Richmond hails first season in VFL a success after breaking away from Coburg Chris Cavanagh
Melbourne Leader
August 05, 2014 11:43AMRICHMOND coach Tim Clarke has hailed the club’s first season as a stand-alone VFL side a success despite not getting the on-field results the club had been looking for.
As the Tigers head into the final three rounds of the season, Clarke said the move to break away from an alignment with Coburg was already paying dividends.
“We’ve set up a really good environment there for our staff and players and it’s been terrific for our supporters to come and watch games before senior Richmond games,” Clarke said.
“It’s provided a really good avenue development-wise for guys to go up and play in our senior side in roles that they’re going to go up and play for our senior team.
“So in all those areas it’s ticked the box. We started the season really slowly, which hurt our chances of playing finals.
“We’ve ticked a lot of boxes that we set out to achieve at the start of the year. However, I’d be lying if I said we’d be happy with how our performances have gone against different sides throughout the year.”
The development of AFL-listed players was the No. 1 priority for Richmond this season and Clarke said that area had run smoothly.
Full-back Ben Darrou has been one of the standouts for the Tigers, while Brad Helbig has been able to shake off injury woes of recent years to string together a consistent season off half-back.
Clarke said he still rated Orren Stephenson as the best ruckman in the VFL, while Brett O’Hanlon had blossomed in a role on the wing.
High draft picks of the past two years – forwards Liam McBean and Ben Lennon – had also shown good signs, Clarke saying last year’s No. 12 selection Lennon had been given a chance to show his talents in various positions around the ground.
“He started off as a back, he then got moved forward and has played a bit through the midfield and on the wing,” he said.
“When you’re super talented like he is you kind of get thrown around a bit but he’s going to be a terrific player.”
Richmond fell to Sandringham in its Round 17 match on Saturday by 13 points, ending any hope of playing finals this season.
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