Richmond Tigers 2012 Report Card ..... (Herald-Sun)

[one-eyed]

Richmond Tigers 2012 Report Card

    Al Paton
    From: News Limited Network
    September 10, 2012 10:00PM

DO THE Tigers get a pass for the 2012 season? See our verdict and have your say.


SNAPSHOT:

Wins: 10
Losses: 11
Draws: 1
Ladder position: 12th
%: 111.6

WHAT WENT RIGHT:

Plenty. The Tigers won two more matches than last season, but the real improvement is shown in the percentage column. Richmond’s percentage last year was 86.4, and the Tigers haven’t had a figure over 100 since 2001 – when they made a preliminary final. In that time they have only broken 90 once. In fact, their final 111.6% is the club’s best result since 1996 (when the Tigers somehow missed the finals with a percentage of 117.4). After losing to Carlton in Round 1 by 44 points (after Dustin Martin missed a shot to level the scores early in the final term), Richmond didn’t lose a game by more than 22 points, and their average losing margin across the season (15 points) was the smallest in the comp. The Tigers' best day of the year was undoubtedly the drizzly Saturday afternoon when they smashed Hawthorn, but victories against bogey sides Sydney and St Kilda weren't far behind. On the playing front, Trent Cotchin became a genuine star, Brett Deledio graduated from rebounding defender to midfield gun, Alex Rance took a giant leap forward and Ivan Maric was just about the recruit of the year. Plenty to smile about, Tiger fans.

WHAT WENT WRONG:

Damien Hardwick did a great job of getting Richmond in a position to win games. Now he needs to work on closing the deal. If three matches – against Gold Coast, Carlton and Port Adelaide – had finished 30 seconds earlier, the Tigers would be on the doorstep of the eight. Leadership and composure was sadly lacking in the closing stages of those games and that is hard to learn at training. Hopefully what can be improved is concentration, with the Tigers allowing opponents to kick multiple goals in quick time in many of their games. Off the field, a mid-season sleeping pill drama involving Dustin Martin and Daniel Connors wasn’t ideal, but the club handled it well. And the Tigers would love defender Dylan Grimes to get a decent run with injuries.

BEST-AND-FAIREST

The Tigers held their Jack Dyer Medal count last week, with Trent Cotchin a popular - and unsurprising - winner. Brett Deledio finished second to Cotchin for the second year running, with Ivan Maric, Shane Tuck and Shaun Grigg rounding out the top five.


ROBBO'S VERDICT:

Statistically were far better than 12th, but the only statistic the ladder concerns itself with is win/loss. Ten wins and a draw wasn't good enough, but the signs are positive. Cotchin, Deledio, Riewoldt are A-graders, the defense is building, the comitment is growing and the game plan is slick. Now, if only they could win the close ones.
- Mark Robinson



THE LIST:

Elite: Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio, Jack Riewoldt.

Big improvers: Ivan Maric, Alex Rance, Shane Edwards, Steve Morris

Going, going: The Tigers confirmed nine list changes late last week (see below) so everyone left should be safe.

Gone: Daniel Connors, Kelvin Moore, Brad Miller, Dean Macdonald, Jeromey Webberley, Andrew Browne, Addam Maric (rookie), Piva Wright (rookie), Gibson Turner (rookie)

Trade bait: Matt White, Luke McGuane

WHAT THEY NEED:

A gorilla to take the big forwards and release Rance into a more attacking Sam Fisher-style role. The man beeping loudly on the radar is Port Adelaide’s Troy Chaplin. A marking half-forward would also be a bonus and Crows free agent Chris Knights could fill that role. Like just about all other sides, would take another one or two skilled midfielders.



STATS THAT MATTER

Club leaders:

Kicks: Trent Cotchin (372)

Handballs: Shane Tuck (210)

Contested possessions: Shane Tuck (298)

Marks: Alex Rance (136)

Contested marks: Jack Riewoldt (39)

Clearances: Shane Tuck (123)

Inside-50s: Brett Deledio (129)

Rebound-50s: Alex Rance (86)

Frees for: Trent Cotchin (51)

Frees against: Alex Rance/Reece Conca (31)

Goals: Jack Riewoldt (65)

Goal assists: Shane Edwards (21)

Time on ground: Alex Rance (2577 minutes)

Players used: 38


TEAM STATS: (total/percentage + AFL rank):

Disposals: 380.7 (1st)

Contested possession differential: +8.0 (2nd)

Tackles: 62.0 (10th)

Clearance differential: +2.3 (5th)

Inside-50 differential: +9.6 (2nd)

Scoring % inside 50: 49.4 per cent (7th)

Av points for: 98.6 (8th)

Av points against: 88.3 (10th)

Av winning margin: 39pts (9th)

Av losing margin: 15pts (1sth)

DID YOU KNOW?

Richmond won a centre bounce clearance 47 per cent of the time Ivan Maric was involved - ranked No.1 of the top-10 centre bounce attendees in the competition.

Source: Champion Data

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/season-report/richmond-2012-report-card/story-fn6cixfc-1226466731805

[mightytiges]

A fair enough review. Hard to argue with any of that.

Even with our list deficiencies it was our inefficiency going inside forward 50 and poor goalkicking that hurt us the most this year as far as costing us a place in the finals. To make them next year we still need to add far more class which adds genuine depth so we are burying bottom sides like GWS, Port and the Suns rather than battling and even losing to them  . The standard of footy we played in the second half of the season was still far off what is needed to scrape into the finals let alone become a genuine contender. The Club should note there's a clear reason for that before thinking of keeping on the likes of McGuane, Jacko, White, Gus and co. for yet another year  . 

[Penelope]

yeah, lets just cut em all loose and replace them with picks 150 -154 in the draft.

