capable of heroics, lack of class players especially among our senior group is our Achilles Heel and it will hurt us for some time to come.

We have no "mongrel" about our forward line, no one who the opposition might have a quick look up at when going into a contest. In our back line its the same thing, i think i could kick a goal against our defence and i am in my mid forties. All you do is stand in space (you wont be picked up anyway) about 60 metres out and they will kick it or handpass it straight to you or if they do manage to get it through you they will lose it in the corridor and I would be sitting on my own for the rebound....too easy!!

I would also be very interested if any one has any statistics for this season for all goals scored against us how many of those are the result of free kicks and clangers. It would be my guess that we would be winning that particular contest hands down.

[Mini Tiger]

The problem now is, if we start winning games, which I really do want us to do, we finish somewhere around 9 or 10 and get a mid range pick, which we tend to not stuff up as much as early picks, but with a really early pick we could pick up at least 1 more possible gun player (or not) this club is so frustrating. If we had an ounce of what the Kangas do, we might actually fight and fight and win....


 

[harry bosch]

we have no chance of finishing 9 or 10th..
Best we could do is 12th which would still give us pick 5..

[jackstar]

Just get rid of Wallace.
Get a coach with a bit of mongrel who wont recruit ""lovechilds"' eg McMahon ,lol
No wonder Judd wouldnt even consider coming to the tiges last year.
We are a laughing stock and some supporters here are completely sucked in by present coach and board. ENOUGH SAID!

[Hellenic Tiger]

Lose all games from now till the end of the year.
Get pick 1 as a priority
then pick 2 3 or 4 and either 18 19 or 20 and no trading for McMahon's this time round so 3 picks inside the top 20 and trade some other players to hopefully get a couple of extra picks.
Finishing 10-12 with 8 or 9 wins holds no merit in the precarious plight in our list
We need to finish on 3.5 wins and use that priority pick now that we have the chance otherwise The Sharks and W Sydney will take away all potential draftess from next year's draft and leave us in the dark ages we have been in for the last 25 years. 11 more losses this year for list improvement and team renaissance from next year.

[bushranger]

I really don't care where we finish so long as we are putting up a fight not laying down and let other teams steam roll us like we seem to be doing since the Frawally days to now. And I don't care if I spelt Danny's lasat name wrong. Like it has been said, if we had a little fight like the Roo's I wouldn't mind losing as much as I do now.