Tigers take a key step in' 08
Fighting Tiger Bulletin July 2008
By Senior Coach Terry Wallace
Externally, rnost football critics and non-Richmond people believed that 2008 was going to be another season of doom and gloom for the Tigers. Internally, however, we believed that we had the talented youth and exuberance, combined with some key senior players, to start to make some serious ground on the competition.
Although still not where we would like to be, I have no doubt that the team has made some major improvements this season. Last year, we were soundly beaten by top teams such as Geelong, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn. This year, we have been able to take it right up to some of the ladder leaders, although still not able to take that final step and get over the line.
In general terms, we have been able to beat the sides at a similar level to ourselves or below, but have not been able to find a way yet to beat those who have more maturity in body size and games experience. I have no doubt, however, that this will come...
Teams who win most of their close games during a season set up their year, while those who lose the close ones tend to deal with frustration, which probably aptly sums up our 2008 season. The Western Bulldogs wrapped up with three minutes to go, only to walk off the Telstra Dome arena with just two points for a draw, and then, a few weeks later, to have a couple of relatively easy shots at goals to seal victory against St Kilda, yet walk away with nothing, was certainly frustrating. An extra six points in this competition would have us placed extremely well going into the business end of the season. Life, however, is not about ifs, buts and maybes, so it's a waste of time speculating. We deal in the realities of our current environment, which still give us great hope in the final few weeks of the '08 season.
I feel our major improvement in 2008 has come through playing the game in a more physical manner. Our playing group has been prepared to play with more of a one-on-one mentality, and this has enabled us to compete extremely well in contested-possession battles throughout the season. We have a group of players, who are prepared to keep their eye on the footy and go after it, which is what every supporter loves to see. This ability to compete with the best allows us to be in most games. As the group has matured, we have demanded they increase their tackle intensity and pressure on the opposition. Several players throughout this season have been omitted from the team due to the fact they have placed too much emphasis on offensive play, and not been prepared to compete and contest at the level and standards we've put in place. Demands in the game have risen, and there's now so much expectation on each and every player who represents the Club.
The area of our game that needs the most work is turnovers of the ball. This is as much to do with decision making and playing with poise, as it is with foot skills. Early in the season, we were 55 points behind Collingwood midway through the second quarter, and had given the Magpies nine goals through direct turnovers. In that game, we beat them at contested possession and clearances, yet were slaughtered on the scoreboard through our inability to maintain possession.
RICHO'S MOVE TO THE WING
With regards to specific players, the move that seems to have been talked about most this season is Matthew Richardson's to the wing. This was something I'd been thinking about for a while and, in a way, it was born out of a bit of frustration.
The frustration came, firstly, from some media outlets claiming we had no young, key-position talent capable of taking us forward in the future, which I believed was a nonsense call. Between (in no order) Jay Schulz, Jack Riewoldt, Cleve Hughes, and Graham Polak. I was confident we could develop some quality key forwards. But I felt it was difficult for them to be able to have a presence in our forward structure with the ball continually going to 'Richo' every time we were in trouble. This stifled their growth and made us extremely predictable to the opposition.
The other fact was I felt our team was just too predictable all-round
. It was predictable we would be one dimensional going forward; predictable we would miss easy shots at goal, which would frustrate both the playing group and supporters alike; predictable we had a very offensive forward line, but lacked any ability to prevent rebounded counter-attack by the opposition; and predictable our forwards would show too much frustration and emotion, which put other players back in their shells and didn't allow them to flourish. At that stage, a couple of weeks into the season, I pushed Nathan Brown and Brett Deledio higher up the ground, omitted other forwards from the team, and asked Richo for a special effort to go and play on the wing.
Suddenly, the complete dynamics of the team structure changed, and even with the big names out of the forward line, by the halfway mark of the season, we were still able to kick more goals than we had in the previous year at the same time.
Much has been said about Richo's transformation, but I have been pleased, mainly due to the fact that he was once again prepared to give to the Club over and above himself. None of us knew how well he would play in his new role, but he accepted the fact that if it was going to help us win, he would try anything. The key to this move is our young forwards making the most of the opportunity they have been given...
TEAM DYNAMICS
When you have over 40 players on your list, with only 22 getting a game weekly, you are going to experience some occasional frustration. Either a player has not come on as quickly as you would like from a drafting scenario, or one of your favorites is perhaps in and out of the senior team. That's the reality of the selection process...
I would like to go on record in saying I respect all the players, who have put themselves on the line for this Club. Over the past couple of years, we've let a couple of our stalwart defenders go, so that we could develop the next group of backmen, such as Kel Moore, Will Thursfield, Luke McGuane, Polak and Schulz. These are never easy decisions to make, and we will have some tough calls again this year, particularly with some players who have been good servants of the Club. This is no way disrespects their heart-and soul service - it's merely about getting the right team balance.
THE FUTURE
Our immediate future is the back half of this season and trying to force our way into our first finals campaign for seven years. But the longer-term view is to continue to develop a group of players, who will come through and play plenty of football together. We can now see distinct groups developing within the playing list - we have a group of 4-5 backmen ranging in age from 21-24, while our midfielders are mostly aged 19-23. Combine this with the likes of Hughes, Morton, Riewoldt etc., with the oldest in this group also just 21. Growing a core group, who will play together for 10 years, has always been our goal.
I am comfortable to be judged by the decisions made, but at least we have had a steadfast plan, been patient, and not deviated from it. We have continued to work diligently in developing this young playing group...
Developing the Club's culture within the group is the only way to success. Our culture is everything about the mighty Tigerland spirit that lives through history. More importantly, it is ingrained into the supporter base, who follow us so passionately. . If we nurture this within our own players, that spirit will make success for the Club inevitable.