Only one of those would be starting 22 from our full list anyway. they will slowly be weeded out over time

[mightytiges]

yeah, lets just cut em all loose and replace them with picks 150 -154 in the draft.

Only one of those would be starting 22 from our full list anyway. they will slowly be weeded out over time

I know what you're saying al but we've been waiting for them to be weeded out for a very long time now. Next year will be McGuane's 9th year and White and Gus' 8th on our list. Another year of list clogging  . Then there's fan favourite Jacko coming up to his 10th season. Players in your starting 22 that are liabilities but would still have some decent trade value you might as well try to get something decent in return before their trade value disappears altogether hanging on to them for too long and you are left with replacing them with picks 150-154. The article mentions a lack of leadership. Hard to get leadership onfield when one of your so-called leaders continually gets himself suspended and giving away dumb frees throwing stupid unnecessary cheapshots off the ball.

[gerkin greg]

just delist them and replace them with free agents of better quality

no-one will go deep in the draft these days when you can get upgrades for nix

[JVT]

just delist them and replace them with free agents of better quality

no-one will go deep in the draft these days when you can get upgrades for nix

They should really just draft guys from the state leagues to fill these spots. They'll come over bloody hungry and determined to succeed like Morris, which would already be a plus on those other spuds. Just to clarify for anyone who'll take that out of context, not saying they will be as good as Morris, just that giving them a chance on the big stage will actually make them contest and put their bodies on the line unlike some others we have got.

[gerkin greg]

Theoretically you could get in free agents

Knights HFF 26yrs – replaces White
Chaplin FB 27yrs – replaces Moore
Pearce Wing/HF/HB 27yrs - replaces Connors
Russell HBF 26yrs – replaces Webberley
Lynch CHF 30yrs – replaces McGuane (really Miller, McG only got the gig when Milzy hit the wall)

All would be upgrades.

Then add
3 national draft picks in the top 40 replacing McDonald, Browne, Graham
3 state league players 21-23yrs in the rookie draft to replace Miller, Maric, Heslin
2 project kids in the rookie draft replacing Wright & Turner, probably rucks/small fwds
1 international rookie

14 changes to the deep end of the list and still time to give the arse a scratch.

claw bait

[JVT]

Theoretically you could get in free agents

Knights HFF 26yrs – replaces White
Chaplin FB 27yrs – replaces Moore
Pearce Wing/HF/HB 27yrs - replaces Connors
Russell HBF 26yrs – replaces Webberley
Lynch CHF 30yrs – replaces McGuane (really Miller, McG only got the gig when Milzy hit the wall)

All would be upgrades.

Then add
3 national draft picks in the top 40 replacing McDonald, Browne, Graham
3 state league players 21-23yrs in the rookie draft to replace Miller, Maric, Heslin
2 project kids in the rookie draft replacing Wright & Turner, probably rucks/small fwds
1 international rookie

14 changes to the deep end of the list and still time to give the arse a scratch.

claw bait

Get it done Tiges   

[gerkin greg]

gerks the list manager

[Penelope]

  at the hidden claw bait


nice theory, but you still need a back up ruckman on the list.

*Please dont say derrickx*


I hadn't realised pearce was free agent. forget knights and put the savings into getting him.

[gerkin greg]

at the hidden claw bait


nice theory, but you still need a back up ruckman on the list.

*Please dont say derrickx*


I hadn't realised pearce was free agent. forget knights and put the savings into getting him.

Re-rookie Browne if you need a pure ruck or use one of the state league rookie picks. Lynch & Vickery can ruck relief. Then there is Derickx 

Oh and Post, I didn't even delist him yet

[Penelope]

no need to delist Post. It seems brisbane are giving us Karnezis and their first round pick...................as a minimum, for him

[gerkin greg]

no need to delist Post. It seems brisbane are giving us Karnezis and their first round pick...................as a minimum, for him

he'll need these up there 

[the claw]

yeah, lets just cut em all loose and replace them with picks 150 -154 in the draft.

Only one of those would be starting 22 from our full list anyway. they will slowly be weeded out over time

its never been about cutting 15 in one go from the list proper. its also never been about going to picks 150 - etc to replace them. that really is a big deflection from what most people are saying.

plenty of mature players in state leagues and players  not getting a go at their respective clubs who would allow us to value add on those long term underachievers.

the key has always been especially when building a list from a low base is  make sure you utilise your early to mid range picks on kids.
i firmly believe we need to cut at least two more from the senior list.allowing us to utilise 9, 29,31, 51,69. plus a psd pick on a mature player and two fa selections on needs.
i would also be looking to take two or  three mature players as rookies balancing it out with 3 kids.

most of the glass half fulls are contracted but two mcguane and white are not.

to me mcguanes replacement would be chaplin.
whites replacement moloney
webberley -  knights and so on.
moore  -  with a nd pick in lee or kid like alex howson.

Theoretically you could get in free agents

Knights HFF 26yrs – replaces White
Chaplin FB 27yrs – replaces Moore
Pearce Wing/HF/HB 27yrs - replaces Connors
Russell HBF 26yrs – replaces Webberley
Lynch CHF 30yrs – replaces McGuane (really Miller, McG only got the gig when Milzy hit the wall)

All would be upgrades.

Then add
3 national draft picks in the top 40 replacing McDonald, Browne, Graham
3 state league players 21-23yrs in the rookie draft to replace Miller, Maric, Heslin
2 project kids in the rookie draft replacing Wright & Turner, probably rucks/small fwds
1 international rookie

14 changes to the deep end of the list and still time to give the arse a scratch.

claw bait

exactly what ive been saying for a few  yrs now. good post well said and a good process we could copy.

[gerkin greg]

thank you claw

i dont know why some people can't see it

don't have to trade with anyone, deepens the list and upgrades that depth, then kids from the top half of the draft get added to that