Ray of hope at Tigerland (Inside Football)

[one-eyed]

Ray of hope at Tigerland
By JIM MAIN
Inside Football

Wipe away the tears, Tiger fans. Yes, you are likely to drown in a sea of sorrow this year, but there is hope, be it ever so slight.

On what the football world saw against Carlton last Friday night, it would not be stretching the imagination to suggest that Richmond might not win a game this season.

It sometimes is necessary to be cruel to be kind but, in Richmond’s case, it is difficult to know where to start in listing the Tigers’ faults and limitations.

The simple and inescapable truth is that the Tigers have the most undermanned (read “worst”) list in the competition, even if they do have future stars in Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio and newcomer Dustin Martin.
Richmond also has the big-hearted Daniel Jackson, the energetic Jack Riewoldt and the dangerous Mitch Morton. Otherwise, the cupboard is about as bare as Mother Hubbard’s.

To start with, the club does not have a ruckman worth a knob of goat droppings. Yes, Tyrone Vickery has youth on his side, but he has a long way to go, and Carlton toyed with the Tiger rucks.

It was sad for Tiger fans to count the number of time Robert Warnock and Matthew Kreuzer had no opposition – literally – in many ruck contests. Unforgiveable!

Tiger fans could be forgiven for thinking that the days of a big, lumbering ruckman who could not keep up with the play were gone. Apparently not, however.

Elsewhere – and this is sad to note – the Tigers have several players who look out of their depth at the elite level and others who appear to be going through the motions.

A quick glance through the list of players who could not make the Tiger side for the opening round makes sorry reading as there is little left in the tank.

Jayden Post and Alex Rance are promising, and it seems the only other rucks option are Graham Polak and Angus Graham.

This might sound like a fearful bake of Richmond and new coach Damien Hardwick, but that is not my intention.

Rather, it is a comment on the sad mismanagement of the Tiger list over the past few years when, surprisingly, the usually ferocious Richmond faithful sat on their hands after being fed great dollops of spin.

A premiership window in 2011? Who was kidding whom? Did Terry really believe that himself? And the chickens – if not the chicken pooh usually dumped at Punt Road in times of despair – has come home to roost, with Richmond in a terrible pickle.

Hardwick has the toughest job in football, but he accepted it knowing the reality of his task and will not make excuses.

He has said the Tigers will infuriate and excite in equal measure because he is rebuilding the list, the side and its style of play.

But, before he does anything else, he has to do something about the appalling lack of skill at Tigerland. How did senior players get to develop such bad habits that they couldn’t hit a barn with a bazooka from five paces?

Tiger fans know the answer to that. But Hardwick and the Tiger hierarchy now have to clean up the mess.
And they will!

The reference earlier in this column on “hope” was not a snide reference of the old cliché about the light at the end of the tunnel being the train coming the other way.

No, the word “hope” was used in the genuine context of Richmond now having everything in place to rectify years of sad disillusionment.

New CEO Brendon Gale knows what he is about, is passionate about lifting the Tigers and is a career achiever. He will get the job done, or else.

Hardwick has made a great impression, even if his team has been unable to translate this into action because of a lack of talent.

The Tigers are on the right track but, unfortunately, those tracks might lead nowhere through no fault of Gale, Hardwick or anyone else at Tigerland.

I am referring now to the admission of the Gold Coast next season, which means the lower AFL clubs this year will find it very difficult to build their depth because of the wealth of young talent flowing north.

St Kilda, Carlton and, to a lesser extent, Melbourne have been able to build their lists over the past decade through early and concession draft picks.

Richmond will not have this luxury so most of the improvement necessary to climb the ladder will have to come from within.

The Tigers will have to retain the likes of Deledio, Cotchin and Martin and draft with remarkable insight to get anywhere near their stated aim of three of the next 10 premierships.

The Tiger faithful have to stick fast more than ever and put the (frankly) bulldust era behind them.

http://insidefootballonline.com/main.html

[Hellenic Tiger]

Good article.

For once an article in the media that gave the Wallet/ Miller era some well deserved criticism and does not place the blame on the new coach.

Was tough but fair rather than looking for something sensational to attract the attention.

In the end was something many of us knew anyway. Nonetheless a good article.

[Smokey]

Good article.

For once an article in the media that gave the Wallet/ Miller era some well deserved criticism and does not place the blame on the new coach.

Was tough but fair rather than looking for something sensational to attract the attention.

In the end was something many of us knew anyway. Nonetheless a good article.

Fully agree but still made the mistake of underestimating our list.

[WA Tiger]

I think it's really about time we moved on from Wallace and/or Frawley. We know it not Hardwicks fault as to where we are at the moment but we need to focus on going forward, winning games and changing the players in and out of the side until we find the right combination.

In all honesty I believe Gus and maybe Browne as well should have played against Carlton with Vickery rotated from the forward line. I mean really our ruck contests were embarasing to say the least and that was not Wallace or Frawley because they did not select the side that went out there Thursday.

All in all though we do need to move on IMO, I don't think Hardwick or the selection panel sit there before selecting the team and say..... oh geez, Terry and Danny have left us a mess, they have to move forward and use what they have got. Unfortunately at the moment it's not much but it's better than what we had.

