Changes next week for the Hawks game?

[Smokey]

Sorry Claw, but I disagree. Looking at our draw, it's almost as if the AFL went out of their way to sabotage us. Of course the more likely explanation is that they just didn't put very much thought into it. As usual, their attention was taken up with catering to the desires of their pet projects.
Sure, we have to play the Blues, Pies, Cats, Eagles,Swans, Bombers, Hawks and Saints at some point. But for God's sake, why in a neverending cluster? Couldn't the AFL have spaced them out a bit, and punctuated them with a few games against the new franchises (in Melbourne), or maybe the Lions or Dockers? And why do we always get sent down to the Cattery? The other big Melbourne clubs haven't been there for years, not even Carlton when they were in the doldrums . I don't know, I just look on enviously at other teams getting soft games (hello North) and think, "why not us"?

Agree with your comments re: the Cattery RR - the AFL cannot justify it in any way, shape or form given that their stated aim is to maximize attendances.  On the draw though, I have to disagree.  I would rather play the top sides more often and when we play them is really quite irrelevant.  We are only going to be a genuine premiership chance when we can compete and beat those sides and getting a soft or deliberately spaced draw is only creating a false dawn - cue Nought - they keep making the finals and keep getting bundled out early and unceremoniously without ever looking like a flag contender.  Give me a tough draw as a preparation and prelude to a finals campaign any day, that way there can be no doubt in our minds that when we make it we are in the thing up to our god damned ears!  And as a bonus, we rake in many more $$s by playing the top sides anyway and that can only make our club stronger in the long term.

 

[Penelope]

Any one, any where, any time.
No Fear!

[RollsRoyce]

all fair enough we all come from different pespectives. look at our opponent this week they have played coll, geel,adelaide, wce,syd, stk,  melb and freo. 5 of last yrs finalists plus a rampaging adelaide.
 if anything their draw has turned out to be harder than us with adelaide doing so well. i dont hear hawthorn supporters complaining about draws. has a soft draw helped north to date.
when we start defeating the so called top sides on a regular basis you will know we have truly arrived. we just lack a bit in structure and quality atm and a lot in depth.

Hawthorn are a top side who won a Premiership recently, and have been up and about playing finals for years. I would expect them to have a more challenging draw than us. As it is it's on a par with ours. We are an emerging side, but are looking like being held back from more desperately needed finals experience with an incredibly difficult and unfair draw. (Incidentally, I know a couple of Hawks fans who were furious when their draw was announced.)
By the way, I agree with you about our list still being a work in progress, including pretty much all the names you mentioned as being ones that need to go. So for me it's not a case of a few easy wins papering over the cracks. I'm well aware of what the cracks are. I just want to experience the rush of winning a bit more often. And if we drop too many more games now then this season will be yet another write-off well before it's really gotten started, and once again we fans will be turning our focus towards draft picks in June.

[one-eyed]

RICHMOND - In the Mix

The Tigers have a record this season of making as few changes as possible. Although they must look at selecting a replacement for key defender Dylan Grimes, who was one of the feel good stories of the season before tearing his hamstring against Essendon, they might just give more responsibility to those players already playing in defence. Jake Batchelor might step up from being the third tall defender to being the second tall defender, giving him most likely the assignment on Jarryd Roughead. Ben Griffiths, who was named among the best in Coburg Tigers' loss to Williamstown, is the most likely to come in if the Tigers do go for a replacement for Grimes. Tyrone Vickery is likely to be selected if he comes up from his calf injury
-Paul Daffey

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/136532/default.aspx

[Judge Roughneck]

Agreed. This draft is absolutely critical. With a bit of luck, it could 'complete' our list, or at least go close.
We need more class across the board and we need to milk this strong and compromised draft for all its worth.
Another couple of handy mature recruits, as in the previous two years, will help.
Still more work to be done with our list, but we have made strong progress. I've got faith in our recruiters/list managers to get the job done.

As long as we stay away from this brighton c salem fwit should br cracking draft

[cub]

3 - 5 Hawks and Saints to come No excuses

[eliminator]

Believe we have more of a chance against the saints. To beat the hawks would be a win of the highest order

[tiga]

The hawks are beatable. Our midfield is comparable or maybe even slightly better, they have a bit of an edge in their D50 so IMO it all comes down to who's forward line performs the best.
If Buddy and Roughead are off song, and Jack, Miller, Vickery & Co actually do what they are supposed to do, we could snatch this one. Mind you that friggin Hale will probably drop in for a bag as one of those average types who always lift against us.

[gerkin greg]

Hale is going to forcefully lose his virginity against Ivan

Put him down for 0 goals

[the claw]

all fair enough we all come from different pespectives. look at our opponent this week they have played coll, geel,adelaide, wce,syd, stk,  melb and freo. 5 of last yrs finalists plus a rampaging adelaide.
 if anything their draw has turned out to be harder than us with adelaide doing so well. i dont hear hawthorn supporters complaining about draws. has a soft draw helped north to date.
when we start defeating the so called top sides on a regular basis you will know we have truly arrived. we just lack a bit in structure and quality atm and a lot in depth.

Hawthorn are a top side who won a Premiership recently, and have been up and about playing finals for years. I would expect them to have a more challenging draw than us. As it is it's on a par with ours. We are an emerging side, but are looking like being held back from more desperately needed finals experience with an incredibly difficult and unfair draw. (Incidentally, I know a couple of Hawks fans who were furious when their draw was announced.)
By the way, I agree with you about our list still being a work in progress, including pretty much all the names you mentioned as being ones that need to go. So for me it's not a case of a few easy wins papering over the cracks. I'm well aware of what the cracks are. I just want to experience the rush of winning a bit more often. And if we drop too many more games now then this season will be yet another write-off well before it's really gotten started, and once again we fans will be turning our focus towards draft picks in June.

i fully understand where your coming from and do indeed relate to it. but i think win lose or draw from here on in the improvement is obvious. really think though to advance further and become a good finals side we must address the issues we have of depth and quality.

yep if everything goes well for us ie injuries we may well scrape into finals this yr and i agree that would be great for the club the long suffering supporters and the young players we have.
i dont think it likely and shudder to thjink what will happen when and if we start copping a lot of injuries.
my greatest fear is we make finals and then only turn over 3 or 4 players thinking most of the work is done.

[wayne]

Looks like it is going to be wet and windy on Saturday.

Won't have to worry too much about beating Buddy in the air (not that he is overly dangerous in the air) but at ground level we need to shut him down.

[Judge Roughneck]

Batchelor. Grimes. Rance.
Houli. Astbury. Dea.
Grigg. Martin. Captian.
Deledio. Griffiths. Cotchin
Elton. Riewoldt. Helbig.
MaricIvan. Ellis. Conca.

Edwards. Morris. Vickey.

+Tuck.

Emg- OHanlon.  Tuck.  Moore.

The buildings blocks are in place claw?

unlike most i dont think the draw has been a bad thing. in fact its almost a good thing.
if i had my way we would play top 8 sides every week of the yr. my attitude is if we cant beat these sides we dont deserve to make the 8. thse sides are the sides we truly test ourselves against.

yes we have improved again this yr and we have found some pretty decent players but wins against poor sides only papers over the cracks and i tell ya we still have plenty of cracks.

rather than wins and dont get me wrong i want us to win i think this yr its far more impoortant we find another ruckman  i live in hope but cant see it happening with the ruckmen we have outside of maric. a real genuine kpf prospect  want one of griffiths astbury to show they belong. and id like to get some games into elton.
at least one med/sml forward  well o hanlon is the hope i want to see what he can do. we are chasing a real big kpd yeah i know we have gone okay without one but that doesnt mean one is not needed. we dont have one on the list. lastly the midfield depth imo we need to find 4 mids two of real quality to go with, conca, grigg,ellis, cotchin,martin, helbig, foley, tuck, armot,deledio,any mid  not mentioned i dont rate as a player or as a mid.

this coming draft i would have had no hesitation in cutting/trading any combination of 7 to 9 players containing.
 jackson edwards  incredibly both have been re-signed to more than 1 yr performance based contracts.
macdonald is already gone
king,
white,
webberley
two of derickx/browne/graham.
mcguane
nahas
moore depending on injury.
post is another probably in the gun.
connors.

theres 14 names there and i can honestly say if we cut them we would not miss them  we get little enough out of all of them as it is atm  and none bar browne/post/macdonald  are kids anymore.. it does not include rookies like miller heslin whos gone, a maric who looks incapable of adding the strings to his game to make it. depth people it is a dirty word.

as i have stated before we are at the crux in the road. do we take the turn back into oblivion and hang onto an inordinate amount of battlers or do we cut hard and continue to do what has everyone excited. 5 nd picks one psd pick on a mature need, a couple of mature recruits from minor leagues and a a trade if possible.