[RollsRoyce]

I actually took this article at its' word, but I'm still searching for the ray of hope as promised in the title. All I can see is the usual misinformed Tiger-bashing.Then I realised that it's "Inside Football", a journalistic publication of such quality and integrity that it should come on a perforated roll dispenser.

[torch]

Good article.

For once an article in the media that gave the Wallet/ Miller era some well deserved criticism and does not place the blame on the new coach.

Was tough but fair rather than looking for something sensational to attract the attention.

In the end was something many of us knew anyway. Nonetheless a good article.

Fully agree but still made the mistake of underestimating our list.

i agree!

 

[Owl]

Another kick in the guts article.  P.S. Main..Graham and Browne are our other ruck options not Polak you moron.

[bojangles17]

Not sure how ANYBODY could objectively comment on the talent within when of our 14 recruits have yet to fire a shot in anger..a typical boofheaded, simpleminded straight from the clacker broadside that makes little more sense than forecasting next months weather

Fair dinkum, surrounded with simpletons like Jim Main makes anyone look like a genius

[MADTIGER2010]

Typically weak article. We only had 1 non competitive quarter against Carlton and that was the last quarter when the midfield tired out. We all know that Cotchin has had a modified preseason and Martin only completed his first preseason. Cousins also missed some preseason too. The other 3 quarters we were matching the Blues and only a few too many missed goals gave them a buffer at three quarter time. Players such as Post, Graham, Rance would have made a slight difference if they played. At least we'd have another tall forward, tall defender and competitve ruckman at centre bounces. The blues still would have won by 6 or 7 goals because our midfield needs 2 or 3 more games under their belts to get the fitness up and Foley will come back too. Taking this into account we are not very far off the Blues at all. He never mentioned Astbury, Griffiths and Gourdis who I think will be very important players in 12 months. Why doesn't he talk about Melbourne who were much worse than us. They should have lost by 100 

[Ox]

Our captain offers a ray of hope,imo.

[Stripes]

As much as it pains me to say it I agree with this article and see it as a fair assessment. As 'informed' supporters we can see the potential and blossoming talent we have on the list but to outsiders they can only judge us on our current form and obvious talented youngsters like Martin.

Even banking on our new recruits to come on and claim their rightful places in our future premiership team is dangerous. For years we have looked to our potential 'stars' to give us hope only to be disappointed when their draft potential was never realized. The 'Fab 5' of 2004 is a prime example - only two of them remain and only one of these could be considered a definite talent.

I think we are now on the right track with more money and focus on recruitment and development. It has me scratching my head how we could have only a part time recruiter in 2004 when we has 5 picks in the top 20 and a realistic opportunity to lay the foundation for a strong core side but instead used videos and hearsay to make our selections. Then to make matters worse we never taught them how to play, never gave them the correct structures and education required to develop and, worst of all, stripped them of all confidence they had brought with them into the system. Just criminal really.

The article is fair. I sit hear powerless, like all supporters do, with this knowledge but desperate that our club can learn from these mistakes and finally choose and teach the young players this time.   

Sorry to be a downer 

Stripes

[RollsRoyce]

Sorry Stripes but I disagree with this article on SO many points:
-The worst thing he's done is damned our whole swag of new recruits before most of them have even played a game."Worst list in the competition"? How does he know? We've turned over A THIRD of our list over summer.
-Like all of the football media, he has focused right in on the final margin of last week's game, while completely overlooking the fact that we were very competitive for nearly three quarters.Yes the final capitulation and blowout was bad, but there were signs that we are improving. I still say we shot ourselves in the foot at the selection table by going in with an undersized team when there were better options available, hoping a more mobile setup could run Carlton off their legs on a hot night. I hope we never repeat that basic structural error.
-Calling Graham and Polak our only other ruck options? Polak isn't even a ruckman, and he's completely overlooked Andrew Browne.
This article is nothing more than another example of the glee that the media takes in kicking us with steel-capped boots while we're down.How I will delight in giving it back to them and hateful opposition supporters with both barrels when we rise again.     

[Infamy]

Even banking on our new recruits to come on and claim their rightful places in our future premiership team is dangerous. For years we have looked to our potential 'stars' to give us hope only to be disappointed when their draft potential was never realized. The 'Fab 5' of 2004 is a prime example - only two of them remain and only one of these could be considered a definite talent.

Actually there's still 3 left, only Meyer & Patto have gone
Patto is still on an AFL list too so we're not the only ones who thought he had some ability

It has me scratching my head how we could have only a part time recruiter in 2004 when we has 5 picks in the top 20 and a realistic opportunity to lay the foundation for a strong core side but instead used videos and hearsay to make our selections.

To be fair, the 2004 draft was pretty average after Pick 5. I would have much rathered Monfries & Wood with 12 & 16 and would have at the time as well, however with McGuane & Thursfield, we've done better than most with our later picks in that draft. There's the odd quality player, but I'd say only Adelaide has done well with Van Berlo & Knights, but even they threw away their first round pick on Meesen. Geelong almost smashed it out of the park in trading away their first pick for Ottens then getting Prismall, N Ablett (F/S) & Egan, however N Ablett has quit and Egan has had injuries finish his career far too early.

[smasha]

Our captain offers a ray of hope,imo.

ROFLMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.