[Hellenic Tiger]

all fair enough we all come from different pespectives. look at our opponent this week they have played coll, geel,adelaide, wce,syd, stk,  melb and freo. 5 of last yrs finalists plus a rampaging adelaide.
 if anything their draw has turned out to be harder than us with adelaide doing so well. i dont hear hawthorn supporters complaining about draws. has a soft draw helped north to date.
when we start defeating the so called top sides on a regular basis you will know we have truly arrived. we just lack a bit in structure and quality atm and a lot in depth.

Hawthorn are a top side who won a Premiership recently, and have been up and about playing finals for years. I would expect them to have a more challenging draw than us. As it is it's on a par with ours. We are an emerging side, but are looking like being held back from more desperately needed finals experience with an incredibly difficult and unfair draw. (Incidentally, I know a couple of Hawks fans who were furious when their draw was announced.)
By the way, I agree with you about our list still being a work in progress, including pretty much all the names you mentioned as being ones that need to go. So for me it's not a case of a few easy wins papering over the cracks. I'm well aware of what the cracks are. I just want to experience the rush of winning a bit more often. And if we drop too many more games now then this season will be yet another write-off well before it's really gotten started, and once again we fans will be turning our focus towards draft picks in June.

i fully understand where your coming from and do indeed relate to it. but i think win lose or draw from here on in the improvement is obvious. really think though to advance further and become a good finals side we must address the issues we have of depth and quality.

yep if everything goes well for us ie injuries we may well scrape into finals this yr and i agree that would be great for the club the long suffering supporters and the young players we have.
i dont think it likely and shudder to thjink what will happen when and if we start copping a lot of injuries.
my greatest fear is we make finals and then only turn over 3 or 4 players thinking most of the work is done.

I think Dimma is well aware that even if finals are achieved this year the holes in our list which you so correctly pointed out still need to be addressed and will be.

Regardless of where we finish I still think there will be a turnover of at least 8 at the end of the year.
We have laid the foundations and are building a team next component is too fill needs and create depth in the list.

[RollsRoyce]

See Claw, you COULD argue that negotiating this draw is a bit like the fast-tracking the learning experience to be gained from playing Finals football. After all, we're playing the teams that are going to be up and about in September. However, I still feel there's no substitute for the real thing. The better-placed teams have had at least 2-3 finals campaigns under their belts before they make their tilt at the silverware, and this is where I feel we are missing out. After 11 years of missing out, there's just no sustained grounding.
Essendon are the perfect example of this, I hate to say it. I thought they were bloody lucky to scrape into the 8 last year, were bounced out quickly and brutally accordingly, and I thought, without the existing cattle or much access to the draft last year wouldn't make the 8 this year. But somehow, probably just the experience of tasting the real stuff has galvanised them as a playing group this year. Look at what they did to their Elimination Final tormentors Carlton just a few weeks  ago. Whereas we just continue to get blown away by the Blues year after year. Where did that belief come from??? I don't know, but I want our boys to get a piece of it. Yeah, we've improved no doubt. But I'm still not so sure that Richmond believes we can actually win one of these honourable losses that are piling up. I'll be happy to be proven wrong Tige's with a Hawk or Saint scalp in the next fortnight...   

[Ekto]

I think Dimma is well aware that even if finals are achieved this year the holes in our list which you so correctly pointed out still need to be addressed and will be.

Regardless of where we finish I still think there will be a turnover of at least 8 at the end of the year.
We have laid the foundations and are building a team next component is too fill needs and create depth in the list.
[/quote]
What a load of BS that we already know.

Even if we win the grand final there will be holes in our list that will need to be replaced.

If we turn over 8 players there will be 6 or so YOUNG UNPROVEN KIDS or a couple of rejects from other clubs on our list AGAIN.....and we will still be in development mode with all of its associated excuses........just like we have been for ages.

Dimma doesn't choose those who stay or go, even though his input is valuable and I'm sure he would get peeed off if he is lumbered with a bunch of Melbourne players that posters would suggest are our saviour.